Page 43 - Reflections on St. Joseph

SAINT

JOSEPH

Son of David
Br. David Pohorsky, OSJ

rom a modern standpoint a majority of people would not point to King David as a model
king, yet for Israel he was just that. The Jewish law did not look kindly upon him. After all,
he was an adulterer and murderer who brought death and destruction on his nation. He
could not keep his family in line; his sons committed treason against him; and his kingdom fell
apart during his grandson’s rule. Nevertheless, his legacy persists as the greatest king of Israel.

God works in very mysterious ways. King David’s life was radically changed by God, as also was
the life of St. Joseph. Although David did not always live a life of heroic virtue by Christian
standards, he served as a model of social consciousness for Israel. While he did wrong, he never
turned his back on God. Despite the unraveling of his life after the death of Uriah, the Hittite, he
always turned back to God and never lost his trust in him.

King David was the image of a good king, while Joseph is the image of the just man. By royal
standards, David was a good king, especially during his early reign, but also throughout his entire
time in authority. He failed by not living up to God’s standards. Joseph, the just man, on the other
hand, consistently lived up to and surpassed the memory of David, who “was a man after God’s
own heart.”

Both David and Joseph appear from the fringes of society, and are quintessential models of the last
becoming first. Nobody saw anything of interest in Joseph, either as a man or as the son of David;
yet, just like King David and the Joseph of the Old Testament, “God put him in charge of his house.”

It was God, breaking from the expected, who raised King David and St. Joseph from their lowly
states in life to their places high in the social consciousness of their respective religions. The family
of David was from the south, far from the center of power. When Samuel visited the house of Jesse,
David was not Samuel’s first choice, because Samuel was choosing by appearance only. Similarly,
Joseph was probably not the man to be chosen based on appearance or social status. Yet God chose
both of these men to do extraordinary things. Why? God looks at purity of heart, which both Joseph
and David possessed. Both trusted in the Lord, despite struggles and trials.

Reflections on st. joseph 19