ST JOSEPH: FATHER & TEACHER OF CHRIST

And they kept saying, “Is this not Jesus the son of Joseph?”  — St. John 6:42

The Holy Bible does not give us a full account of the life of the Holy Family except for a brief mention in the Gospel of St. Luke, when Jesus is already twelve years of age. These hidden years were no doubt filled with the everyday joys and sorrows that families experience all the time.

According to Venerable Maria de Agreda, upon arriving at their home in Nazareth, St. Joseph straightaway set out to re-establish himself as a carpenter, opening up his shop to earn a living for his family: 

The holy Joseph also ordered his occupations and his work so as most worthily to earn sustenance for the divine Child and his Mother as well as for himself. That, which in other sons of Adam is considered a punishment and a hardship, was to this holy Patriarch a great happiness. For while others were condemned to sustain their natural life by the labour of their hands in the sweat of their brows, saint Joseph was blessed and consoled beyond measure to know, that he had been chosen by his labour and sweat to support God Himself and his Mother.

— Ven. Maria de Agreda,

Mystical City of God: Book 4, Chapter 9

As time went by, Joseph, having now established his family and his work in Nazareth, would go on to teach his son in the ways of life. No doubt that he could learn a lot from his son, but Jesus chooses to respect his intelligence, his hard work, his human nature. In renaissance art, Joseph is often depicted in the background, not playing an active part in the life of Christ when the exact opposite would be true. Who would have spent the most time with Christ besides the Blessed Mother? It would be Joseph, his father. For the first few years of life, the Child Jesus would have been reared mostly by his mother while his father went off to work. Once the Child Jesus grew to suitable age, St. Joseph would take over and instruct him in the ways of life through work and schooling.

FATHER AND TEACHER

If princes of this world are most careful in choosing tutors for their sons, taking pains to secure the best that can be found, do you think that God did not select the man who was the most perfectly qualified to be the guardian of his eternal Son, the Lord of heaven and earth?

— St. Francis de Sales

Complete Works: Discourse 19

 Joseph would most certainly have taught Christ how to read, how to pray, and how to work just like any other father would. This scholastic view of Joseph as teacher is rarely thought of among the theologians or painted in the arts. However, during the seventeenth century, many artists began to portray him as somewhat of a scholar, with an open book in front of him. In some of these paintings, he is actually pointing to a verse in the book, which we assume is our Holy Scripture, as he gazes at the Child Jesus. What does this mean to us? What is Joseph telling us? He was well aware of the prophecies that spoke of a future Messiah and the depiction of him with the book while looking at Jesus is telling us that Jesus is in fact the Promised One and his father is showing this to us. 

Let us not assume that just because he worked with his hands, he was illiterate and did not take the time to read the words of the prophets. We are told in Scripture that when Jesus came to this earth, he emptied himself and did not cling to his divinity, so as to be like one of us (Philippians 2:5-9). Jesus genuinely willed himself to learn from his father on earth and to grow as any other Jewish boy would. Joseph was a father, guardian, and teacher to his son. This Joseph of ours is both worker and intellectual, and no doubt he passed these ideals on to Christ our Lord.

My son, conduct your affairs with humility and you will be loved more than a giver of gifts. Humble yourself the more . . . and you will find favour with God. For great is the power of God; by the humble he is glorified. — Sirach 3:17-20

Hear, O children, a father’s instruction, be attentive, that you may gain understanding! . . . When I was my father’s child, frail, yet the darling of my mother, he taught me, and said to me: “Let your heart hold fast my words! Keep my commands, do not forget; go not astray from the words of my mouth.” — Proverbs 4:1-7