Today is the feast of St. Joseph, Spouse of the Blessed Virgin Mary. My living relationship with St. Joseph is the Zeppole di San Giuseppe, the traditional Italian cream filled pastry, made for the feast of St. Joseph. These pastries came to New England with Italian immigrants in the 1880’s because St. Joseph (San Giuseppe) who is the foster father of Jesus, is also the patron saint of Sicily. Try one from Lucibello’s Bakery.
Today’s gospel tells us that Jesus and his parents were in Jerusalem for the feast of Passover. Women could go but were not required to go, as this journey was a significant one from Nazareth. This would take a lot of time and money. It tells us that this family has deep roots in a highly observant Jewish tradition. It also tells us that Joseph was a faithful and good stepfather to Jesus and a faithful and devoted husband to Mary.
In this story, Jesus as a twelve-year-old stayed behind in Jerusalem and his parents have to return when they suddenly discover that he is not in the caravan with them, returning to Nazareth. Together, Mary and Joseph turn back to find their son in the temple, in the midst of the teachers, wanting to better understand his traditions and his God. Again, questions and answers are a staple of Jewish teaching. As a child, Jesus shows us the promise that will blossom into the wisdom and authority of his adult life.
Mary speaks for her and for Joseph and asks Jesus why he has done this to them. Why has he caused his parents such anxiety and embarrassment? As any parents, Mary and Joseph must have on one hand praying “Dear God let us find him” and on the other hand, “Wait till we get our hands on him.” They must have felt great anguish looking for Jesus. But Jesus wonders why they were looking for him because “didn’t you know I must be in my Father’s house?” This is the strong message of this encounter…that Jesus constitutes a deeper reality than anyone around him can comprehend, even his parents. The gospel tells us “they did not understand what he said to them.” Mary had been told by the angel that Jesus was the Son of God but what was this going to mean?
How do you think of Jesus? He learned from Joseph how to do carpentry, but was that make believe? Wasn’t he God? Yes, he grew hungry, but did his stomach really growl. Wasn’t he God? He suffered on the cross, actually died, but it couldn’t have been so bad because he knew he would rise again. Wasn’t he God?
Yes, Jesus was God’s only Son. But the amazing thing about the incarnation is that the same Son of God was as truly human as he was divine. He was not only born of a woman, not only learned carpentry from Joseph, not only sweated and slept, not only shuttered under insult, not only feared to die, not only died a death like a criminal. He had to live by faith just as we do. He had to live with confidence and trust in his Father’s love. This faith came to a climax on the cross. That dying, the theologian Karl Rahner described: Everything fell away from him, even the perceptible security of the closeness of God’s love, and in this trackless dark there prevailed silently only the mystery that has no name and to which he nevertheless calmly surrendered himself as to eternal love and not to the hell of futility…
Jesus died as he had lived, died as we die: with hope. He murmured, “Father, into your hands I entrust my spirit.” I rest my confidence in your love. This is why Lent is so important. It’s not an annual intrusion into your normally pleasant living. Lent is when you renew your Christian identity which is a hope filled faith…FAITH…HOPE FILLED. Living faith, hope-filled faith is the most remarkable gift that God gives all of us in this life.
But faith is lived in the shadow of the cross and we share in Jesus’ dying by sharing his cross through the whole of our lives. This includes the many disappointments of life…drug addiction, death of a loved one, the insecurities of youth or student life, experiencing the cancelling of important events, the shutting down of things we love, the trembling of old age… these episodes of life that Karl Rahner called “dying in installments.” And yes, now the Coronavirus (COVID-19) our national crisis that has disrupted so much of our lives. With all of this, we confront the most important question: How am I to cope? Do I merely put up with these crosses and sit back and sulk? Do I cry out in anger asking why this waste? Do I cling more desperately to what has not been taken from me? OR, can I see in these breakdowns, events of grace? Is the hand of God somehow going to lead me to a closer imaging of Christ – the reason why I exist?
Joyful faith on a cross? Ecstasy with agony? Impossible? Think about it. Exceptional athletes experience it day after day – gymnasts and marathoners? Yale hockey and Yale basketball players?
Lent and this Coronavirus are a test for all of us. Take this cross that has you nailed – in flesh or in spirit-- sweat and pray, do it again and then say, “Into your hands Lord, I entrust all this and I entrust my whole self.” Not my will but yours be done. Can we do it?
