Luke 2:41 – 52
I have twelve grandsons. The other
day I was struck by how one of them is beginning to look more and
more like his dad. Not only does he look like his dad, he walks like
him, sounds like him when he talks, and shows the same sort of
concern for others that his dad does. He has the same quiet sense of
humor. And I realized once again how much more than biology goes
into being a father.
As I was reading today’s gospel, I
was struck by the fact that Mary refers to Joseph as “your father”.
Now Luke who wrote this passage, also wrote the passage where the
angel Gabriel assures Mary that even though she doesn’t have a
husband the Holy Spirit will bring about the conception of the
Messiah. Maybe we can write this off as shorthand – after all,
Joseph has been the foster father. But maybe there’s something
here to think about on the feast of the Holy Family.
I’m sure you remember the story,
also in Luke, when Zachary was struck dumb by the angel for not
believing him. When John is born, they ask Elizabeth what to name
the child. She replies, “John”. But that’s not good enough.
They go to Zachary who writes on a slate “His name is John” and
at that point can speak again. The point is that only the father can
name the child, and we know that Joseph was told by an angel that he
was to name give Jesus his name. So certainly in that sense Joseph
is father.
And then I thought about the fact that
all through the Old Testament God is ruler, creator, shepherd, lover
of Israel, Rock, Spirit, Lord, and yes, sometimes He is referred to
as father; but father of Israel. Jesus in most of his teachings
doesn’t stray too far from the Judaism that he was raised in; but
he does bring something new to those teachings. Jesus first and
foremost sees God as father. He prays to God, calling him “Abba”
or as we would say, “Daddy”. He compares God to the father of
the prodigal son. He refers to his closeness to the Father – “I
and the father are one” “who has seen me has seen the Father”.
He indicates that the Father and he work together – “My father
and I will come and dwell in you”. And he says when dying on the
cross, “Father, into your hands I commend my spirit”; and after
the Resurrection, he invites us, through Mary Magdalen, to enter into
this intimate relationship; he says, “Do not touch me, for I have
not yet ascended to my father and your father.” And that is the
unique insight of Christianity, not just that God is father to
Israel, but has an intimate fatherly connection with every person who
wishes to enter into that relationship. Muslims are shocked when we
say this – to them God is so “other” that it’s blasphemy to
speak as though he has a human relationship. One Muslim said that
the relationship between God and man was much more like the
relationship between a human being and a pet animal. Christians beg
to differ.
Jesus was divine but was fully human.
Jesus, like you and I, was formed by his mother Mary and his foster
father, Joseph. In those days as today, the mother was the main
influence during the first few years of life, and then, for a son,
the father took over. Jesus is depicted working in Joseph’s shop.
That was probably close to the truth. But Jesus also attended
synagogue with Joseph, listened to the scriptures, and certainly
discussed their meaning with Joseph. Jesus surely was aware of
Joseph’s habits of prayer and keeping the prescribed fasts. If
Joseph was at says in the scriptures, a just man, that meant that he
tithed his time and his money; he practiced charity. And when we
read the scriptures and get an idea of what kind of person Jesus was,
we probably see a lot of Joseph; we see a man who takes scripture and
the law seriously; who thinks about what these things mean; who has
concern for the blind, the lame, women, foreigners, children –
people on the margins. We see a man with a sense of humor, a man who
has loyal friends and who is a loyal friend. Jesus was probably so
much like Joseph that it was no stretch for the people in his home
town to say, “Isn’t he the carpenter’s son?”
Joseph was such a wonderful father to
Jesus that Jesus thought one of the best ways to describe God was
“Father”. We know that young people who grow up with abusive
faithers have a hard time relating to God as father. The opposite
was the case with Jesus.
One of the sad things about our modern
times is that fatherhood is changing. Many children are raised
without a father and certainly many grow up to become productive
members of society. thanks to the heroic efforts of the mother or
grandparents. But there is no denying that the impact of not having
a father is serious and measurable. Poverty, substance abuse,
behavioral problems, suicide attempts, likelihood of incarceration –
all are statistically more likely among fatherless children. But we
all know that being a father like Joseph is even hard for fathers in
stable marriages; in Jesus’ time fathers and sons spent a lot of
time together; in our time much less so.
As we meditate on the Holy Family, we
realize the essential role that Mary has in our salvation. Through
her God became man and we celebrate that throughout the year. But we
should remember that Joseph had an almost equally important role in
forming Jesus. And because of Joseph’s influence on Jesus, we have
been taught to call God Father. So let us pray that Christian
fathers will be given the grace to be more like Joseph; and let us
all do what we can to support fathers in their invaluable and
irreplaceable work.
