Listening to that gospel story about Jesus in the Temple has new resonance for us today. Those of us who grew up with stranger danger already freak out at the thought of leaving our pre-teen son in a strange, public place for hours. Now it’s all the scarier when what surrounds us is a deadly contagion.
This is an odd story to use for Joseph since he doesn’t get the play in Luke as he does in Matthew. In Matthew, we might find ourselves with another opportunity to see Joseph in action. This time in protecting his son from a different kind of plague—the barbaric desire of King Herod to murder children.
How fitting it is, then, to consider Joseph. While it seems many of us have the twin desires to consume a great deal of information about COVID-19 and at the same time hear nothing more about it. But if Joseph felt that desire, it would seem that he managed to overcome it for the sake of his family.
It is easy to believe that we would do something to protect our family. The image of Joseph as protecting the Holy Family is as indelible as it is universal. But such a belief is probably, at best, more aspirational than realistic. We all want to be protectors when most of the time, we rarely get the chance.
There’s also a dark side to such a desire. To protect one’s family at all costs would mean that we would do that even at the expense of others. And while that idea of putting one’s family first seems noble, again, COVID-19 reveals its limits.
Now, to protect our family, we must protect other people’s families by not going out in public. Children can protect their parents by not visiting them.
How hard this is!
To not see our friends. Not only to protect ourselves and our families but to protect all those we love from being exposed to us?
Joseph is also the patron saint of the working man: an image that is perhaps, long past due for an update anyway. We are reimagining our roles as parents and protectors, yes. And we are reimagining what it means to work, provide, and construct the life of our homes and families.
And this opportunity to reimagine gives me hope.
Of course, we can sit here and bemoan the ways Joseph’s example doesn’t give us literal action today—that the traditional insight from his example is not open to us today. But we don’t have to see it so narrowly. Not now.
The grace of having an example like Saint Joseph, the step-father who could be called the Dad of God is that it will never play out like that for us. But what can play out is the sense of honor and responsibility. The sense of listening when God says, Hey, I’ve got this crazy idea for you. We have the example of a person—someone who lived through scary times and provided for the one who would save us tomorrow.
The image of a perfect sacrifice, of true love, and commitment to God. An image we can certainly use today.
Noonday Prayer