The only thing we know about him is that he lived with Jesus . Always in the background he bequeathed us no speech, no epistle, no hymn, not even a sentence. Joseph is the most famous non-celebrity in history. Firstly he was not Christ’s real father, and since we don’t know much else about him we can’t tell interesting or complimentary stories about him…
He wasn’t co-redeemer or apostle or martyr or prophet; he wasn’t a bishop or a deacon or a charismatic layman, but simply this larger than life “number two” who makes those pretentious “number ones” that we all claim to be look ridiculous.
Lets go into Joseph’s workshop and ask him why he’s there. He doesn’t always feel obliged to give his opinions about things, or to give speeches. He doesn’t create problems for himself, he hasn’t got an answer for everything and he doesn’t foretell the future. He simply keeps things in his heart and gets on with his job, his ministry of love, silently.
Teach us, Joseph, how to take second place, how to work without showing off, how to collaborate without imposing our own ideas, how to give without our right hand knowing about it, how to love without making demands…
Tell us how to live as “number twos”, how to achieve wonderful things as seconds in command. Teach us that it is impossible for all of us to be number ones. Tell us that most of us will have to take second place, because it is there that we will find our true stature. Teach us how to live with real dignity without putting on airs and graces. Let us be convinced that we can and must be useful, faithful, effective, even heroic, without being “important”.
Explain to us how we can become great without seeking greatness, how to fight without expecting applause, how to move forward without making the headlines, how to persevere and die without expecting praise.
Joseph, you weren’t a member of any board of directors, or any organising committee. Can you tell us how you were able to develop to the full all your personal potential and become your true self at “home” in your workshop, without the slightest anguish or feelings of emptiness deep within yourself?
We want to discover your secret, Joseph, - we the “number ones”- because we are all born with the ambition to take on the most important roles : leaders, prophets, initiators of a new era …Our problem is that we all want to take the reins, but nobody wants to pull the plough. It seems as though we all feel called to organise things and direct operations, but no one seems called to serve or collaborate…
You who didn’t abandon your tools and wander from place to place telling people that you knew where the salvation of the world could be found; you, who knew so much, didn’t make yourself the leader of a messianic committee composed of folk from Nazareth, neither did you later become leader of an Israeli messianic group… So please tell us how to be useful, positive, and generous, without being “important”, without having to be in charge. And what is even more difficult, tell us how to hand over everything without being leaders, and yet, feel in our hearts profound peace and joy.
But, Joseph, instead of giving us a conference, just smiles, says nothing and carries on working. We, the “important people”, the “specialists”, the “well-informed”, the “undersigned”… always hope to receive a response from this unimportant man even though we don’t even know whether he was in fact a “good man”.
Fr. Ramón Juste S.J.
