Poor Saint Joseph

BY DAVID O'BRIEN


Quick. Which saint gets a parade in March and colors everything from clothes to beer Kelly green? Which saint gives everyone, including my Asian wife, an excuse to claim Irish heritage for the day? Yep, Saint Joseph, patron saint of shamrocks, leprechauns and Guinness beer. No, no that’s wrong. St. Patrick is the green guy. Saint Joseph was only the father of Jesus, hardly a reason to strike up a parade.


Somebody needs to tell St. Joseph that he needs a new press agent, maybe St. Patrick’s.


Being an O’Brien, I realize the cosmic value of the great St. Patrick. After all, if it weren’t for St. Patrick saving the Irish, how could the Irish have saved civilization?


Still, it seems like the person who raised Jesus ought to get a little more hype. Just consider for a moment the ways Jesus may have been infl uenced by his dear ole Dad here on earth.


We all know that Joseph cared for pregnant Mary on her journey to Bethlehem and that holy stable. We also recognize that it was Joseph who responded to the angelic dream to escape to Egypt so as to protect the infant messiah from King Herod’s bloodlust.


Certainly, Joseph would have taught Jesus the faith as a young boy, reciting the scriptures and especially the psalms with him until Jesus committed them to memory. In doing so, Joseph would have answered the questions raised about God by his young son. Hence, it was Joseph’s (and Mary’s) take on God that colored Jesus’ religious worldview.


We see evidence of this in Jesus’ adult life.


Some biblical scholars suggest that Joseph may have lived according to the way of the Pharisees. This seems believable since Phariseism was very popular among the people of Jesus’ time. The Pharisees were the local religious leaders in Galilee where Jesus grew up. (The Sadducees wielded their power in Jerusalem, specifi - cally in the temple precinct.) The Pharisees also taught the resurrection of the dead.


Jesus believed in the resurrection, probably a tenet of the faith passed on by Joseph. Jesus also fought with the Pharisees more than anyone else. And with whom do we fight the most and from whom do we expect the most, if not the people to whom we are closest?


So if Joseph was a Pharisee, a strict adherent to the Law of Moses, he would have undoubtedly known that Mary deserved to be stoned to death for getting pregnant during their betrothal (Lev 20:10). But, in fact, Joseph did not subject Mary to the violent judgment of the law (Mt 1:19-25). Instead, he recognized this vulnerable young woman, Mary, a beloved child of God. Wasn’t her life more important than the letter of the law?


Jesus, years later, faced a similar situation (Jn 8:1-11) and it seems he learned his father’s lesson well: the law is meant for justice and mercy. So, like his father, he protected that woman caught in adultery and taught his followers to espouse a religion of forgiveness.


I wonder if Jesus saw something in Joseph that inspired him to tell a parable about a patient father who embraced a wayward son when he returned from his prodigal ways (Lk 15:11-32). Or was Jesus thinking about Joseph when he compared God the Father to a generous earthly father who would never give his son a stone if he requested some bread (Mt 7:9)?


It seems interesting to me that Jesus called God "Abba", the Aramaic word for "Daddy". Joseph was the only "Abba" Jesus ever knew on earth.


So let St. Patrick have the green beer, the festive parades and the shamrock sweaters. This March 19, my money is on St. Joseph, the patron saint of all fathers and workers.


By the way, my realtor tells me that if you bury a statue of St. Joseph in your yard, he will sell your house. Shhhh! Don’t tell anyone, but even the Baptists do it.

About David O’Brien
David O’Brien is the Associate Director of Religious Education for Lay Ministry for the Archdiocese of Mobile. His column, Everyday Faith, appears regularly in the archdiocesan newspaper, the Catholic Week. Email David at dobrien@mobilearchdiocese.org.