Joseph, the key that closes the Old Testament and opens the New!

When the Bible tells us that Pharaoh took off his ring, placed it on Joseph's finger, put a fine linen robe on him, a golden necklace around his neck, and had him ride on his chariot while heralds shouted before him, Kneel down!—shouldn't we see this as a prophecy of the triumph of our glorious Joseph?

Doesn’t the Church tell us, as Pharaoh did: Go to Joseph? Place yourself under his protection. Trust in his wisdom and power! The two cherubim carved on the Ark of the Covenant were the symbols of Mary and Joseph in the attitude of adoration they had in Bethlehem before the cradle of Jesus.

Two evangelists, Matthew and Luke, give us the genealogy that establishes that Joseph was indeed of the royal line of David. One day, Jesus asked the Pharisees whose son is the Messiah was and they immediately replied, that he was David's. In fact, it was often under this title that people addressed him: Jesus, son of David!  

Saint Augustine comments: Let us not be afraid to trace the genealogy of Jesus all the way to Joseph, for just as he was a virgin husband, so was he a virgin father. Let us not be afraid to place the husband before the wife, according to the order of the nature of God's law. If we were to set Joseph aside to mention only Mary, he would rightly say to us: ‘Why do you separate me from my wife? Why don't you want the genealogy of Jesus to lead to me?’ If we said to him: ‘Because you did not beget by the work of the flesh,’ he would answer us, ‘What about Mary? Did she beget by the work of the flesh?’ What the Holy Spirit worked in her, he worked for both of them.

Therefore, Joseph who ends the genealogy seems to be the key that closes the Old Testament and opens the New. He belongs to both Testaments at the same time. He is the last of the patriarchs of the Old and the first saint of the New.

Father Michel Gasnier o.p.

In 30 visites à Joseph le silencieux, Father Michel GASNIER (o.p.), Éditions Salvator (2010), first edition (1956)