My new take on WWJD: What Would Joseph Do? I haven’t created a new wristband or anything. It’s just that I’m identifying with him in ways previously unexplored. It started with Pope Francis announcing a Year for St. Joseph on Dec. 8, 2020, and creating an accompanying prayer. If the Vatican website isn’t in your list of Favorites, here’s a shortcut to it:
Hail Guardian of the Redeemer, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary.
To you God entrusted his only Son; in you Mary placed her trust; with you Christ became man.
Blessed Joseph, to us too, show yourself a father and guide us in the path of life.
Obtain for us grace, mercy, and courage, and defend us from every evil. Amen.
Three words spoke to me. First was trust. God entrusted His only Son to Joseph’s care. When God the Father trusts someone with His most precious beloved Son, from his most vulnerable moments as an infant to his growth and development as a young boy to his maturity into manhood – that gets my attention.
His wife, Mary, also found him worthy of trust. What other word could possibly describe her response to his announcement of a dream containing a message from an angel (Mt. 2:13-15). Can you picture it? “Mary, wake up. We have to leave town tonight, travel to Egypt, and live there for a time.” Mary: “What? Leave our home now? Why?” And when he explained, she trusted him, woke Jesus, gathered necessities for a two week journey and went. She could have easily questioned and doubted him. “Why didn’t the angel bring the message to both of us?”
It is striking, is it not? God asked Mary to trust Joseph when he could have just as easily sent a messenger to them both. After all they were living in the same abode – not like during their betrothal when they lived separately. Yet God asked Joseph to trust the angel, and Mary to trust Joseph. Perhaps it is a model for us. Sometimes trusting God includes believing that he speaks to us through others. After all, there’s no doubt that this was not the only time that Mary trusted Joseph’s leadership for their family.
Guardian – But Not of a Galaxy
The second word was guardian. I’ve always found other descriptors lacking: foster father, human father, or just father of Jesus (with the unspoken caveat that he was just a stand-in). But Guardian. Now that resonates. A guardian is called on to protect and defend something or someone of great value and worth. Joseph was called into that role from the moment of Jesus’ birth.
Finding a safe place for Mary’s delivery, protected from the elements and unwanted visitors. Whisking the Child away from the threat of Herod’s murderous grasp in the middle of the night to Egypt. Protecting and guarding his toddler son in a foreign land for an undetermined period of time. Keeping his young family safe during the perilous journey back to Israel, and ultimately choosing to settle in Nazareth – a safe distance from the watch of Herod’s son.
One could even make the case for his guardianship of Jesus in the womb after he was asked by an angel to take Mary into his home during their time of betrothal. His “safe house” kept her pregnancy from being exposed as a violation of Jewish law and the prescribed punishment: death by stoning – and the concomitant death of her unborn child. Yes, Guardian indeed, trusted by the Creator of the universe.
Spousal Support
The third word was spouse. Joseph was called into a marriage covenant with the mother of the Savior of the world. A sacred commitment to love, honor, protect, defend and provide for a teenage mom until death would part them.
We don’t often think of their marriage. Every account of them together in Scripture is focused on their son. His conception, his birth, his circumcision in the Temple, their flight to Egypt, his visit from Magi, and their anxious separation from their twelve year old son during the feast of Passover in Jerusalem.
But it was their marriage that created the environment in which Jesus would grow from childhood to manhood. It was their love for each other that nurtured and shaped his development in mind, body, and spirit. “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man (Lk. 2: 52)(NIV).”
Even in my professional field of mental health counseling today, it is generally recognized that the most significant influence on a child’s development of a healthy “self” is not a particular parenting approach or educational factor. It is the relationship between the husband and wife – an atmosphere within the home generated by spousal love.
The Latest Model
Meditating on the life of Joseph, I encounter a man who was found trustworthy by his wife, his son, and his God. A guardian for his family who was decisive in the face of danger and obedient when he heard the word of God to him. A spouse who was faithful to his marriage covenant, willing to risk reputation and public ridicule to protect his beloved wife. And finally, a man who spent the majority of his days as a working man, honing the skills of his craft, earning a living for the support of his family. I encounter a model for my life.
So for anyone who is a husband and father like me, when you face the challenges of daily life in the twenty-first century, join me in considering this: What Would Joseph Do?
