Most of what we commonly say about Joseph comes from apocryphal literature, early Christian writings that were not accepted into the New Testament canon. In these stories, popular imagination fills the vacuum left by the Gospels\u2019 lack of historical detail about Joseph with delightful tales. There is Joseph the old man, for instance. In paintings, nativity scenes and Christmas plays, St. Joseph is usually portrayed as quite old, a grandfatherly figure in the stable at Bethlehem, or an elderly man with a flowering staff or, in deathbed scenes, a grey-haired patriarch whom Jesus and a young Mary stand by and console.<\/p>\n
Yet the Scriptures offer no evidence of Joseph\u2019s advanced age, and they give no details whatsoever about the time or place of his birth or death. Instead, these ideas come from The Protoevangelium of James<\/em>, one of the most influential of the apocrypha. Written around the middle of the second century, The Protoevangelium<\/em> attempted to reconcile Mary\u2019s virginity with scriptural references to Jesus\u2019 \u201cbrothers.\u201d As explanation, the writing imagines Joseph as an old widower with children who was appointed to be the 12-year-old Mary\u2019s guardian, after a dove flew from his staff and hovered over his head in the presence of the high priest.<\/p>\n Nowhere has the popular imagination about Joseph flourished more than in stories about the Holy Family\u2019s flight into Egypt. Coptic legends have Joseph sailing hundreds of miles down the Nile, fleeing with his family. Other stories tell of miracles that made the journey easier: palm trees bowed down to feed the family with their fruit; lions and leopards, instead of attacking them, wagged their tails in homage to Jesus. At Hermopolis, 175 miles south of Cairo, the idols of the pagan temple fell down as Joseph led the family through. Fifty miles farther south, near Kuskam\u2014where Joseph and the family are said to have stayed six months\u2014two robbers accosted them, but one, upon seeing Mary\u2019s tears, repented. According to the legend, these were the robbers later crucified with Jesus; the one who repented was the \u201cgood thief.\u201d<\/p>\n Caravaggio: Rest on the Flight to Egypt<\/p><\/div>\n Art has illustrated these legends. Caravaggio\u2019s \u201cRest on the Flight into Egypt\u201d depicts Joseph holding the music as a gorgeous angel plays the violin, lulling Mary and Jesus to sleep. Filippo Lippi, Bartolomeo Murillo and Georges de la Tour painted similar scenes.<\/p>\n The Syriac-Arabic Infancy Gospel<\/em> and other apocrypha add further embellishments to the story of Joseph\u2019s life. Joseph the carpenter makes plows, yokes and other tools for farmers, as well as wooden beds for homes. At age 40 he marries Melcha (some stories call her Escha), and during their 49 years of marriage they have four sons and two daughters. Joseph encounters Mary after he has been widowed for one year. The annunciation takes place two years later. Joseph, it is written, is out searching for a midwife when Jesus is born.<\/p>\n A final apocryphal work worth noting is the fourth-century Story of Joseph the Carpenter<\/em>. This tale imagines Jesus working side by side with Joseph in the carpenter\u2019s shop and later treats Joseph\u2019s last days. Strong and alert until the age of 111, Joseph falls ill and confesses his sins on his deathbed, where he is consoled by Jesus and Mary. Jesus then beckons the archangels Michael and Gabriel to take Joseph\u2019s soul.<\/p>\n The early church rejected these texts, even though they have some value as literary expressions of the popular religious imagination. Today we too recognize that many of these apocryphal stories are much too fantastic to be regarded as historical.<\/p>\n Given the scarcity of relevant historical detail in the New Testament, we are left with only a general outline about Joseph. It can be argued that he was of the lineage of David, at least in a broad sense. There is evidence that he came from either Bethlehem or Nazareth. He labored as a woodworker, a trade in which Jesus followed him. His language was a Palestinian dialect of Aramaic, though he probably knew enough Greek to bargain and write receipts in his trade. Most likely he also understood some Hebrew, which he heard read aloud in the synagogue.<\/p>\n According to the New Testament, Joseph became legally betrothed to Mary, probably when she was very young, which was the custom at the time. He then married her, in spite of her mysterious pregnancy, and became Jesus\u2019 legal father. He was just, upright and devoted to the Law, but compassionate in its interpretation. He accompanied Mary during the events surrounding the birth of Jesus and into the early years of Jesus\u2019 life. He settled the family in Nazareth. With Mary, he would have tended to Jesus\u2019 religious education. By the time of Jesus\u2019 public ministry, however, Joseph had disappeared completely. Apparently he had died by this time, though we have no details about his death.<\/p>\n Year after year the church presents Joseph as a subject for meditation, especially during Advent. Three facets of the New Testament picture of Joseph merit our attention.<\/p>\n First, a central Gospel theme: Joseph, like Mary, listened to the word of God and acted on it. In the Gospels Joseph never speaks. But in Matthew, God speaks to Joseph at four critical moments in the history of Jesus, and in each instance, Joseph immediately responds. When the angel tells Joseph not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife, Joseph receives her into his home. Upon being told he should take Jesus and his mother and flee to Egypt, Joseph leaves that very night. So, too, he later returns to Israel upon the direction of the angel. And when Joseph is warned in a dream not to go to Judea, he immediately changes course and settles the family in Galilee. His persistently faithful response to God\u2019s commands parallels the presentation of Mary in the Gospel of Luke. Both know how to \u201clisten to the word of God and act upon it.\u201d<\/p>\n Second, in Matthew\u2019s Gospel Joseph is brought before the transcendent mystery of God again and again, sometimes with hesitation but always with alertness, and he faces it with faith. Surely Joseph cannot fathom the virginal conception of Jesus. But from the darkness of his own limited understanding, he responds to the mystery of God with awe and acceptance, tempering his strict observance of the Law with loving compassion and bowing in reverence to God\u2019s incomprehensible ways. He cannot possibly understand how this child, who seems like any other, could be \u201cGod with us,\u201d but in faith Joseph abandons himself to the task of loving the child and educating him.<\/p>\n![\"Caravaggio:](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vincentians.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/11\/Michelangelo_Caravaggio_025.jpg?resize=300%2C244\")
The Historical Joseph<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A Subject for Meditation<\/strong><\/h2>\n
![\"The](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/vincentians.com\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2014\/11\/Anton_Raphael_Mengs_-_The_Dream_of_St._Joseph_-_Google_Art_Project.jpg?resize=226%2C300\")