The term “father” has been closely associated with God through history and human experiences, though a human terminology used to describe God. The earliest time of seeing God as a Father has been from the creation story itself. A father is one who begets and God begot us in creation as He created us in His own image and likeness, thus making us His sons and daughters; we can therefore say, we are born of Him. This is exemplified in the hymn of Moses (Is not this your Father, who gave you being, who made you, by whom you depend? Deut. 32:6b), which formed the basic understanding of the Israelites about God as they related with Him as Father – He who creates (gives being) and who provides (on whom they depend). Through the fall of our first parents, we lost the original dignity and friendship of God; we were disfigured by sin and lost the glory as of sons and daughters.
But through the sacrifice of Christ, Son of God, Son of Joseph, we are redeemed. With the cooperation of St. Joseph (as the work of creation was Trinitarian) in the new creation, new covenant, we were recreated and gained the glory as of sons and daughters, thus Joseph becomes our father too. God the Father had given Joseph the privilege to give the name Jesus to the messiah who is to save his people from their sins (Cf. Mt 1:21), which points to bringing the redemption and recreation of man in the new covenant. Pope Francis will corroborate this truth thus, “As we know, for ancient peoples, to give a name to a person or to a thing, as Adam did in the account in the Book of Genesis (cf. 2:19-20), was to establish a relationship”; and for Joseph, it was a relationship of father and only Begotten Son, a shadow of that of God the Father and the only Begotten Son, Christ.
A further understanding of God as father for the Israelites is narrated in the reality of the covenantal bond between God and Israel. By this bond, God became their father and they became His children as God speaks in the adoptive formula – “I will be your God and you will be my people”. Likewise, it was by the virtue of the covenantal bond between himself, Joseph and his wife, Mary that he became the father of Jesus Christ. At different moments of their history, God retells, renews as He makes everlasting this covenant. This is made perfected in Christ Jesus as we become sons and daughters of Almighty Father regardless of nation, language etc. (Rom 8:15; 2Cor 6:18; Eph 1:5; 1Pet 1:3- 4), not by blood descent but by faith (Jn 1:14; Gal 3:26). The covenant of Joseph and Mary is a lasting one (St. Pope John Paul II will call it a sacrament since there was no divorce. RC 7) that through faith and obedience, they became first parents of the new covenant, of those who believe – father of all like the Father of all.
When we search further through the pages of the scriptures, we see the various ways and moments in the history of Israel where they attributed Father to God, either directly or indirectly. For instance, in the personal names, how they were addressed, they attribute Father to God like Abiyahu – YHWH is my father. Likewise, at different moments in the life of Christ, Joseph was addressed as the father of Jesus, either directly or indirect. As the people of Israel worship God as Father, the Christian people over the ages have venerated Joseph as father, seen as there are churches in his name, groups and persons are inspired by his spirituality and bearing his name, imitate his virtues. By so doing, they acknowledge him as father, to whom they are sons and daughters. We are Oblates of St Joseph, and so we are sons and daughters of St Joseph. God is Father, not just because He begot us but also protects us from evil and damnation (You remember the 3 PROs).
He shows his strength in the care He has for His people as they live under the protection and peace of His wings. He saved them from the cruelty of Pharaoh, He led them through the desert by the cloud, protecting them from danger. In like manner, Joseph, as a shadow, saved the Holy Family from the cruelty of Herod, he led them through the desert in their escape like cloud and protected them from evil (cf. Is 49:2). He saved their lives as proving a true father. Joseph became the sheltering cloud who protects from evil and demons (he is known as the terror of evil spirits/ demons). We are fragile, God protects us from assaults of the evil one and damnation. Likewise Joseph: “the Son of the Almighty came into our world in a state of great vulnerability, He needed to be defended, protected, cared for and raised by Joseph and God trusted Joseph”. God saw that Joseph could be that father, could act like Him.
Joseph continues his role as a father as he protects the Church and all her members just in the way God wants us to be saved. Yes, Joseph cared and provided for Jesus. Like Pope Francis in Patris Corde enlightens us, “Joseph saw Jesus grow daily ‘in wisdom and in years and in divine and human favour’ (Lk 2:52). As the Lord had done with Israel, so Joseph did with Jesus: he taught him to walk, taking him by the hand; he was for him like a father who raises an infant to his cheeks, bending down to him and feeding him (cf. Hos 11:3-4). In Joseph, Jesus saw the tender love of God: ‘As a father has compassion for his children, so the Lord has compassion for those who fear him’ (Ps 103:13).” BY THIS JOSEPH’S FATHERHOOD, WE CANNOT RELEGATE HIM TO BEING “FOSTER”, ONE WHO HAS NO LEGAL TIE OR JUST A CAREGIVER OR CARES FOR LIMITED TIME ETC. WE MIGHT HAVE GROWN TO USE “FOSTER FATHER” FOR JOSEPH BUT WE ARE NOT DOING JUSTICE TO HIM. Joseph gave his ALL: Jesus was descent of David through Joseph (fulfilling the prophecies 2Sam 7:9-16), he gave the name “Jesus” (Mt 1:21) declaring his legal fatherhood over Jesus, he cared and was at service of His life till death.
Pope Saint John Paul II in Redemptoris Custos (n. 21a), thus, taught that it would be wrong to see Joseph as a mere or foster father, but see “rather it (Joseph’s fatherhood) is one that fully share in authentic fatherhood and the mission of a father in the family”. In providing for the Holy Family, he is a working father just as our heavenly Father works (Jn 5:17), untiring, to see the good/ happiness of all; that Jesus was even called “the carpenter” (Mk 6:3) after His father just as He also works like His Father and is called God-Creator (Gen 1:1,3,26; Jn 1:1- 3). He loved the Holy Family/the Church (all of us) to the end just as God loved us (Jn 3:16; 13:1). He is truly a just man, like Father like father. “It must have taken extraordinary holiness to raise the Son of God.” Thus, we can see that God, in his mercy, has given us Joseph, just and hidden, as a shadow of Himself while we are able to see Him as He is – a true Father. And as Pope St. John Paul II will put it, “St. Joseph was called by God to serve the person and mission of Jesus directly through the exercise of his fatherhood and that, in this way, he cooperated in the fullness of time in the great mystery of salvation and is truly a minister of salvation.”
• Fr. Shola Alabi, OSJ is an Oblate of Saint Joseph, working at the formation house, Ibadan.