Shoved to Them
I’ve asked my kids about John the Baptist and the Blessed Mother. Today we’re talking about St Joseph because it’s his feast day! As before, I’m in blue and everything else is my children (ages 5-15)
Today is the feast of St Joseph, so who was he?
He was Jesus’s dad!
No, he wasn’t . God was Jesus’s dad. St Joseph was his step-dad.
What’s a step-dad?
It’s like the mom has a baby with someone and then marries someone else. The someone else is the step-dad. He’s like a loaner or a bonus dad.
Was he in the Bible?
Yes. He’s the guy the wisemen gave the presents to, and he pulled the donkey that Mary rode on.
Why did he have to pull the donkey?
They like to dig their feet in and not go. Sometimes you have to drag them.
Yes, donkeys are stubborn. What about St Joseph, what do we know about him?
He was a good walker. He walked to Bethlehem. He walked to Egypt. He walked back again.
He was a carpenter. He made stuff with wood like furniture and doors.
He did? Good for him!
I’ll bet he had scratchy hands from working with wood all day. Splinters and tools. That stuff has to be hard on your hands. Plus I don’t think they lotioned.
That would be bad for spankings.
Yeah, good thing Jesus didn’t get any.
He didn’t?
No. He’s “free from sin.” Remember?
So that makes Jospeh like the luckiest step-dad ever. Right? He lucked right into the one kid who never was bad. That’s awesome. He like never had to yell. Ever.
He didn’t luck into it. An angel told him to do it, but like in a dream. He never even saw the angel while he was awake. He just had some crazy dream and decided that it must be true.
I dream weird stuff all the time and it’s not ever true. That must have been some crazy dream for him to wake up and be all “Whoa…I should marry that girl who’s pregnant with God’s baby.”
He was either really crazy or he believed. A lot.
Old or young?
Old. Definitely. If he never touched his wife he was an old dude.
What do you mean he never touched her? How did he help her off the donkey?
Never mind. He was definitely old, Mom. You don’t trust the Son of God to some teenager.
Except Mary.
Right, you don’t give your kid to some kid unless that kid is Mary.
No way. Her parents would never let her marry some old guy. Who would take care of her when he died? She’d have little kids and no one to protect her. That would be dumb of them. He was young but holy.
Why holy?
Because he listens to angels in dreams at least twice. Which means that angels came to his dreams at least twice. I don’t think they come to unholy people. Plus he didn’t touch her, if you know what I mean.
I do. Why didn’t he touch her?
She was like the tabernacle or something holding Jesus in her. Like at church. The only guys who get to touch it are ordained like the priest or deacon. He was a carpenter. He could look but not touch. He was holy, but she was like HOLY. Ya know?
Do we know a lot about him?
Just that he listened to angels, raised Jesus, and didn’t talk a lot. Because if he’d talked it would be in the Bible. Oh, and he lost Jesus.
He lost Him? He had one job “Raise my kid.” One job and he lost Him? Can you go to Heaven if you lose God’s Son.
Whatever. They found Him, and he was all “Didn’t you know I’d be in my Father’s house?” That must have hurt his feelings. It’s kind of mean. It’s true, but I’d be sad if my step-kid who I’d raised from a baby said that to me.
He loved Mary enough to protect her from gossips and King Herod. He married her because the dream angel told him to. He wasn’t afraid of hard stuff because “Raise my kid” is like the biggest job ever. He was mostly a regular guy, but weird enough to be like….
Extraordinary?
Yeah. Like a super hero but living always as the alter ego so no one knows his real identity.
He was a super hero? Did he get a cape?
No. He got a halo.
I’d rather have a cape.
**Photo: JLPC / Wikimedia Commons, via Wikimedia Commons
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