The Quiet Hidden Carpenter of Nazareth

Many religious Christmas cards depict some form of a scene of Mary, Joseph and Jesus in a stable with a donkey and cow nearby. Shepherds and sheep are peering in at them and the Magi and camels are approaching. Artistically and theologically, the main three are always the immediate Holy Family. Often the image is only of Mary and the Child Jesus. In a way, Joseph is the silent, hidden presence behind the scene.

A few years ago, Pope Francis celebrated a Year of St. Joseph. In his letter talking about Joseph, “Patris Corde”, Pope Francis opened up the image of Joseph as father. In all four Gospels, Jesus is referred to as the son of Joseph.  Joseph named his son, and by doing that declared paternity in the eyes of his society. Joseph loved Jesus with a father’s heart. He became the “earthly shadow of Jesus’ heavenly Father”. Aside from Mary who gave birth to God’s son, no person has ever had a greater vocation in life than Joseph.

Joseph was an obedient father. He showed himself ready to follow God’s will, however new and challenging and disturbing it was. When betrothed to Mary, he accepted her pregnancy wholeheartedly because God told him in a dream to take Mary as his wife without fear.  Being a just man, his love of God and Mary knew no limits.

Joseph was the only other person present at the birth of Jesus. He witnessed the visits of the shepherds with their angel sightings and the star gazers from the east with their strange gifts and foreign ways. Threats from Herod followed the strangers’ presence in Bethlehem. Once again Joseph listens to God in a dream warning him of the danger to Mary and Jesus from Herod. It is Joseph who protects them by fleeing into exile in Egypt. Joseph was the “miracle “ by which God saved the child Jesus.

With his ever-listening heart, Joseph hears the all-clear signal and eventually brings his family back to Nazareth in Galilee where he continues to raise his family with love and fidelity to the faith of their ancestors. He follows the traditions of his faith by presenting Jesus in the temple where Jesus is named and blessed in God’s house, where both he and Mary hear of the sword to pierce her heart. He brings his family to the temple as is recorded when Jesus was twelve. Again, he and Mary are faced with the mystery of their son, who must be about his father’s business.

In all these events, Joseph is silent as far as scripture is concerned. He is the silent supportive presence. A fact which is unfathomable in our society today which puts a microphone in the face of anyone involved in any sport event, crime victim, catastrophic happening, political issue or thousands of other circumstances. Remaining silent seems beyond our contemporary capabilities.

This quiet hidden carpenter of Nazareth and his wife Mary raised Jesus in the culture and style and faith of their time. Joseph supported his family by his labor. There were no angels to put the food on their table or to build a house for them. That was Joseph’s responsibility. This beloved father fulfilled his vocation as a poor simple man of God.

Pope Paul VI said, “Joseph made his life a service to the Incarnation”. Perhaps we might move the statue of Joseph a little closer to the front of our family nativity sets and even pick it up in wonder of this holy man who loved his wife and child as so many others have done throughout the ages. Yet, unlike other fathers, Joseph’s child was also his God.

Article first published by the Rhode Island Catholic