Feast of St. Joseph, Guardian of Jesus [Sirach 45:1-6]

David’s descendent guarding David’s son and Lord. King David, of long ago, is guarding the promise of the Lord by having children. David’s descendent is guarding the promise of the Lord made flesh and David’s Son will guard the promise of the Lord with His death and resurrection.

Jesus asks you today, “Whose son is the Christ” and “If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” In Jesus’ argument with the Pharisees, in Matthew 22, Jesus is showing that there is a Christ, He is coming, and He will be a man.

David’s throne will be preserved forever, is the promise. In our ears that means that a descendant of David will always be ruling Israel. This doesn’t make too much sense during the Babylonian Exile or during the few hundred years before Jesus, when there apparently was no king.

But the king was reigning in silence. Where Herod took the throne by force and pomp, St. Joseph made no claims on his heritage. Where David’s kingdom was filled with men of war, St. Joseph simply had tools lining his walls.

In celebrating the Feast day of St. Joseph, we come to realize that we know very little about him. Two important things stand out: 1) he is David’s son and 2) he is a just man.

Moses was not beloved of God and men because of some inner quality he possessed. In fact, he was the worst man God could have chosen to lead His people out of Egypt: whinny, speech impediment, and not at all a people person.

Similarly, St. Joseph was not what we would call a prominent man. His SOLE qualification for being the foster-father of Jesus, was his genealogy. His life wasn’t flashy, he wasn’t wealthy or famous, and according to tradition, he was old.

Yet, both of these men were entrusted with so great a purpose. Both of these men were counted as righteous before the Lord, treasuring the Word of the Lord.

You are not lovely. You are loved. You are not worthy. You are bought and paid for. For what Jesus seeks in this world is His own creation. Just as He made the entire cosmos from nothing, so he remakes all of creation from nothing inside you.

In some odd way, we can say that Moses and St. Joseph did not have a choice as to the things that were going to happen to them. For from the beginning, the Lord had in mind the salvation of mankind and nothing was going to stop it.

But, in an easy to understand way, Moses and St. Joseph did have a choice; a choice they made in faith, not with their natural reason. A choice they made having been justified by grace; a choice born of Faith, nurtured by faith, and kept by Faith.

Faith that believes God’s Word even when it says flee to Egypt. Faith that believes even when there is a better deal elsewhere. Faith that believes that Jesus can be both David’s Son and David’s Lord, born of a virgin, and guarded by a foster-father chosen specifically by our heavenly Father.

This, then, the Word also speaks to you. You are chosen. You are made righteous. You are justified, not because you have special qualities, but because the Son of God declares you forgiven.

Jesus speaks and you are loved and made lovely. Jesus creates that which He seeks and that is redemption through His Body and Blood. The true King reigns from the shadows, not cutting off heads or strong-arming indoctrination.

Jesus, as His foster father before Him, does His best not to call attention to Himself, but to His Word and His Sacraments. For it is there that the sinner finds salvation. It is there that the unlovely finds his beauty. It is there, in the silence of the Lamb of God on the cross, that you find your salvation.