Here in Bangalore, those of us who studied at St Joseph’s institutions still proudly call ourselves Josephites. St Joseph’s first opened in 1854 when it was founded by the Missions Étrangères de Paris, and later, in 1937, the administration was handed over to the Jesuits. For over a century, it was an all-boys institution devoted to shaping boys into gentlemen; it has since opened its doors to all. Its motto, in Latin, is Fide et Labore, which means ‘faith and toil’. The institution is named after Joseph, the foster father of Jesus.
In this Advent season, I would like to reflect on Joseph as we find him in the Scriptures. What is striking is that Joseph appears in the New Testament only in the infancy narratives, right up to the moment when the twelve year old Jesus remains behind in the Temple.
When we read the Gospel according to Matthew, it opens with the genealogy. Straight after this, Matthew gives a brief account of the birth of Jesus. He writes that Mary was betrothed to Joseph. Now imagine Joseph in that small village of Nazareth, ready for marriage, looking forward to the day, and then suddenly hearing the rumour that Mary is expecting a child.
Joseph, unlike so many of the toxic men we encounter today, was a righteous man. He wasn’t willing to put Mary to public shame. The Greek word used here is δειγματίζω, which carries the sense of exposing someone or making an example of them. Joseph was unwilling to expose Mary. How many men, faced with bitter disappointment and the sense that everything is coming apart through no fault of their own, would choose to hold back? Joseph instead chose to separate from Mary quietly, without “putting a scene.” Matthew indicates that this is exactly why he was a righteous man. His righteousness was seen in the way he chose to respond with dignity and restraint.
It is painful when something you have dreamt of does not unfold as you hoped, and not because of anything you have done wrong but because of circumstances beyond your control, leaving you with the sense that you have been wronged. Mary herself had done no wrong, yet as we noted in my earlier reflection, she stood in a vulnerable place and would almost certainly be misunderstood if found to be pregnant. Joseph had no way of knowing what had happened, and Scripture does not say that he asked for an explanation; it simply shows him carrying this burden quietly. At this moment in his life everything he had hoped for seemed to be falling apart. Mary had surrendered herself to God’s plan, a plan Joseph did not yet know. We do not know whether Mary told him or whether the rumour reached him after she went to stay with Elizabeth, but whatever the case, Joseph acted with integrity. He chose not to expose her or make a scene, but to deal with the matter quietly.
While Joseph was turning these thoughts over in his mind, we read in Matthew 1,20 that an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream. Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins (1,20-21).
Mary herself must have wondered would Joseph ever believe her. What we learn here is that if God has chosen you for something, He will deal with the things you cannot. If you are anxious about how to convince others of a decision you have taken because God has led you to it, this is a reminder to leave the matter in His hands.
When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel had commanded. He obeyed the vision he had received. That sort of obedience requires faith. He listened when God spoke.
In Luke chapter 2 we read that Caesar issued a decree for registration, so Joseph had to travel from Nazareth in Galilee to his ancestral town of Bethlehem in Judea. Between Galilee and Judea lay Samaria, and Jews usually travelled by the longer Transjordan route to avoid passing through Samaria. Joseph took Mary with him to Bethlehem. When they arrived, they found no room in the inn, so Mary gave birth in a manger. Joseph was there beside her. He stood by her as she wrapped the child and laid him in the manger (Luke 2,7&16). And he named the child Jesus (Matt 1,25). He was present in every step of Jesus’s early life.
When Herod sought to kill the infants in and around Bethlehem in order to kill Jesus, the angel of the Lord appeared again to Joseph in a dream, telling him to take the child and His mother, flee to Egypt, and remain there until further instruction. Joseph obeyed at once. Later, when it was safe to return, the angel appeared once more in a dream, and Joseph brought the family back, not to Judea where, in his judgement, danger still remained, but to his hometown of Nazareth in Galilee so that the child would be safe. Joseph was the protective fatherly figure whom God used in His plan. His role in the Gospels is brief, but it carries weight.
Joseph was also a hardworking man who provided for his family. Later in the Gospels (see Matt 13, 55; Mark 6,3), when Jesus teaches in the synagogue at Nazareth, the people belittle Him by saying, is this not the carpenter’s son indicating that Joseph was a carpenter. Joseph worked with his hands. He was a carpenter, likely labouring in Nazareth and perhaps in nearby towns such as Sepphoris. He probably was known in his village as a hardworking father.
So from Scripture, we come to know Joseph as a righteous man who was steady, trustworthy and content to earn his living through honest work. He was not the impulsive sort one encounters all too often, nor someone inclined to tarnish another’s honour when circumstances took an unexpected turn. Instead he was a diligent provider who rose to the occasion when danger appeared, doing what needed to be done without fuss or fanfare.
Above all, Joseph remained attentive to God’s call, quietly receptive and ready to obey whenever the Lord spoke. In this quiet faithfulness, God entrusted him with the role of foster father to Jesus, placing him steadfastly at the child’s side throughout his childhood.
As someone who takes pride in calling myself a Josephite, having studied at St Joseph’s, both SJPUC and SJC, the motto Fide et Labore stands as a reminder of Joseph’s life. If someone were to write his biography, the most fitting title would be Faith and Toil.