Save as PDFIn the name of the Father and the Son and Holy Spirit!
This Sunday is devoted to Saints Joseph, husband of Mary, the Apostle James “the Lord’s brother” and king and the prophet David.
Of course, the Apostle James as all other brothers and sisters of Christ wasn’t a child of the Virgin Mary. There are different versions but the most wide-spread and reasonable one is that they were all Joseph’s children from his first marriage. And most likely they were a little older than Christ and we can see that the brothers address Christ as a younger one; they teach him and worry about him. As the mystery of the Annunciation and the Nativity of Christ was great, nobody didn’t have to be surprised somehow at the marriage of the widower Joseph. The Holy Family was a usual normal family for everybody. Meanwhile Joseph was an absolutely wonderful man. There are none of his words in the Holy Scripture. In all even the most difficult situations he keeps surprising silence. Here Mary after the annunciation is leaving home to visit Elizabeth and comes back with symptoms of pregnancy. Joseph knew that she had vowed virginity and had been chosen by God. But still he could give only natural explanation to what he saw. And if it was true what he would ask her about and why he would reproach her? As a righteous man, he had to act according to the law and put Mary to death. But he decided to let her secretly go to the justice of Heaven. By his silence Joseph is quite worthy of silence of the Mother of God. She is also silent though she sees he has changed his attitude towards her. She believes that the Lord so miraculously implanted in her will justify her himself. And so wise silence of both ones was rewarded. The Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said “Joseph, son of David, don’t be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because she has conceived what is in her by the Holy Spirit.
God had been directing Joseph all the time. Through God’s word he hurriedly leaves for Egypt. Through God’s word he returns fearlessly. Having got revelation in his dream Joseph settles in Nazareth. Undoubtedly that it was at mystic command of God that he took Mary to wife as a Virgin Mary as all maidens in Israel when marrying had to tell her future husband according to the law if she had some vow. And Joseph said nothing when he heard about this strange vow of course by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit.
The angel calls Joseph Mary’s husband. And the king and the prophet David is is called “Forefather of Godman” and Jesus is called “the Son of David”.
Unlike silent Joseph, David filled the world by sounds of his God-inspired psalms in which there is passionate prayer about the deliverance from enemies and recollection of the divine providence and praise to the greatness of God. The saint prophet psalmist David was in constant prayerful communication with the Creator. The king and commander David prayed even at night. Saint Basil the Great called of the Psalter of David medicine for souls, and blessed Augustine wrote that the Psalter decorated the souls of people when reading it, called Angels, banished demons and expiated sins. In some ancient monasteries it was a tradition to learn all psalms by heart. In the third part of the Psalter the king David proved to be a great prophet telling about coming to the world of Christ the Savior, about His Divinity, humanity of Christ, his suffering and his glory!
So today the church recalls so different righteous men – the apostle James “the Lord’s brother”, who became the first bishop in Jerusalem, the famous missionary who was killed for his active work, silent carpenter Joseph, the prophet, the king David who lived in different time, but who were all relatives in Earthly life of Jesus Christ and carried this honour through all their lives with dignity. Amen.