"...they went up according to the festival custom." (Lk. 2:41-51)
Interesting that on the Feast of St. Joseph, the day’s gospel includes no mention of his name. He does not speak. The essence of the day’s gospel is captured in two words: action and outcomes. The gospel ends with this outcome: He went down with them and came to Nazareth, and was obedient to them. In his essay Christian Faith and Political Praxis, Rev Dr James Cone quotes Dietrich Bonhoeffer saying, “Faith is only real when there is obedience, never without it, and faith only becomes faith in the act of obedience.” Faith has consequences; faith, in St. Joseph’s life was a verb, not a noun. St. Joseph was first to apply Malcolm’s axiom, “… by any means necessary.”
It was the festival custom in St. Joseph’s life. He took Mary into his life to connect Jesus to the lineage of David. He journeyed to Egypt to protect the baby Jesus from Herod’s wrath. We should not be surprised that he dropped everything until he was certain that Jesus was in the right place. St. Joseph was obedient. He gave his life for Jesus. Mary and Joseph found Jesus, After three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, listening to them and asking them questions … and in response to a question about why, Jesus responded, Did you not know that I must be in my Father’s house? It is because of St. Joseph’s actions that the child Jesus got the desired outcomes. Faith provided the way and the means for St. Joseph. Faith in Jesus is the way and the means for us. During this season, take the action to get the outcome as St. Joseph did, “… by any means necessary.”
Author: Deacon Timothy E. Tilghman,
"Whom shall I send? Who will go for us?" "Here I am;" I said; "send me!"