JOSEPH: THE PERFECT GENTLEMAN

God's promise of his son to us was a prophecy that was reechoed by many prophets. They all said that God promised that at the appointed time, he will send his son born of a woman into our world. 

In the first reading of today, we hear the prophecy of samuel who God sent to inform David that the promised messiah will be from his lineage. Joseph therefore is the one who as the foster father of Jesus, makes this prophecy to come to pass. The genealogy of Jesus is traced from Abraham to David, and to Joseph the husband of mary. Joseph is not just the foster father of Jesus but the one prepared by God to fulfill his promise. 

Jesus did not just regard Joseph as a foster father, and Joseph did not just perform the role of a foster father. He treated Jesus and Mary as his biological family. We see it at the very beginning when he refused to disgrace mary for being pregnant out of wedlock  by the power of the Holy Spirit before they came to live together. As a carpenter, he laboured to care for his family, and he brought up Jesus in the right way according to Jewish culture and religion. 

Joseph is therefore a model of a virtuous and perfect gentleman we should all emulate today. In the celebration of the Eucharist, he is honoured and asked for intercession immediately after the name of Mary is mentioned. We pray for all those who bear the name Joseph today, and we pray for ourselves too, that just like Joseph the husband of Mary, we may be ready to listen to the voice of God and abide by it. Amen. 

*Fr Michael Osatofoh Eninlejie MSP.*