When the angel came again to tell him that his family was in danger, he immediately left everything he owned, all his family and friends, and fled to a strange country with his young wife and the baby. He waited in Egypt without question until the angel told him it was safe to go back." (Matthew 2:13-23).
In these, Joseph, provides us with an example of steady faithfulness even in the face of great personal cost. And in return, all that we know of him has been culled from the story of Jesus, and indicates to us that he was a kind and loving father who made himself a lifelong servant to God.
Unfaithfulness and Rebellion:
Perhaps the only scintilla of rebellion to be examined with respect to the story of Joseph is the disagreement held between different denominations with respect to Joseph's celibacy. Some traditions argue that he would go on to father other children with Mary, but the Catholic Church, among others, holds more aggressively the stance that "these 'brothers and sisters' are the cousins of Christ and affirms strongly that Joseph remained celibate while married to Mary." (Wikipedia, 1)
Applicable to Life Today:
Joseph's works and teachings apply to life today both practical and symbolically. On the symbolic level, Joseph has taken on significant importance for his role in rearing the proclaimed Son of God. As the foster patriarch for Jesus, Joseph has come to represent a model for the responsibilities of fatherhood, perhaps best implicated by the warm and nurturing role he is said to have played in raising God's son with his mortally betrothed wife. As a result, Joseph is seen by many denominations as a figure of central importance as a template for patriarchy as a whole. Accordingly, we find that "in Roman Catholic and other traditions,...
He was also declared to be the patron saint and protector of the Catholic Church by Pope Pius IX in 1870, and is the patron of several countries and regions." (Wikipedia, 1)
This spiritual role has numerous dimensions which proceed both from his fulfillment of his fatherly obligations and from his dutiful attention to his occupation, which is widely believed to have been the trade of carpentry. Indeed, as we well know, this is a trade which would be passed along to Jesus. The skilled but humble profession is an exemplar to those who toil such as did both Joseph and Jesus. This begins to induce us to a consideration of the more practical levels on which his life and that which we know about him suggest.
But beyond the emphasis on industrious behavior such as God commands, there are more general applications that may be drawn from the ministry of Joseph. Perhaps chief among them is that Joseph was a foster parent, and that he accepted these responsibilities without reluctance. As a result, he is often invoked as a Saint of orphanages and adoptions. His model is used to encourage others to open their hearts and take on foster children. The intercession of his humble beginnings, the working class upbringing of Jesus and Joseph's immediate assumption of parental duties work to yield an ideal model for fatherhood. If this can be employed to encourage a sense of responsibility for the low-born, suffering and parentless, the Catholic Church suggests that there is great practical value in invoking this image of Joseph, the foster father of the Son of God.
Works Cited:
Catholic Online (CO). (2010). St. Joseph. Catholic.org.
Wikipedia. (2010). Saint Joseph. Wikimedia, Ltd. Inc.
