Page 74 - Reflections on St. Joseph

of Jesus' growth, which he referred to as the three dimensions of education, namely, "wisdom,
age, and grace." The Pope explained that age refers to the physical and psychological aspect of
Jesus, whose healthy development was assured through the material and moral support of St.
Joseph. Wisdom, on the other hand, corresponds to his growth, particularly in the knowledge
and understanding of the scriptures. Pope Francis imagined that Joseph must have
accompanied Jesus in the synagogue on the Sabbath to hear the Word of God. Lastly, grace
refers to his growth in the spirit, which, according to the Pope is the area where St. Joseph’s role
is more limited than that of age and wisdom. In all these three dimensions of education, St.
Joseph watched over and accompanied Jesus towards growth and maturity. As the Pope
highlighted, the educational mission of Joseph is "certainly unique and unrepeatable, because
Jesus is absolutely unique." This fact should earn him the right to be called “a model for every
educator, especially every father.”

However, these magisterial statements only establish the primordial truth that Joseph is the
primary teacher of Jesus, a role that is solely given to him as a right as well as a duty for having
been chosen as a father to Jesus. Nonetheless, it still leaves us thinking of what are the things
Jesus learned from him and how he made an impact on the formation of the personality of
Jesus. If Jesus also grew in knowledge through experience, can we reasonably identify specific
skills, ideas, values, traits, or character which He could have learned from Joseph?

At times, we hear some preachers in the pulpit who are very imaginative in making assertions
or hypotheses regarding what Joseph must have taught Jesus. Shall we say that those assertions
do not deserve our attention because they belong only in the realm of hypotheses? Is the hidden
life of Jesus a forbidden territory for our imagination to unravel? Or with the information that
we have about the place, the time, and the society where the holy family lived, should it allow
us to scratch a bit some images of the growing years of Jesus in their humble abode in Nazareth
without falling to the doctrinal errors found in the apocryphal literature?

I believe that we would appreciate and understand more the claim that St. Joseph is truly the
model of all educators if we could see and imagine the child Jesus in his early human
development through the eyes St. Joseph; if we could imagine the home, family atmosphere, the
support and love that Joseph and Mary lavished on him; and if we could hypothesize with
reasonability what St. Joseph could have possibly taught through the eyes of Jesus himself.

What Jesus could have learned from Joseph

Notwithstanding the lack of resources other than the gospels to unravel how Jesus advanced in
"wisdom, age, and grace," Deiss asserted that we could reasonably believe that, like all human
beings, Jesus carried within himself the indelible traces of his childhood in the fullness of his
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adulthood . We may recognize Jesus' childhood memories and learnings in his words and
actions, which are recorded in the gospels. Where else could he have possibly learned them,
other than, in their home at Nazareth with Joseph and Mary as his teachers or mentors? We
know that a part of what a student has learned or has become reveals the kind of teachers or
mentors he had in life. If this is true, we can also reasonably hypothesize some qualities of St.
Joseph through the words and actions of Jesus apart from what the gospels have said about him.
Let us mention a few important things Jesus must have learned from his earthly father.

50 Reflections on st. joseph