Pastor Hugh's Monthly Meditation
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JOSEPH, GOD’S SILENT SERVANT
Whenever we recall the story of Jesus, there is always one person who serves a prominent role in the story of his birth and earliest years, and yet, as the years of Jesus’ life unfold, seems to disappear from the story altogether. That person is Joseph, the “step-father” of Jesus.
Click on image to see a bigger picture of the right panel of Robert Campin’s “The Annunciation Triptych.”
If we rely solely upon the Bible, we really don’t know much about Joseph. His father was either Jacob (according to Matthew) or Heli (according to Luke). As to his trade, only Matthew (13:55) indicates that he was a carpenter.
We know that he was a man of deep faith and principle. When he discovered that his bride-to-be, Mary, was pregnant, and knowing that the child was not his, he chose the path of dignity and compassion—a discreet and honorable divorce. And, yet, when “an angel of the Lord” commanded him, in a dream, to go ahead with the marriage, promising that “the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit”, he did so obediently.
Joseph was a faithful Jew—faithful to God, and faithful to his tradition. The last we hear of Joseph in any of the Gospels (and it is not even clear if he is mentioned at all by Mark) is when the Holy Family travels to Jerusalem for the annual Passover pilgrimage. In the confusion of their journey, Jesus was left behind for several days. When, after three days, he was found in the Temple, Jesus’ response to his parents’ concern for him was, “Did you not know that I must be in my Father's house?” That “Father” was clearly not Joseph.
And then, after that, there is only silence. Joseph is never heard of again in any of the Gospels. And this textual silence has been interpreted as evidence that Joseph either died of illness or old age before Jesus reemerges at the Jordan River to be baptized and to begin his earthly ministry.
Recently I had the opportunity to travel to the Cloisters in New York City. The Cloisters, as part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, house an unparalleled collection of art and architecture from medieval Europe.
Among the many works is The Annunciation Triptych painted by Robert Campin, with help from an anonymous assistant, around 1425. (A triptych is a painting or relief carving on three wooden panels that are hinged together side by side (the outer panels able to be folded over the center one for protection) and usually used for an altar piece.) The right panel portrays a grey-bearded Joseph in his carpenter shop building wooden mousetraps. (The mousetrap was a medieval symbol of God’s atonement. St. Augustine taught that as a mouse is caught by a mousetrap, through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God “trapped” the devil.)
I am drawn to this panel not only because of its meticulous detail, but also because of the simple humility that is portrayed here. There is a quiet, peaceful serenity in Joseph’s face; a faithful resignation to playing his part in the divine drama that is unfolding around him. And while his simple work as a carpenter might seem to have little connection to God’s great work of reconciling the world to himself, it was because of Joseph’s selfless obedience that the story of Jesus became a story of hope for the whole world. When the world would have rejected her, Joseph provided social legitimization for Mary. He taught his stepson, Jesus, the faith of a Jew and the trade of a carpenter. It was to Joseph that God’s warning angel came in a dream, prompting him to lead his family to safe haven in Egypt, much like his ancestor Joseph, son of Jacob, did his family more than fifteen centuries before. And it was Joseph who guided his family back to Nazareth where the boy Jesus could grow “in wisdom and in years, and in divine and human favor.” (Luke 2:52)
Joseph never asked for anything in return. One may ask why someone would risk as much as he did for a cause that he would never see fulfilled in his life? Why invite the social derision that would follow to a man thought to be cuckolded. Why take on the social, financial, and familial responsibilities of a child not his own? Why? Because of his faith. Because he believed what the Lord’s angel said, even if such a claim would sound to any normal mortal ear as preposterous.
Much like John the Baptist after him, Joseph’s role in this divine enterprise would diminish in order that Jesus could take central stage and lead all of humanity to hope and salvation. Even though his leg of the journey was short, Joseph’s importance to it is eternal.
Are we not called to be like Joseph? As God continues to carry out his mission in the world, are we not called to play our part, as seemingly unimportant as it may appear? Cannot our simple jobs as carpenters, masons, clerks, bankers, parents, students, business people, artists and the like become transformed by the One we seek to serve through these vocations? With lives lived by faith, the answer is an unambiguous “yes.” And while our names may never be written in the history books of some future generation, our contributions to the divine enterprise is like Joseph’s—eternal.
Hugh R. B. Haffenreffer
Pastor
December 2006
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