Does God Need a Guardian

“But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said,Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you are to name him Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” -from Matthew 1:18-21

On March 19th, the church commemorates Joseph of Nazareth, a descendant of King David, a carpenter and builder (we might say construction worker today). Joseph was Mary’s husband, (probably arranged from an early age) and functioned as Jesus’ human stepfather through his childhood. The last we hear of Joseph in any of the Gospels is in Luke’s account of Jesus in the temple as a boy (age 12-13). He is also mentioned in Matthew and John as people question whether Jesus could possibly be Joseph’s son. It turns out that questioning the legitimacy of someone’s birth circumstances is indeed a very old tactic to discredit them

The bigger question for Christians is not about Joseph’s genetic relationship to Jesus, but really whether he is important in the story at all, especially since Jesus’ public ministry is clearly grounded in a profound sense that the God of the Torah is also his Abba. There are apocryphal stories of Jesus as a child that feature him doing some astoundingly divine and yet childlike things, making birds out of dirt, levitating or flying, and zapping a neighborhood bully with a bolt of retribution. Does a child with such power need a foster father?

Yet, our affirmation of the full humanity of Jesus means that like all other humans, he grew, learned, changed and experienced his life as all children do. Studies have shown how vital positive adults are in the lives of children. Matthew’s witness places the responsibility for the flight to Egypt and handling their stay there with Joseph. In some small part, Joseph’s patient willingness to be a dad to a child that was not his own, and to provide the love, protection and guidance needed was a harbinger of the longstanding Christian ministry of adoption and caring for orphans.

That is the power of all parenting, both birth and adoptive, that the child may surpass the parents precisely because of what they give to the child. For Mary, what an honor to give life in the flesh to the life-force that spawned the galaxies. For Joseph, what an honor and a privilege to be the protector and the rescuer of the one who would rescue and save us all. God’s ability to work through the most ordinary people, and to do the extraordinary amazes me every day.

Let us pray:

Loving God, for Joseph and for all parents who foster, adopt and protect the children who were not born to them, but who were entrusted to them, we give you thanks. Go with them and with all parents this day, who in sharing your unconditional love with a child, reveal the might of your love for your own Son, Jesus Christ, Our Lord. Amen.