Lent Day 16 | 40 to Life

A Pace Lenten Reflection
Saturday 19 March 2022
The Feast Day of St. Joseph

Hello Redeemer Family! I’m Allison Pace. Welcome back to our Lenten Reflection series, 40 to Life. 

Today, Saturday March 19 is the last day of the Second Week in Lent…it is also the Feast Day of St. Joseph–a Jewish man, a descendant of David, a carpenter, a man of great faith who, with great gentleness and humility, accepted the God-given responsibility and vocation of being Jesus Christ’s earthly father.

There is very little we know about Joseph…and truthfully, as I was preparing this reflection, I struggled with what I should say. The more I sat with what I know about Joseph, the more I came to realize, there is so much we can learn from him.

Joseph is mentioned in the Gospels of Matthew, John and Luke. John’s Gospel mentions Joseph in passing, referring to Jesus as “the Son of Joseph” only a handful of times. 

The Gospels according to Luke and Matthew are the only books in the Bible that identify Joseph as the Jewish man who listened and was called by God to live into a counter-cultural way of living and being because he lovingly supported Mary during her pregnancy and birth of Jesus, even though they were not yet married; we also learn from these Gospels that Joseph was the father who swiftly nourished and protected his family as they became refugees and fled into Egypt to escape King Herod. 

The other instance we learn more about Joseph is from the Gospel appointed for today, which comes from the Book of Luke, chapter 2, verses 41 through 52. 

In this text, Jesus is a child, who wanders away from his family while they are visiting Jerusalem for the passover. Joseph is depicted in this story as a father who cares for his son, and who is filled with an enormous amount of anxiety because he and Mary cannot find Jesus. 

So what can we learn from Joseph? We learn to be gentle and humble with each other and with ourselves; we learn that God looks with great favor on those whom we deem “ordinary” and calls them to extraordinary tasks; and we learn that each and every one of us has the full human potential to exhibit a tremendous amount of bravery, even in times of uncertainty. 

But, there is one story where Joseph isn’t mentioned, and I’ve often wondered why…or better question, where was Joseph during Jesus’ crucifixion? Had he died? Was he there and simply wasn’t mentioned? Or perhaps he wasn’t in Jerusalem at the time? 

And so today, as we continue our journey with Jesus to the cross, I invite you to wonder and imagine where Joseph might have been, and what he might have felt while his son was nailed to the hardwood of the cross?