Certainly, people would have thought little of Joseph's reputation. He didn't wield any political or spiritual power. "Apparently, they considered Joseph to be just a regular, law-abiding Jew - an average Joe, if you will. By implication, Joseph didn't go around Nazareth working miracles and polishing his halo; rather, he lived his holiness wrapped in simplicity." (The Dominicans of the Province of St. Joseph, for Word on Fire, March 19, 2018.)
Obviously, for Joseph, honor and prestige were unimportant. He had made his choice before Jesus was born, when he was struck with lightning: Mary, his beloved betrothed, was pregnant, and he wasn't the father of the child. The story has become so familiar that we lose sight of its significance, of the emotional tornado this pregnancy is in Mary's and Joseph's lives. Mary has been gone to visit Elizabeth. She returns, at least three months' pregnant, and knows she has to tell Joseph. How will he react? What will he say?
But Joseph is a simple man, uninterested in his honor and prestige. Joseph is totally confused at first. Mary's story is so unbelievable! Joseph is not a man of violence. He can't bear the thought of Mary being stoned to death or disgraced publicly. So he makes up his mind to go to Plan B and divorce her secretly. In those days, engaged people were viewed as married, and a divorce was required to end an engagement.
Later, while Joseph is still spiritually struggling over this crisis in his life, he goes to sleep, either because he needs a nap, or it's bedtime, or he's emotionally exhausted. An angel, one of the messengers sent by God, appears to him in a dream and says: “Do not be afraid to take your wife Mary home, for what has been conceived in her is by the Holy Spirit. She will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20, 21.)
When Joseph wakes up, how grateful he is that the issue is now clearer! He is too humble to try to "figure out" the Will of God. He only knows now what God's Will is for him: he does not have to obey the Jewish Law of stoning, or divorce Mary. A greater Law - the Plan of God - has superseded the Jewish Law. He doesn't waste time obsessing over whether this was "just a dream," or a Real Angel. He's prayed long and hard enough over the years to recognize God's message when he hears it. He quickly, competently, does what the angel directed. He takes Mary to his home. This is a public action that serves, in effect, as a marriage ceremony, giving notice that Joseph and Mary are now a married couple.
Joseph may have been a quiet man, an "average Joe," but he knew how to act when the time was right, even if it meant disobeying the Jewish Law, the "Social and Religious Rules" of his community. He must have been a prayerful man, to be so instantly open to the Voice of God carried to him by an angel. Did he and Mary tell this story to Jesus when he was old enough to understand? Did this story prepare the young Jesus to understand that God's Plan and New Covenant enfleshed in His Son was the fulfillment of the Old Law, the Old Covenant?
"When we act simply, we take no heed of our glory, but seek God's alone." (the Dominicans.) When our hearts are prayerfully tuned to the harmonious love of God's heart, the dissonant chords of our own confusion and self-absorbed ego fade away. Listening to God's quiet Voice in our hearts - or God's Will for us voiced by someone else, even an angel - challenges us to lay aside our own instinctive ideas and desires about a situation, even a crisis, and become simple and humble and act as God calls us to act - with courage.
This simple man of action hears an angel in a dream once again. This dream spurs him on to pack up Mary and the child, probably a toddler by now, from their new home in Bethlehem and flee forty miles to a Jewish community in Egypt for safety, to escape Herod who wanted the boy, whom he recognized as his rival, dead. Months or years later, an angel again comes to Jospeh in a dream to tell him that Herod is dead and it's safe to return. But, as they near Judea, they learn that Herod's eldest son, just as cruel, is ruler over Bethlehem, so they detour on their trip and return to Nazareth, which is possibly politically safer. Is it any wonder that Joseph is Patron Saint of Refugees, all those terrified parents who have the courage to make the sacrifice to leave their homes and homelands behind, often fleeing from the rule of murderous tyrants for their innocent children's sakes?
God's gift of the dignity of work is why the politicians of every nation have a moral duty to surface and develop and work for jobs for their people. Pope Francis speaks about the importance of every person having a job who needs one. People can receive "charity hand-outs" to eat, but that is not enough, if they are physically and mentally able to work. And, workers' jobs need to be secure, they need to have a just wage, and they need to be protected from exploitation. It's all part of the dignity of labor and of the laborer.
“Not having a job is not simply a question of not having the means to life: no. We can eat every day, we can go to Caritas, we can go to an association, a club, we can go there and they will give us something to eat. But this is not the problem. The problem is not being able to bring bread to the table at home: this is a serious problem, this takes away our dignity. And the most serious problem is not hunger, even though the problem exists. The most serious problem is that of dignity. For this reason we must work and defend the dignity that work gives us.” (Pope Francis)
Working, eating, sleeping, praying, talking, joking, laughing, teaching - in his quiet, ordinary family life, St. Joseph understands what love is. In his simplicity, his humility, his surrender to God's Will, he understands that Mary and Jesus were given to him for a reason: for him to love and cherish them, put a roof over their heads, clothing on their backs, and food on their table. To protect them, try to understand them, be loyal to them. He and they live in a network of family and neighborly relationships, and he respects them, cherishes them.
St. Joseph knows Jesus is God's Son, not his. But he also knows that this boy is also his step son, to love, to teach, to raise as a good, religious, mature, loving man. He finds his life's meaning in Mary and Jesus' precious lives, and in their daily, loving, trustful responses to him. "Joseph's holiness came through Jesus and Mary, by serving them and receiving from them. Similarly, God draws us to himself through those around us. We do not become saints as isolated individuals, but as members of a family or a community." (the Dominicans).
St. Joseph, the first - and best - "ordinary Joe" - can inspire us and strengthen us through his very ordinariness. Like us, he was confronted with many life crises, yet, because he prayed, he was always able to discern the direction God was calling him in - and we can, too. For God speaks to us just as truly as God spoke to Joseph, only in the way that we will hear God best. For some of us, it may indeed be dreams; God still uses them when we remember dreams well and search their meaning. For some of us, it may be the quiet prompting of an angel, a co-worker, or a friend.
If Jesus ever overheard people muttering, "Isn't that Jesus, the son of Joseph?" he might very well have turned around and said "Yes, God is my Father, but Joseph is my stepfather, and I'm proud to say it!" Jesus knew that Joseph, the "ordinary Joe," understood godliness, simplicity and humility. He believed God's Way was best, prayed always, and obeyed God with great courage. He didn't need to have a "high profile" in his neighborhood, or his community to feel blessed. He did his job well, grateful that he could work. He made his God, and then his family, the center of his life. He was able to speak heart to heart honestly with Mary from the time of their betrothal forward. Jesus loved St. Joseph because, as a parental role model, he taught Jesus his own great respect for God, for prayer, for work, for family, for honesty, for courage, for Judaism.
This great Saint who labored his life long without notice, or recognition, or a halo, can remain very close to us. And - St. Joseph is also the Protector of the Church. Because of the Communion - the Unified Communication - of Saints, those living, and those with God, - we can speak daily with St. Joseph, and he will hear us and pay loving attention to us, as only a father can. May we daily speak to him as our friend, our role model, our protector, asking him to, by God's grace, pray for our families and friends and nation, and enlighten and guard our way to Heaven. Especially we can daily ask him to pray for us for Church unity.