Count the number of words about Joseph in the New Testament. There aren’t many. But what is said is extremely important. You can’t think about Mary and Jesus without Joseph’s presence. In fact, their very safety depended upon him. This is shown when Joseph took his family into Egypt to avoid the massacre of male babies ordered by King Herod.
Joseph is referred to as the “father of Jesus” (Jn 1:45; Lk 4:22). Matthew and Luke tell us that Joseph was of Davidic descent (Mt 1:2-16; Lk 1:27). He is described as a carpenter or an artisan (Mt 13:55) and trains Jesus in that same work (6:3). When Mary becomes pregnant with Jesus, Joseph is upset, not knowing what to do, and yet thoughtful enough not to expose Mary publicly. He learns in a dream that Mary’s child is from God and that he should indeed take her to his home, which he does.
Artists in the past, in an attempt to reinforce the Church’s tradition of Mary’s perpetual virginity, have pictured Joseph as an old man. Actually, there is no reason to think that Joseph was not young and that his family was not like any other normal family. The holy family lived like all other families of the same time and culture, and, as Luke tells us, Jesus “grew in age and wisdom before God and man” (Lk 2:52). Joseph’s final appearance in the Bible is when he and Mary look for Jesus when he remained in the Temple, eager to be about his Father’s business.
Tradition has always held that Joseph died prior to Jesus’ entrance into his public ministry. It is important for us to understand the love Joseph and Mary had for each other as husband and wife. The title of Joseph’s March 19 feast day is “Husband of Mary.” Mary’s virginity would never lessen her love for him as her spouse, protector and provider.
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