Another Look at Joseph

Friday, December 20

Matthew 1:18-25

Now the birth of Jesus took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be with child from the Holy Spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to dismiss her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of God 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.” All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by God through the prophet: “Look, the virgin shall conceive and bear a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel,” which means, “God is with us.” When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of God commanded him; he took her as his wife.

Poor old Joseph—more like a puppet than a real man. He provides a face for a particular theological idea, simply: Jesus was a product of a human mother and a god-father. With that basis, comes the creation of a virgin Mary and a Joseph who did not have sexual intercourse with Mary before marriage.

From a need to create a Jesus who is both divine and human, comes a convoluted story of his conception. And from that need comes a system of morality that has created barriers of inclusion and exclusion for over 2000 years.

Jesus’ family includes a virgin mother and an impotent father. Also, nothing is offered about the sex life of Jesus so are we to assume that he was celibate? From Old Testament narratives that offer all kinds of sexual expressions to a New Testament that is void of sexuality, we tend to renounce sex rather than embrace sex as part of our spirituality. Perhaps we can open up that narrative for a more whole and wholesome spirituality that includes our sexuality.

In addition, with the puppet-like character of Joseph we miss any sense of a father-son relationship between Joseph and Jesus. While I deeply appreciated the close relationship Jesus has with God, I do miss a sense of a human father-son interaction.

With that in mind, I really love this image of father Joseph and son Jesus created by Christopher Santer.

I also love this image from a fresco by Pietro Annigoni showing a father Joseph lovingly interacting with a young son. We need these images of loving family relationships to nurture our own family lives.

Detail

Another artist, Jeffrey Mongrain, created a ceramic statue of Joseph that offers an interesting portrayal of Joseph’s response to his dream from God. 

Mongrain says:

There are both scientific and artistic renderings of the brain’s neurons during sleep.  This halo-like form in the abstract shape of a dream neuron surrounds the head of the stone statue of St. Joseph.  St. Joseph' Dream refers to three specific Biblical episodes in which Saint Joseph is visited by an Angel in a dream.  All appear in the Gospel of Matthew.
First dream, Joseph is told not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.
Second dream, Joseph is warned to leave Bethlehem and flee to Egypt.
Third dream, Joseph is told it is safe to return to go back to Nazareth.

James Tissot is another artist who offers interesting views of various aspects of Joseph's life.

Joseph's Anxiety

Elderly Joseph

With these different ways of seeing Joseph, Tissot opens our imagination to deconstructing and reconstructing our theological understanding. In this ways, artists give us ‘permission’ to retell the story of Joseph.

Our Advent Exploration question for today is: How would you retell the story of Joseph for today?