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Joseph, Guardian of our Lord

March 19, 2026

2 Samuel 7:4, 8-16|Romans 4:13-18|Luke 2:41-52

O God, who from the family of your servant David raised up Joseph to be the guardian of your incarnate Son and the spouse of his virgin mother: Give us grace to imitate his uprightness of life and his obedience to your commands; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Today we honor St. Joseph, husband of Mary, Jesus’ mother, a pious Jew, a descendant of David, a carpenter by trade. Joseph’s role in Jesus’ life was that of a protector and guardian, but he also fulfilled the role of earthly father, caring for him as if his own. You will recall that Joseph was engaged to Mary when she was visited by the Angel Gabriel who asked her a momentous question: was she willing to be the mother of God’s son. While Mary was puzzled and more than a little afraid, she agreed to carry and give birth to Jesus even though she was a virgin and betrothed to Joseph. Culturally, betrothal was a publicly binding contract, but the betrothed couple did not live together. When Joseph became aware of Mary’s pregnancy, Joseph thought to divorce and dismiss her quietly to help shield her from scorn and disapproval. Then Joseph was visited by an angel of God who told him that the child Mary carried was God’s son. Because he was a man of deep faith, he married Mary and assumed the role of Jesus’ earthly father.

We know by the biblical narratives of Jesus’ birth that Joseph took Mary to Bethlehem, the City of David and his family’s hometown, for the Roman census, and there Jesus was born. We also know that before Jesus was two, Joseph was again visited by an angel who warned that King Herod was seeking Jesus and that they must escape to Egypt. They stayed there for several years until Herod the Great had died and then returned to Nazareth.

That brings us to today’s Gospel. In it we learn of the family’s annual trip to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus was about 12 years old. Ready to return home, Mary and Joseph set out with their family and friends with whom they were traveling. After a day’s walk, they discovered that Jesus was not among the many people with them and returned at once to seek him. Three days of searching later they found him in the Temple sitting at the feet of the teachers and asking questions. While the crowd around them were astonished by Jesus’ knowledge, his mother and father were very annoyed and more than likely terrified that he had stayed behind by himself. Within the Gospels, Jesus’ response to them was an early acknowledgement that he knew his future was not that of a child of a carpenter from Nazareth.

We do not know much more about Joseph from the Gospels. We surmise from other writings and by the absence of references to him later in the Gospels that it is likely that Joseph died before Jesus began his ministry.  While we always celebrate Mary’s courage for saying yes to carrying God’s son, Joseph showed his own steadfast faith and courage as well by taking the role the protector of God’s son as he grew in stature and knowledge of his own destiny.

Betsy Fornal