The Holy Family, by Raphael
A while ago, I was thinking about St. Joseph. It has been a few weeks since I first started thinking about him in more than a cursory way, but I wanted to share some of my thoughts on this remarkable man because I was impressed by certain aspects of his character which became manifest to me while reading Scripture.
I think he is an underrated saint. By which I mean that while he is certainly a well known saint, and certainly one whom the Catholic church recognizes as being important, he has not captured the imagination in a way that many lesser saints have.
I first started thinking about him because I was thinking of two other saints who have always impressed me, the sons of Zebedee, James and John. Scripture recounts that either the sons of Zebedee themselves, or their mother, depending on the Gospel account you prefer, ask to be seated at Christ's right and left hand in paradise.
Mark's account, from Mark 10:35-38:
Then James and John, the sons of Zebedee, came to him and said to him, "Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you." He replied, "What do you wish (me) to do for you?" They answered him, "Grant that in your glory we may sit one at your right and the other at your left."
You will perhaps see why I am impressed with James and John. They do not lack boldness. Matthew's account (Matthew 20:20-21) of the incident is somewhat different -- in this account, it is the saints' mother who makes the request:
Then the mother of the sons of Zebedee approached him with her sons and did him homage, wishing to ask him for something. He said to her, "What do you wish?" She answered him, "Command that these two sons of mine sit, one at your right and the other at your left, in your kingdom."
Again, a somewhat bold request. In both cases, Christ tells the requestor that the decision is not his, but rather belongs to his Father.
Well, I started thinking as to who might be seated at Christ's right and left in Paradise. It of course occurs to me that if the Good Lord didn't answer the question, then perhaps it is better left unasked, but I started thinking to myself, "Who ranks above St. James and St. John in Heaven?"
Three immediate names suggested themselves. First, in my thought, Christ's mother, the Virgin Mary, would certainly be accorded one of those two seats; given that she was uniquely involved in His mission. In Catholic doctrine, she among human beings is unique in that she was accorded the privilege of being born without sin and remained sinless her entire life. She gave birth to the Savior; he was, incarnate, begotten from the Father but made from her flesh. I would have to think that the seat on Christ's right belongs to her.
The second name that immediately jumped to mind was John the Baptist, for the Lord himself said (Matthew 11:11)
Amen, I say to you, among those born of women there has been none greater than John the Baptist; yet the least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.
I do not take the Lord to mean that John the Baptist is not in Heaven, but rather that at the time, he was still alive, and therefore not yet in Heaven. I would have to think that John the Baptist, as the herald of the Lord, would indeed have a very high seat in Heaven.
The third name that occurs to me is the foremost of the apostles, St. Peter.
It took awhile, but then a fourth name occurred to me -- St. Joseph.
St. Joseph's reputation suffers from the fact that he only appears very early on in the Gospels. By the time of Christ's public ministry, most Bible scholars assume, that from his absence, St. Joseph must have already passed away. But consider his merits.
1. He was betrothed to the Virgin Mary. This indicates that at the time, he must have been considered a very worthy man indeed, for certainly the Virgin Mary's merits must have been apparent to her family. I would have to think that St. Anne and St. Joachim would have understood that their daughter was very special by the time she was of marrying age. For them to have consented to a marriage must have meant that St. Joseph was a very great and good man indeed.
2. St. Joseph, being pledged to the Virgin Mary, who must have been, in his eyes, the greatest of potential spouses, nevertheless accepted from God a commission that involved him foregoing ever marrying her in other than a nominal sense. In that, in Catholic doctrine, Mary remained ever virgin, it can be presumed that St. Joseph was also called to be chaste. A lesser man would have rejected both God's call and the already pregnant Mary. St. Joseph was able to accept from God a mission that must have been immensely humbling.
3. God put into St. Joseph's care two persons who were forever free from sin -- the Lord, and His mother. In raising the Lord, St. Joseph, we have to assume, was a good parent. While not himself free from sin, he must have been an inordinately good man for God to trust him to raise His son.
4. God trusted St. Joseph, upon hearing the voice of an angel in a dream, to leave Israel and to take the Lord and Mary to Egypt. This, to me, is the most telling piece of evidence. Presumably, the angel is not warning Joseph without good reason; although the Lord as an adult can call upon more than twelve legions of angels to defend Him, as an infant, he is very much in the care of his parents. The threat from Herod is presumably real; Herod could, were St. Joseph to fail in his charge, presumably kill the Lord.
Think about that for a moment. God the Father, at that moment, put the future salvation of mankind in the hands of a fallen man. Had St. Joseph simply ignored the dream, out of simple human frailty, the incarnation might have come to nought, and man's salvation might have died on the point of a soldier's spear.
Now yes, we have to presume that God would not have let that occur; that He would not have put the salvation of mankind at that ultimate risk, and would not have let His desire to save mankind fail. Had St. Joseph failed, perhaps the twelve legions of angels would indeed have issued forth to protect the Lord.
But I am nonetheless struck by the fact that St. Joseph did not fail. He did as he was asked, and left his country behind, crossing Sinai and going to Egypt. Like his namesake, he left his land in exile and went to Egypt; while not a slave sold to Ishmaelites, he was nonetheless a prisoner of necessity.
5. I am also struck by the story in Luke of Christ being found in the temple.
Each year his parents went to Jerusalem for the feast of Passover, and when he was twelve years old, they went up according to festival custom. After they had completed its days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus remained behind in Jerusalem, but his parents did not know it. Thinking that he was in the caravan, they journeyed for a day and looked for him among their relatives and acquaintances, but not finding him, they returned to Jerusalem to look for him. After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions, and all who heard him were astounded at his understanding and his answers. When his parents saw him, they were astonished, and his mother said to him, "Son, why have you done this to us? Your father and I have been looking for you with great anxiety." And he said to them, "Why were you looking for me? Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?" But they did not understand what he said to them. He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them; and his mother kept all these things in her heart. And Jesus advanced (in) wisdom and age and favor before God and man.
Christ, although by his very nature subservient to no man, nevertheless subjects himself to the obedience of both his parents -- he was obedient to them. For a number of years, Christ delayed his mission, and was obedient to St. Joseph, honoring, in fulfillment of the law, his father and mother.
I have to think that St. Joseph, while not a perfect man, was nevertheless a man worthy of great honor and praise.
And I have a suspicion that the seat on Christ's left belongs to him.