Today's Reading: St. Matthew 2:13-25, 19-23
Daily Lectionary: Genesis 47:1-31; Mark 13:24-37
“And when he rose, he took the child and His mother by night and went out to Egypt.” (St. Matthew 2:14)
Happy Lent! In the name of Jesus. Amen. One of my sons once asked me, “If Mary is Jesus’ mother and God the Father is His Father, what’s that make Joseph?”
It makes Joseph the Guardian, the righteous stepfather, and the protector of the Lord. He is given the task of protecting Jesus as a child and caring for His mother. To do this, God communicates with him multiple times in dreams.
At first, he was going to divorce Mary quietly. She was pregnant before the wedding day and he wasn’t the father. But then he had a dream. God told Him in a dream who the child was—Mary was carrying a Son by the Holy Spirit and the One growing in her belly was the very Son of God.
After the Baby was born, Joseph has another dream with the command to take the child and flee to Egypt, because Herod wanted to kill the child. A few years later, in Egypt, another dream told him that those who sought the child’s life are dead. Did he ever get a good night sleep with all these dreams?
But Joseph’s sleepy nights (or lack thereof) don’t matter. Joseph knows that. He knows why he’s here. He’s here to serve God by protecting Mary and the Child. When the Lord speaks, Joseph does what he is told to do. He listens to what God would have him do.
He serves God in his vocation: husband and step-father. He serves God by caring for his wife and son. He does what the Lord says—even the strange orders like, “Leave now,” and, “Come back.” He receives it all as a gift and in so doing he protects those given to his care.
We don’t know much more about St. Joseph after Jesus‘ youth. We do know he served faithfully. We know by inference that he taught some of his carpentry trade to Jesus. We know he is not at the crucifixion.
Was he already dead? We don’t know. We know that his task was done. Jesus couldn’t be protected from what was coming to Him on Good Friday. After all, the Cross is why Jesus came. He came to die for Mary, Joseph, you and me. Happy Lent! In the name of Jesus. Amen.
“Almighty God, from the house of Your servant David You raised up Joseph to be the guardian of Your incarnate Son and the husband of His mother, Mary. Grant us grace to follow the example of this faithful workman in heeding Your counsel and obeying Your commands; through Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.” (Collect of St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus)