Joseph the Widower??

Here’s a little break from my “rant” of the last couple of days about Christmas celebrations. I mentioned in sermon #1 how modern tradition sees Mary and Joseph as two young people in love. When Joseph finds out Mary is pregnant, in this view, his pain comes from his mourning the loss of innocence of young love. His fiancé has been unfaithful to him. His love of Mary and his hopes for the future are dashed.

But there is an older tradition that sees things quite differently. It’s a view that still has important influence in the Roman Catholic Church even today. In a document called The Infancy Gospel of James, (which you can read by clicking here), Joseph is not a young man. He is a widower with children from his previous marriage. He is assigned by divine lot to be guardian, caretaker of the young Mary. His job is to watch out for her and to keep her pure. When Joseph returns from building houses (he was a carpenter), he discovers Mary is “swelling” (you gotta love those ancient writers!) He is beside himself with grief. He struck his face and threw himself on the ground in sackcloth and wept bitterly, "How can I look to the Lord God? What will I pray about her, for I took her as a virgin from the temple of the Lord and did not guard her? Who has set this trap for me? Who did this evil in my house? Who stole the virgin from me and defiled her. Has not the story of Adam been repeated with me? For while Adam was glorifying God, the serpent came and found Eve alone and deceived her and defiled her - so it has also happened to me."

In this tradition – which incidently, Catholics use to explain how Jesus had brothers (see John 7:1ff) if Mary perpetually remained a virgin – Joseph is still overcome with pain at discovering Mary’s “news.” But in this telling, it is not the loss of innocence or the hope of his future with Mary that Joseph mourns. It is his failure to abide by his promise to God. Joseph feels he has failed God. He does not yet know that it is GOD who is responsible for this situation. In this tradition, Christmas involves our awareness of how much we have failed God – even as God is using that very same situation to save us.

I encourage you to check the Infancy Gospel of James and see what other Christmas traditions are rooted in it.