St. Joseph, Guardian
Beloved. There is a great blessing in what we confess in the Creed of the Church—the Communion of saints. I believe in… the Holy Christian Church, the Communion of saints. What this means, among other things, is that we are not alone. We are surrounded by all the saints/ the faithful who have gone on before us in the faith. This is so beautifully pictured for us in our communion liturgy, as we close the Preface with the words: therefore with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, we laud and magnify Thy glorious name evermore praising Thee and saying, Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Sabaoth… In Church, and in particular in the Communion service, there is heaven on earth. We are gathered around our Lord, around His altar here like a throne; He is not only spiritually here but also physically here, giving us His body and blood. Not only are we here but we are joining our praise of Jesus with the praise the saints in heaven, before the throne, are giving Him; we join them lauding and magnifying His glorious name. The saints are in heaven; we are on earth; but there is one Church praising God.
This communion/ fellowship we have with the saints also is expressed this way in holy Scripture: Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith… Notice the imagery: we are running a race, the race of this life in which we are running toward the goal of eternal life in heaven. The point? The saints are that so great a cloud of witnesses. Not only are they “cheering us on” to remain faithful to our Lord until death and so to die in the faith, but by their life and witness they left us examples of patient endurance, of the Lord’s gracious working in their lives.
We look at the life and witness of the saints down through the ages and we also remember the things they said and wrote that confessed their faith. We think of the great missionary to the Irish, St. Patrick, whom we remembered a few days ago. He wrote: “I, Patrick the sinner, …came to the heathen Irish to preach the Gospel… ready to give even my life for His name’s sake… I never had any cause except the Gospel and His promises.”
We think of the many writings of a St. Augustine for example who wrote: Our souls are restless, O Lord, until they rest in you.
We think of a saint dear to us, Martin Luther, who wrote dozens of volumes that have been translated into English and many more to go. Although he wrote great serious theological writings, he could express great theological truths in a easy to understand way such as: I simply taught, preached, and wrote God’s Word….And while I slept or drank Wittenberg beer with my friends Philip and Amsdorf, the Word so greatly weakened the papacy that no prince or emperor ever inflicted such losses on it. I did nothing. The Word did everything. Or you think of the saints of the New Testament, like St. Paul, who wrote [Eph. 2.8]: By grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing.
Or we think of St. Peter and his beautiful Spirit worked confession of Jesus [Mt 16.16]: You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.
So today, as we remember St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus and husband of St. Mary, it does us well to remember some of his great sayings the Holy Spirit saw fit to record in Scripture. And what are some of those? Well, even though we search far and wide in Scripture, there is not a single word of St. Joseph recorded in all of Scripture. But he is still part of that great a cloud of witnesses whose life and witness give us strength and encouragement. St. Joseph may be a silent saint but his works recorded in Scripture speak powerfully for him and his faith and they strengthen us to live out our faith and to hold fast to our Lord all our days.
1. The vital thing to remember is that through his faith St. Joseph, the silent saint, is a saint. His faith shows itself powerfully in the few accounts we have of him in the Gospels, one of which is today’s text in which the angel announces to Him that St. Mary, his Virgin wife will have a Child by the Holy Spirit; that that Child will be the long promised/ awaited Savior: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.”
The beauty of St. Joseph’s faith is shown right away in the Holy Spirit’s description of him: her husband Joseph, being a just man. There’s that word: just. To be just is to be righteous. The Lord tells us through the prophet [Hab. 2.4]: but the righteous shall live by his faith. What does all this mean? It means that God had declared St. Joseph righteous. Was that because St. Joseph was sinless? No, in fact, it was just the opposite. St. Joseph, like all of us are, was a sinner in need of God’s grace. He needed the forgiveness of sins. He needed God to declare him righteous/ just. And how was it that St. Joseph was declared righteous? –Through faith; the righteous shall live by his faith. He was in a right relationship with God. Like all of the OT faithful, St. Joseph looked forward in faith to the coming Savior who would be the perfect, once for all sacrifice for sin. St. Joseph would look at the sacrifices done in the temple and be reminded of his sin but also of the Lord’s grace—that animal was being killed for his sin so that he could live; and that grace pointed him forward in faith to God’s greatest gift and grace—the promised Savior. It was through that faith in the Savior that God declared St. Joseph—and all OT faithful—just/ righteous, just like the Lord said of Abraham: [Abraham] believed the LORD, and [the LORD] counted it to him as righteousness.
And then notice how the angel addressed St. Joseph in our text: Joseph, son of David,... Yes, St. Matthew had just recorded Jesus’ genealogy showing Joseph’s line from Abraham and David. And as Jesus’ legal father—since Jesus had no human father—Joseph brought Jesus into that line. But what is also significant of these words, Joseph, son of David, is not just that St. Joseph is physically a descendant of St. David, but that he is also a spiritual descendant of David, that is, he has faith in the Savior/ Messiah that God promised would be a Descendant of St. David. That’s the promise we heard in the OT reading today. David wanted to build the Lord a temple; but the Lord said “no” and turned it around and said that He would bless David by having the line of the Messiah go through him: When your days are fulfilled and you rest with your fathers, I will set up your seed after you, who will come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for My name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. I will be his Father, and he shall be My son. Long after, he’s dead, God would raise up the Savior, a Descendant of David, and He would set up an eternal kingdom—the Church.
This was the faith of the OT faithful—the Savior/ Messiah would be a descendant of David. David held to that coming Savior in faith and so did St. Joseph, and that’s why he is called Joseph, son of David—he’s a true spiritual descendant. St. Joseph was a lowly representative of David’s ruined line.
Through faith, Joseph is a saint; he believes in and rejoices that God keeps His promises. And in that faith he believed the heavenly messenger, the angel. What a great faith the Lord worked in St. Joseph—first to believe in the coming Savior, but also to believe that he would be guardian/ foster father of that Savior. And what is it that we see? The word of the angel created that faith: “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” That’s a message that demanded faith and worked that faith.
It is such an impossible message to believe—a virgin birth, the Son of God, a Savior! It was a great miracle that St. Joseph believed! But that word, that Gospel word, worked faith in Joseph to believe it and not just a simple assent but, because faith is a mighty, bold, active thing, to act on it: When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.
We, dear Christian, are not in any less a position than St. Joseph. Remember—it wasn’t the sight of an angel that created faith in St. Joseph to believe, but the word. That’s the same word we hear today. Today we hear of Jesus and His saving work. Today in the absolution we hear Jesus, through the pastor, announce and give us the forgiveness of our sins. Today through the word in Scripture, faithfully taught, Jesus is teaching us about Himself—that He is both true man and true God and Savior of the world/ our Savior. Through the word spoken over us and poured on us in Holy Baptism, faith in Jesus was created in our hearts, our sins washed away and we were united with Jesus and brought in His holy family. Today when we hear Jesus’ words: This is My Body, this is My Blood given and poured out for you for the forgiveness of sins, faith is strengthened to recognize Jesus’ body and blood there, forgiving us our sins, even though our eyes see mere bread and wine.
2. As a saint, that is, one with faith in the true God and in a right and proper relationship with Him, St. Joseph quietly did what he was to do: When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. Faith works. Even before the visit from the angel, what do we see St. Joseph doing? And [Mary’s] husband Joseph, being a just man and unwilling to put her to shame, resolved to divorce her quietly. But as he considered these things… From his faith, flowed good works—not the least of which was St. Joseph’s mercy. His kindness, mercy and benevolence were put to the test by this once in history event. Even after he showed mercy and not insisting on what he could do legally, put her to shame, he was still pondering and thinking about his actions: But as he considered these things. His faith was active; his attitudes and decisions were guided by the Lord.
At the right time, in the hour of confusion and trial, the Lord intervened with St. Joseph, banished his anguish and strengthened his faith by the word and led him to do the right thing. When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him. St. Joseph did not divorce St. Mary but in faith assumed his role as Jesus’ legal father, His legal paternal ancestor, bringing Jesus into the line of David; by law his rights and privileges were transferred to his son. St. Joseph accepting the Child as a true faithful father had fatherly rights and duties over the Child. And we see the physical protection St. Joseph gave Jesus and Mary as he led them in the flight into to avoid King Herod’s wrath; we see St. Joseph’s spiritual headship in the home, raising the family in the faith, shown by the example of bringing the family to Jerusalem for the festivals.
Although St. Joseph was given special duties and responsibilities and Jesus and St. Mary were entrusted to his care, let us not forget that as Christians, Jesus has also been entrusted to us. In baptism we were united with Him; in Holy Communion we fully receive Him in us. How do we protect Him? That is, do we strive by faithful and diligent use of the word and sacrament to keep us from casting Him out of our hearts? Do we strive to do and follow His will?
Let us look at the example of St. Joseph, the silent saint, and quietly do our work as Christians, letting our faith flow into good works. Let us know that just as the Lord gave St. Joseph grace and wisdom to do the work He called him to do, so too will our Lord give us His grace and strength to do what He has called us to do. As He was faithful to St. Joseph, so will He be to us. INJ Amen.