Joe and the Holy Spirit: A Spirit of Adoption

St Paul says to us in his letter to the Romans: 

For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption, through which we cry, "Abba, Father!" [to God]. (Romans 8:15)

It was through Joe that Jesus was legally adopted into the royal household of David (True Husband and Father). We could very well re-word St. Paul's words regarding Jesus and Joe:

For Jesus did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but He received a spirit of adoption, through which He cries, "abba, father!" [to David].

Some time ago, I shared a portion of St Augustine's reflection on the lineage of Jesus, in which he reflected on the linage of Mary as being a daughter of Aaron (One Mother, Two Roots). Hence, Mary with Joe form Jesus as both a king and a priest of the Old Covenant (albeit the fulfillment of the Old Covenant kings and priests). If we are made members of Christ (CCC, 1213), then we too are brought into the fulfillment of the Old Testament kings and priests. I wonder, therefore, if this gives any support to what St. Peter says to us:

But you are “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own..." (1 Peter 2:9)

Providentially, I am writing this post on the Feast of Sts. Peter and Paul, and it just really occurred to me that I have referred to both of them. Perhaps, yet another movement of the Holy Spirit and Joe together!

The Return of the King

St. Luke tells us that Joseph and Mary went to Jerusalem each year for the feast of Passover (Luke 2:41) fulfilling the commandment for all Jews to gather at the Tabernacle (and later, the Temple) (Deuteronomy 16:5-6). In this little detail, we find yet another parallel between Joe and King David.

It was King David who brought the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle to Jerusalem (2 Samuel 6), and it was his son, King Solomon, who built the Temple (1 Kings 6).
Mary has been called 'the Ark of the New Covenant' since very early in Christianity. Here we find the parallel of the New King David bringing the Ark of the New Covenant to Jerusalem.

Even more, like King David who did not build the Temple - leaving that to his son - Joe does not build the new Temple, but leaves that to his Son (John 2:19-21).

The New Ahaz

A blessed Solemnity of the Annunciation to you!

In today’s First Reading at Mass, we hear of the promise of God to be with His people. He is Emmanuel - God with us. Always. Yet Ahaz the king did not believe this project through Isaiah. This is, however, not the first time that we have heard of King Ahaz; he is in fact a forefather of Joe (Matthew 1:9). As the genealogy of Jesus points out, there were a plethora of both saints and sinners in the family tree. Ahaz was among the “sinners”, in fact his lack of faith in the true God lead him to even sacrifice his own children to false gods (2 Chronicles 28:1-4). What a stark contrast to Joe, who because of faith, accepted a child to be his own! In a way, we can call Joe, the New Ahaz, or the Ahaz that should have been.

The Silent Builder

This last Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of the Presentation of Our Lord in the Temple. In other words, we celebrate the physical entrance of the Jesus into His House. In 1 Kings 6:7 we learn that when Solomon built the Temple, he had the stone cut and carved at the quarry “so that no hammer or ax, no iron tool, was to be heard in the house [of the Lord] during its construction.” This got me thinking. Perhaps, this was a foreshadowing of the Private or Hidden Years of Jesus - those years of which we know nothing of.

Joe is the Son of Solomon just as he is the Son of David. So, as the Lord’s  covenant with David is fulfilled by Jesus through Joe (2 Samuel 7:8-16), so also, the Lord’s covenant with Solomon will also be fulfilled by Jesus through Joe: “I will dwell in the midst of the Israelites and will not forsake my people Israel.” (1 Kings 6:13). Yet, there is a new twist in understanding this covenant when Jesus begins His public ministry for He reveals that He is the true Temple of the Father (John 2:21). The House of Nazareth was the quarry where the stone was cut and prepared for the construction. I don’t think it is coincidental that Joe was a carpenter, the “hammer, axe, and iron tool” were the tools of his trade.

The Eighth Day

Happy New Year! May it be richly blessed!

By law, Jewish boys were circumcised on the eighth day of their birth. Today, on January 1, the eighth day of Jesus’ Nativity, we celebrate this occasion. But why? For two reasons, I suppose.

1. Circumcision brought Jesus into both sides of the Abrahamic Covenant (Genesis 17:1-22). He always was God, but not always man.
2. This would have been an official sign of paternity on the part of Joe. Thus, this occasion also marks Jesus’ entrance into both sides of the Davidic covenant as well (2 Samuel 7:8-16).

Both are effected by Joe. As God accepted Abraham and David into everlasting covenants, so Joe accepted, as descendant of both Abraham and David, God into everlasting covenant. 

Today is also the day that we recall the bestowal of the Name of Jesus. Here is a flash back to a reflection on the major significance of the little detail of Matthew 1:25, “Who do you say that I am?”

Son of David, Do Not Fear

Next week, we begin the season of Lent, so I thought it would be good to offer some reflection on the infancy narrative before we being. I came across this article entitled, Joseph, Son of David, by Fr. Nicholas Solak, an Orthodox Priest. I strongly encourage you to read the entire article, but here are some quotes that I consider thought-provoking:

• How often we forget that we belong to God. So often we allow ourselves to be guided by fear and shame.
• He [God] offers us a righteousness far beyond our own when we accept that we are “sons of David.” We are part of the divine genealogy.
• Joseph does not rely on his own righteousness but rather is simply open and responsive to his divine vocation as “Son of David.” He is one who belongs to God, and he abandons his own ways in order to follow the Lord.
• Celebrating the Feast of our Lord’s Nativity in the flesh is a time for us, like Joseph, to offer our fear to the Lord. It is a time for us to recognize that our true vocation is a divine vocation, a time for us to embrace this divine calling fully and to become “sons of David.” Let this Feast of our Lord’s Nativity be a time for us joyfully to actualize in our lives the festive shout, “God is with us!”

This Lent, let us not be filled with fear. Instead, let us imitate Joe who "did as the angel of the Lord had commanded him" (Matthew 1:24).

Joe, the Holy Date Palm?

Today stands between the feasts of St. Francis de Sales (Jan. 24) and St. John Bosco (Jan. 31). In looking for something to share this week, I began my search for anything that St. John Bosco might have said about Joe. However, I really couldn't find anything, but I was inspired to look at what St. Francis de Sales had to say. After all, John Bosco had such a great devotion to Francis de Sales that he named the religious order that he established after de Sales: the Salesian Order. I came across a talk that de Sales gave, entitled On the Virtues of St. Joseph. You can read the talk here.

What struck me most about this talk was how Francis de Sales compared Joe to a date-palm tree, and it truly is an amazing comparison. He begins the talk by quoting Psalm 92:13, "The just shall flourish like the palm tree..." He basically compares Joe's three "primary" virtues (virginity, humility, and courage) with the date tree:

1. Virginity (pg. 366-371): The date-palm tree is either male or female (the male tree exclusively produces the pollen, and the female tree exclusively produces the flower). Therefore, "the male palm-tree does not bear fruit, and yet it is not unfruitful, for the female palm would bear no fruit without it, or without its aspects." Similarly, Joe does not produce children of his own (de Sales believed that Joe was a young-virgin spouse of Mary, pg. 369); yet, he is not unfruitful because Jesus becomes his son through his spousal relationship with Mary.
2. Humility (pg. 371-378): The date-palm tree does not produce flowers until summer-time. Francis de Sales interprets summer-time spiritually as one's entrance into heaven and the putting forth of flowers as the recognition of virtue. He says that the humble person does not try to make their virtue public, but tries to keep it hidden, and prefers that God will reveal the person's virtue after he or she has died. De Sales points out that the Sacred Scriptures do not directly reveal much about Joe because Joe truly lived a humble and hidden life (pg. 372-373).
3. Courage (pg. 378-383): The date-palm tree does not bend low the more it becomes laden with fruit; instead, the more fruit it has, the taller it seems to grow. This seems to correspond with the virtue of courage, which does not back away when given a heavier load, but rather, seems to grow even stronger. De Sales relates this to Joe who was given the very difficult task of providing for Jesus and Mary in the midst of dangers, poverty and uncertainty.

So, who knew that Joe could be compared to a date tree? 

In case you were wondering about the biological statements about date trees, consider this Encyclopedia Britannica article on date trees. To make the comparison even more interesting, this article concludes by stating that date-palm leaves are commonly used on Palm Sunday. What was proclaimed on Palm Sunday? “Hosanna to the Son of David..." (Matthew 21:30) 

And is not Joe a son of David? (Matthew 1:20)

Coincidence? I think not.

Joe, King of Heaven?

Like Mary, Joe's dignity comes from his relationship to the Incarnate Word: Mary's dignity comes from being Jesus' mother; Joe's dignity comes from being Mary's spouse. This past Sunday, we celebrated the Feast of Christ the King of the Universe in the Roman Catholic Church. Many use this as the launch point for believing that Mary is Queen of Heaven and Earth. But what about Joe? Is he of royal dignity like Jesus and Mary?

Yes, he is "son of David," the great King of Israel (Matt. 1:20), but is there more? Let's take another look at the Old Testament Joseph. We all know the story: Joseph has dreams and special clothes and is sold as a slave into Egypt (Gen. 37), he goes to jail for being chaste (Gen. 39), he interprets dreams in jail (Gen. 40), and after being in jail for two years, he interprets the dreams of Pharaoh (Gen. 41). In gratitude for Joseph's response, Pharaoh says to him, "You shall be in charge of my household, and all my people will obey your command. Only in respect to the throne will I outrank you." (Gen. 41:40)

Does not the same happen with Joe? The Father says to him, "You shall be in charge of my household, and all my people will obey your command. Only in respect to the throne will I outrank you."

So, is Joe "King of Heaven"? No, but he's only a step below God - although, it is an infinite step between him and God.

"He made him lord over his household, ruler over all his possessions"

-Psalm 105:21