A Father’s Day Reflection on Joseph the Father
by June Girvan, 2009 – J’NiKira Dinqinesh Education Centre – Every Child is Sacred
God bless the Josephs in our community on this Fathers’ Day.
Joseph is a male in the middle years of his Earth Visit. He is a grown-up; an adult. He is wise in spiritual ways. He is a carpenter. He can build. He is not materially wealthy. He is gifted in his humanity; the right of every child to be honoured and protected as a sacred being. His gift is the capacity to be a Father; a M.A.L.E, a male who is able to affirm new life on Earth. Joseph is God’s model of what a Father figure in a Child’s life can be … must be … with or without the linkage of paternal DNA. Joseph is Creator’s idea of the earthly father.
Joseph is an unmarried man. Mary was an unmarried woman. She found herself becoming a mother, He finds himself becoming a father.
Joseph decides that with the time given, he will be the primary alpha M.A.L.E (Man Affirming Life on Earth) in the coming life.
With the time given to him, Joseph decides to accept the responsibility to be the primary Man who affirms the Earth-life of the Child.
During gestation and throughout the Child’s early years, formative years and early adult years, Joseph is there. Joseph does not “get lost in the fog of Self”. He keeps faith with the sanctified alpha male role and responsibility of fatherhood, that has “landed in his lap”. He decided to be the Child’s “guide on the side”, from infancy, through puberty to young adulthood, launched on the purpose of His earth visit; self-actualize his reason for coming to Earth. Destiney. He decided. He follows through.
The Child is due to arrive. It is not an opportune time for the emperor to dictate that it was taxes time for everyone. Mary, heavy with child; bringing new life into the world, is not exempt from the journey to taxation. Pregnancy is no excuse. So, on just “another day” in the life of a woman, Mary sets off from Nazareth to Bethlehem to be taxed. It is a journey in more ways than one. Joseph takes the long and arduous journey with the Mother to be. He goes the mile with her. He is there for her. He does his best. He is unable to secure a room in an inn. He finds a spot in a manger of a domestic stable, among the four legged creatures of the Creator.
The best creature comfort Joseph finds is modest, to say the least. But he is there and that’s what counts. He is on hand for her; with her. His presence is comfort to Mary. His availability is a comfort. His reliability is comfort. His accessibility to the Child over-rides the most profound material modesty of the Child entry to the world. And day by day, he continues as the primary, emotionally and physically available M.A.L.E. to Mary and the Child, in her “manger”. He provides for the Child. He protects the child. He takes every measure to ensure that the basic human needs of mother and child are met – sustenance, shelter and safety. Protection. He stands as a protector, guarding the door to the Child’s psyche and physical presence.
Joseph is conscious about what he says and does to the child. He is very, very conscious about what he says to others about the child. He says nothing and does nothing that will cause gratuitous spiritual, emotional grief, social harm or physical pain to compromise the Child, or the mother.
In her heart, Mary ponders all males who appear in and about her manger and house, Joseph included. Will this or that one help the child to survive and to thrive? Are they spell danger to the Child? Mary assesses Joseph, as Joseph assesses other males in the vicinity of the Child.
Some come saying they have seen the child’s star and to have come to marvel at the Child; to honour the Child. To those Joseph deems to be fellow M.A.L.Es, he opens the door. They will enhance the Child’s ability to grow and be ready to take on Life’s challenges. He welcomes them. Joseph grants them access to the Child’s personal presence. Their offerings are accepted with grace and gratitude; valued.
Some males come, feigning to be M.A.L.E.s. Joseph is alert. Intelligence and political savvy tell him, “Do not be fooled”. These are Herods.
During the vulnerable, fragile years of the Child, Joseph shields the Child from Herodic forces that threaten the child’s survival, or forces that might undermine the Child’s ability to achieve his important Earth Visit’s destiny.
Day by day, year by year, Joseph is there, as Mary’s primary M.A.L.E in her manger and house. He is there. He helps to build and sustain an environment for the Child, growing in security, protection, disciplined by unconditional respect for the Child’s earthly corporal body and divine spirit, dignity, mind, vision. Joseph has a vision of the Child’s grail. He supports the child’s pursuit of why the child came.
Mary reveres this man; this M.A.L.E.; this man who affirms life on earth
Peace, Respect, Unity, Reconciliation and Hope grounded the house that Joseph builds and from which the Child grows to actualize his reason for being. With this M.A.L.E, the Child’s inner power grows in confidence and esteem.
Newly arrived Earth Visitor deserves such a father. Mothers invite the Great Creator of All Things Wonderful to smile indulgently on such men of her village.
In JRR Tolkien’s Lord of the Rings, Gandalf says to Frodo: “All you have to do is to decide what to do with the time given”. But a M.A.L.E. …being as a Joseph, is a choice. Having a Joseph is a gift; a blessing.
God bless the Josephs in our community on this Fathers’ Day.