FOLLOWING THE DIVINE WORKER

SAINT JOSEPH THE WORKER   

Acts 13:26-33; Ps 2:6-11; Mt 13:54-58 

The Imitation of the Divine Worker

We usually miss the fact that work is a divine activity. Our celebration of Saint Joseph the Worker is an invitation by the Church to give our minds and hearts to this all-important consideration. Often, we consider work to be a result of the original sin of Adam and Eve. We are mistaken in thinking that way, for the mandate to work precedes the fall of man and woman. In fact, the Genesis account of creation presents the creation of the world as a divine work accomplished in six mystical days. God rested on the seventh day, which he made a sabbath day for rest. Thus, God worked in his own divine way to bring the world and all it holds into existence. After creating man and woman, he instructed them to take charge of the entire material creation and the Garden he had planted for their well-being. They were supposed to cultivate the land and govern the whole creation as stewards, to the glory of God and their own well-being. The fall, which resulted from their disobedience to God's command, made their work tedious due to the curse God had placed on the earth or soil. Reflecting deeply on the said curse, we understand it as a result of the departure of God’s real presence or glory among them. This is what is meant when we read that God drove them out of the Garden of Eden and posted cherubs with flaming swords at the entrance. So, the addition of toil to man’s work does not remove the fact that it is an imitation of divine activity.

The salvific nature of work, therefore, comes from the understanding that we imitate God when we work. Since our imitation of God in anything brings us nearer to being like God, which is the original project of the Trinity, work is wholesomely divine and admirably transforming. Even the addition of toil as a result of the aforementioned curse does not remove its salvific nature as an imitation of God. After the fall, away from God’s real presence, but possessing his natural presence, man’s work remains his activity in obedience to God’s will. Hence, toiling in our works remains salvific when we embrace our suffering or yoke with open minds and submission to God. Bitterness and lack of submission within us drive the salvific value out of our work; for then we labour, not as willing and repentant slaves, but as stubborn and unwilling slaves. The word of God, which is always Spirit and life, brings back the real presence of God when we listen and keep it in our minds and hearts. Abraham believed in the real presence as a promise until it was realised at the Incarnation. Subsequently, faith in the word of God defined those who worked with merit of salvation from those who worked under duress unto damnation.

Subsequently, Paul’s address was both for the Jews and Gentiles alike. “My brothers, sons of Abraham’s race, and all you who fear God, this message of salvation is meant for you. What the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did, though they did not realise it, was in fact to fulfil the prophecies read on every sabbath.” The real meaning of the sabbath is the promise of God bringing us to enter his rest after we have accomplished his will here on earth. Jesus Christ, the Son of the carpenter, leads us in the accomplishment of God’s will here on earth and enters the divine rest to assure us of its reality. “We have come here to tell you the Good News. It was to our ancestors that God made the promise, but it is to us, their children, that he has fulfilled it, by raising Jesus from the dead.” Those who did not understand the dignity of work considered carpentry a derogatory occupation and missed God’s presence. “This is the carpenter’s son, surely? Is not his mother the woman called Mary, and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Jude? So where did the man get it all?” The question refers to the wisdom and authority with which Jesus taught them. Saint Joseph, the diligent carpenter, had a different understanding of work from these rebellious minds; he understood work as an imitation of God, who precedes us in every meaningful occupation. He was so diligent in learning from God that he became so perfect that God became man to learn the work (of carpentry) from him. Diligence is what matters, not how exalted the office. “Now, O kings, understand, take warning, rulers of the earth; serve the Lord with awe and trembling, pay him your homage.”  

Let us pray: O God, Creator of all things, who laid down for the human race the law of work, graciously grant that by the example of Saint Joseph and under his patronage we may complete the works you set us to do and attain the rewards you promise. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.