St. Joseph Was NOT Silent in Scripture, So What Did He Say? The Hidden Meaning of St. Joseph's Statement in the Bible

There is something very strange about the hiddenness of St. Joseph. He has, for so long, remained a hidden figure in the Bible. Misjudged, misunderstood, mis-aged, even mis-quoted!

Don’t forget to check out my books on St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother, and the Holy Family … There’s 33 Days to the Holy Family, A Consecration to Jesus, Mary, and Joseph and Consecration to St. Joseph for Children and Families, also co-authored with Fr. Donald Calloway:

 

Why is St. Joseph Always Mis-Quoted?

Look at this. It’s a wonderfully tender moment. The old man Joseph cradling the infant Jesus. It’s beautiful! BUT … it’s all wrong!

This perfectly illustrates our misunderstanding of St. Joseph.

Old vs. Young St. Joseph?

For the first millennium plus of Christianity, St. Joseph was hidden beneath a mask of old age. Even now, a good chunk of the faithful still see St. Joseph as a very old man. All of the Eastern Orthodox churches believe this. They hold with the early tradition that St. Joseph was pushing nearly a hundred when Jesus was conceived.

The “Old Joseph” tradition originated in the Protoevangelium of St. James, which was not written by St. James. This early text portrayed St. Joseph as an extremely old man, a figure like Abraham the Patriarch, to reinforce the perpetual virginity of the Blessed Mother. It was purposefully not included in the Bible. Yet, curiously, it did become part of the Koran, the holy text of Islam.

All this aside, Scripture actually provides an age range for St. Joseph. I’m writing my doctoral dissertation on this, so I will endeavor to be brief. The first chapter of the Gospel of St. Luke makes a distinction between the old age of Zechariah and the relative youth of St. Joseph. St. Luke describes Zechariah as an “old man” (Gk. presbytes), but uses a completely different word to describe Joseph (Gk. andres).

If you want the full Scriptural proof of this argument, I’ve written this article (though still shorter than my dissertation):

Conclusion?

St. Joseph was a relatively young man – in his 30s or 40s, maybe even 33(!) – when Jesus was born.

St. Joseph never said anything in Scripture, right?

So why hide St. Joseph beneath a mask of old age? This is mysterious. I don’t think this is occurring by accident. Heaven, as always, is being deliberate.

Why? Old age is just one way that St. Joseph is being hidden. Unconsciously or not, we have also been muting St. Joseph. It’s like mankind has had a giant blind spot for St. Joseph, one left unchecked and unnoticed for 2,000 years.

St. Joseph is the quiet saint, right? Strong and silent, like all men should be, right? As the popular meme goes, our favorite Bible quote from St. Joseph is “…” (See image at the top of this article).

St. Joseph never said anything in Scripture, right?

Wrong.

St. Joseph’s Does Say a Word in Scripture, Exactly One Word

St. Joseph says precisely one word in the Bible. Just one. Sure, he is not exactly loquacious. But he is not silent.

It’s right there in black and white, clear as crystal.

In the first chapter of Matthew, the angel says St. Joseph will “call” the name of Jesus. This precise phrasing is meaningful, as we will discuss in a moment:

But as he considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary your wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit; she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins.” (Matthew 1:20-21)

Then, a few verses later, St. Joseph “calls the name” of his child:

When Joseph woke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took his wife, but knew her not until she had borne a son; and he called his name Jesus. (Matthew 1:24-25)

Wait! They “called” Him Jesus. That just means they called him Jesus because Jesus is His name. Right? No, there’s something more going on here.

Zechariah, the Truly Mute One

Think about Zechariah, the father of St. John the Baptist:

If we’re talking about someone being silent, Zechariah was the mute one. God smote him mute … until the moment when he called his son’s name.

As above, he is first told to “call his name John”:

But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechari′ah, for your prayer is heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Then, a few verses later, Zechariah “calls” the name:

And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child; and they would have named him Zechari′ah after his father, but his mother said, “Not so; he shall be called John.” And they said to her, “None of your kindred is called by this name.” And they made signs to his father, inquiring what he would have him called. And he asked for a writing tablet, and wrote, “His name is John.” And they all marveled. (Luke 1:59-63)

Did you notice what’s going on here? What ceremony is occurring?

Speaking the Name to Make a New Covenant

According to Jewish law, it is the right and responsibility of the father to name the child, to call the name of the child at the circumcision. This occurs during the brit milah, “the covenant of circumcision.” This is described in the Mishnah, Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 19.[1]

The Hebrew word brit (בְּרִית) means covenant. Now, the naming and circumcision ceremony is typically called the bris, a Yiddish word.

Wait … a Covenant? Yes. A New Covenant. Through His parents, Jesus is making covenant with God and the children of Abraham. But long before the Last Supper. Jesus first makes the new covenant at His circumcision.

What’s more — Jesus shed blood at His circumcision. That one, small drop of blood was enough to redeem ALL mankind. But Jesus didn’t stop until He had bled ALL of His blood at Calvary.

St. Thomas Aquinas tells us, "Lord Jesus, Good Pelican, wash me, unclean, with your blood, one drop of which can free the entire world of all its sins."

Now, behold the father of the man …

Now, enter the man, who at this new and first covenant made in the blood of Jesus, during which God could have saved all mankind — the man, who is given the responsibility of calling the Name “Jesus,” which means, “God saves!”

Now, enter the man, who at this new and first covenant made in the blood of Jesus, during which God could have saved all mankind — the man, who is given the responsibility of calling the Name “Jesus,” which means, “God saves!”

With One Word, St. Joseph is the Herald of the Kingdom of Heaven

The brit milah occurred at the end of eight days, as described in Luke 2:21:

And at the end of eight days, when he was circumcised, he was called Jesus, the name given by the angel before he was conceived in the womb.

Following the brit milah ceremony, there is a celebratory meal called the birkat hamazon. According to the Eastern Asheknazic rite, this meal includes prayers of petition, the Nodeh Leshimcha, which ask God to send the Messiah speedily for the merit of the mitzvah of circumcision and to send Elijah the prophet, known as “The Righteous Priest”, so that God’s covenant can be fulfilled with the re-establishment of the throne of King David. 

At the Circumcision of Jesus, both of these are fulfilled at the hearing of these prayers. King David’s heir, St. Joseph, may have prayed this for his son, the New David.

Baptism is the New Circumcision

Much of the brit milah is retained in the Rite of Baptism, which St. Paul describes as the new circumcision: “In him also you were circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, by putting off the body of flesh in the circumcision of Christ” (Colossians 2:11).

St. Joseph, First to Publicly Proclaim the Gospel

So what is St. Joseph’s one word in Scripture? The Name of his son. But this is no ordinary name …

This is not a small thing. St. Joseph provides the Name at which “every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father” (Philippians 2:10-11).

St. Joseph provides the Name by which all men are saved, “for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

St. Joseph provides the Name which will be born on the Cross.

Also, “Jesus” isn’t just a name or even THE Name. It is a sentence. “God saves.” It’s an announcement. It’s a proclamation.

St. Joseph did not just proclaim a name, as great as that Name is. He proclaimed the Gospel. “God saves.” That makes St. Joseph the first one to publicly announce the Gospel. St. Joseph announced that the Savior is here before St. John the Baptist even began to announce His coming.

The moment that all the prophets had foretold, the moment all the world had been awaiting – in one word, St. Joseph declared that moment had come.

As in all things St. Joseph, this momentous announcement was hidden. The announcement was veiled within the Name. It was part of the Messianic secret. St. Joseph concealed this, even as he concealed the Virgin Birth from the world and even from Satan. Wait, what did you just say? Read more about this part of St. Joseph’s mission HERE:

We are just now beginning to unveil St. Joseph. We will quickly find, as we do with St. Joseph’s Most Blessed wife, there are many more mysteries here than we reckoned. There is the timing of the death of St. Joseph. There is the hidden kingship of St. Joseph, the rightful ruler of Israel. There is the mysterious Baptism (read: Coronation) of Jesus.

Another Layer of Meaning: St. Joseph Speaks the Word in Image of God, the Father

Here’s one last layer of meaning, though there is much more. I actually wrote all the above just to get to this part.

When St. Joseph speaks his one word in Scripture, he is being presented as an image. An image of whom?

St. Joseph was specially created and chosen by God the Father to be His earthly image for His Son. St. John Eudes praises Saint Joseph as the “image of God the Father.”[2]

Just as St. Joseph speaks one word, the word by which all men are saved, God the Father speaks the Word, the same Word through whom all men are saved and through whom all things are created.

This is sublime. St. Joseph speaks one word that both names his son and his son’s saving mission. God the Father speaks the Word, which is the Son of the God. And it’s the same Son, the same person. The Word of God became flesh and was named by the word of St. Joseph.

“God numbers all the stars; He calls us each by name” (Psalm 147:4, Isaiah 40:26).

God the Father names each of us, and He calls us by name. St. Joseph is the only man to ever provide God with a name.

At the burning bush, God gave Moses His own Name. This was a tremendous honor for Moses. That God would reveal His Name to mankind was an honor above all honors.

The gift of God’s Name was so special that it was given it’s own dwelling place, which was to be the greatest edifice in Jewish history, the Temple. Take, for example, Deuteronomy 16:5-7: “You may not offer the passover sacrifice within any of your towns which the Lord your God gives you; but at the place which the Lord your God will choose, to make his name dwell in it, there you shall offer the passover sacrifice, in the evening at the going down of the sun, at the time you came out of Egypt.”

Further, the proper Name of God (YHWH or JHVH) was only permitted to be spoken once a year by the high priest in the Holy of Holies.

Now, St. Joseph is speaking the Name, the great honor reserved to the High Priest, before the New Holy of Holies, the Blessed Mother, to consecrate the New Temple, Jesus’ own Body.

That God’s own Name would become man within the Virgin Mary and submit Itself to being named by a man is shocking. It is a sublime dignity that God would so humble Himself to allow a man to name Him. And yet, for St. Joseph to do so is to image God the Father.

So, Why Have We Called St. Joseph Silent?

So why, considering all this, considering the sublime importance of Joseph’s single word – why would we call, nay accuse, St. Joseph of being mute in Scripture? It is Zechariah that is punished by God with muteness, not Joseph!

Why? I think it is God’s plan. Just as it was orchestrated by God that Jesus’ identity would be concealed by Joseph and not fully revealed until Jesus died, when Satan would finally realize his great mistake – so, too, God is orchestrating the gradual revealing of Joseph’s identity. And again, Satan will not see it coming.

Our Lady of Fatima provides us this answer, too. There will be a final battle between Satan and the Church over the family. St. Joseph will be revealed to have a great purpose in this battle and a great purpose with the family. God is immutable. What He did, He does, He will do, and He has ever done. What God did with the Holy Family in the first century, He will do in the last century, as well. St. Joseph will have great importance, as an image of masculinity and fatherhood, for the last battle.

If you could only have one word … If you would be known forever for just one word … If you were given just one word on the subject, on all subjects … what would it be?

As for me, I would quote St. Joseph.

Footnotes on the Not-Silent St. Joseph

[1] Mishnah translations from Sefaria:

Mishnah, Tractate Shabbat, Chapter 19:

Sections (Mishnayot) 1-4 also discuss circumcision.

Mishnayot 5. Although a child is generally circumcised at eight days, as the verse states: “And on the eighth day, the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised” (Leviticus 12:3), nevertheless, at times he is circumcised at nine days, at times at ten days, at eleven days, and at twelve days, no earlier and no later. How so? In his usual manner, a child is circumcised at eight days. If he was born at twilight and it is therefore uncertain on which day he was born, he is circumcised at nine days, as his circumcision is postponed due to that uncertainty, as perhaps the eighth day from his birth has not yet arrived. If he was born at twilight on Shabbat eve, he is not circumcised on the following Shabbat, due to the uncertainty whether it is the eighth or ninth day since his birth, and only a circumcision definitely performed at the appointed time overrides Shabbat. Rather, he is circumcised on Sunday, and the result is that he is circumcised at ten days. If there was a Festival after that Shabbat, he is not circumcised on the Festival either, and he is circumcised at eleven days. And if that Shabbat was followed by two days of Rosh HaShana, the result is that he is circumcised at twelve days. The mishna states another halakha: With regard to a sick child, one does not circumcise him until he becomes healthy.

[2] “Joseph, the Image of God the Father,” by Joshua Francis Filipetto, November 22, 2021, Catholic Insight, LINK

 

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