The Plight of Joseph on Christmas

St. Joseph is a person we know very little about. His presence in the bible would by text alone seems to be a minimal one, yet we know from these sources he did have a major role to play in the life of both Mary and Jesus. It is because of him that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. It is because of him that the family was led to Egypt soon afterward. And it was because of him that the family was led to Nazareth. Two years ago, Time magazine wrote up an article about how various Christians traditions, from Early Christians to modern day Evangelicals have dealt with the figure of Joseph. And many artists have attempted to portray the man in his various stages in life. The fact that so little is know of the man has led many of us, myself included to speculate about the life of Joseph.

This man has always been a mysterious figure. We have a good idea of how old Mary was at the time of the birth of Jesus, but we have nothing but wild speculation  on the part of the age of Joseph. Within the Catholic Tradition itself it varies greatly from 36 to 91! This can be seen in a variety of art where is portrayed as a young man fully in charge of his family to an older man who constantly fall asleep. (In some circles, to say that you will do a St. Joseph’s Meditation is code for taking a nap).  Some Christian traditions, such as the Egyptian Coptic Church have always held him in high regard. In other traditions, such as the Western Catholic church, reverence for him did not truly pick up until the middle ages. Yet today, and for many Christians through the ages, he is recognized as an important figure. After all not only does my church, Immaculate Conception in Winnipeg have a statue of him, but he is the Patron Saint of Canada itself.

But the story I look back on, and the story I find myself wondering about constantly is the story of Joseph on Christmas. Like many ideas about Joseph, this is a wild speculation, imposing what could be true, precisely because so little is know of him. However I have always believed that the story of Christmas to Joseph was a time of both great despair, and great hope.

The Problem With Mercy

As a child in Catechism class, there were lessons that always proved to be very difficult to understand. The idea that one could not change the mind of God, no matter how much one pleaded with him always stuck me has hard-hearted and cold for example, or that God could be everywhere all the time, yet care about each one of us individually with a love greater than a parent for his or her child. One problem that proved especially difficulty was the story of the prodigal son.[1] I remember in grade seven catechism class, watching a video on this story. I wondered how the younger son of that story could be forgiven, or why he should get a great big party after falling away while the son that worked hard all his life with his father should seem to get nothing at all. The words of the older son seemed to speak directly to my objection to the outcome of the story.

Look, all these years I served you and not once did I disobey your orders; yet you never gave me even a young goat to feast on with my friends. But when your son returns who swallowed up your property with prostitutes, for him you slaughter the fattened calf.[2]

These questions I thought were too improper to ask. I thought that the problem was with me, that I might have been too hard-hearted to understand the story. Other kids asked about it indirectly, and the answers the teachers gave always seemed adequate to them while I found them wanting or deficient. I came to think the problem was with me, that I never fully understood what they were saying, or what the story was about.

Other ideas in catechism class posed similar problems, and always left an itch within my mind. I was told for example, that a man, who had done evil things for most of his life, would be saved if he turned to God at the end of it. Alternatively, a man who did good things all his life, if he turned away from God toward the end, would be lost. ‘How could this be?’ I would ask myself, ‘How could a good life ever lead to damnation, and a bad life lead to glorification?’ How is this possible?

The Keystone

In my room, I have a poster of a famous fresco known nowadays as the ‘School of Athens.’ Commissioned by the Vatican during the Renaissance, it depicts a large gathering of people, in this case some of the greatest non-Christian minds of the Western Tradition. Plato, Aristotle, Socrates and others are all depicted there, discussing issues with one another. They are all gathered in a large and open building around a grand staircase. Near the bottom of the fresco there is a large stone block interrupting the flow of the stairs. Placed there later on in the history of the fresco, its meaning has been suggested by some to be a reference to Jesus Christ as the stone abandoned and made into a cornerstone.

Therefore, its [the stone's] value is for you who have faith, but for those without faith: ‘The stone which the builders rejected has become the cornerstone’ and ‘A stone that will make people stumble, and a rock that will make them fall.’ They stumble by disobeying the word, as is their destiny. (1 Peter 2: 7-8)

Jesus Christ as represented by this stone is something to be tripped over, something out of place, that seems unnecessary and unwelcome. Yet neither they nor anyone can get rid of this stone.

Our Church, a Hospital for the Soul

There was a story I once heard when I was younger. My first impression of it was that it was utterly foolish, but then I began to wonder if there was a deeper meaning behind it. There was something that always struck me as wrong about this story, and I began to hate it more and more, till today I would go so far as to say that it is an immoral story hidden behind a mistaken view of righteousness.

On one Sunday there was a Christian church full of people. Some were listening to the priest, some were not, barely paying attention at all. Suddenly, a masked gunman walked through the doors and into the church with a gun almost half his own height. Pointing the gun up in the air, he shouted out, “Whoever is willing to die for God remain where you are!” At that point,