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St. Joseph is an important saint in my life. I first knew him, as most do, as simply the adopted father of Jesus. Hardly mentioned, hardly thought about. He helps Mary and then Mary and Jesus in their travels and then quietly disappears from the gospel story. Later, in ministry in the jail and on the streets, I came to know him as St. Joseph Terror of Demons. Finally, in the last few years through my work at Christ our Anchor I’ve come to know him as St. Joseph the Worker.

In my walk with Christ, St. Joseph has been inescapable, it seems. I set out, I’m sad to admit, “saint shopping.” I wanted a cool saint to be my patron. Maybe an obscure German saint. A saint with a cool story. Maybe killing a dragon? Maybe some cool miracle? A bishop martyr who stood up to the Romans?

But, those are not the qualities God needs me to reflect on. From becoming a husband, to fatherhood, to encountering the demonic realm, to management and thinking about work; God has sent St. Joseph across my path. His solid, quiet witness has strengthened me through some rough times and has pointed me to the Christ child who fights our battles.

These days, I’m not even sure if I’d consider St. Joseph my patron saint. To me, he’s much more than that. He’s a friend, an older brother who I look up to and try to emulate. He’s on my socks, my bookmarks, and his pictures are in my office. He prays for me constantly.

So, it’s an understatement to say that I was excited when I saw what the gospel reading for this week was. St. Joseph. My guy. I could actually talk for hours about him.

But, thankfully for you, I don’t plan on standing here for hours. The Church and our bishop call those who stand in this pulpit to proclaim the Word made Flesh. And that is what I intend to do today. (Though, if you do want a longer and deeper conversation about St. Joseph, do join me for a drink some time.)

Thursday in Bible study, I had a bit of a “Fr. Michael raw and unfiltered” moment. On the topic of secular Christmas, I railed against the secular world profaning the symbols of the church for commerce. I complained about the feasting in Advent without pausing to ponder why God becoming man is so amazing. Without a thought about what we’re being saved from and saved for. Feasting while we await the savior’s birth but promptly stopping the celebration at the exact moment of his arrival. Ignoring Christ when he’s arrived and makes demands upon our lives. Ignoring the Baptists call to awake and see reality by plastering over it with festive paper.

Today’s reading presents us with a similar problem. It speaks of the birth of Christ. It would be so easy to skip right along to Christmas. Let’s talk about the prophecies Jesus fulfills. Let’s talk about his names. Let’s talk about the sweet little baby. All true. All great. But, all Christmas. Today is the fourth Sunday of Advent. The Church, in her wisdom, has more yet for us to learn. We are still in the tension of not yet Christmas. We are still preparing for the feast. Working towards a fuller understanding of the intensity with which we should soon be feasting.

St. Joseph is the perfect saint for such a season. We don’t know much about him. He’s there in the beginning of the gospels and then quietly disappears. We don’t know when he died. We don’t have stories about him. We only know of him through the results we see of his work as a father, husband, and carpenter. Joseph is silent, but present throughout the life and ministry of Jesus.

The church’s representations of St. Joseph, fit perfectly with this pattern. In our pictures of him, he’s always standing confidently with his carpenter’s square in his belt and his staff in his hand. Often, he’s stabbing and trampling a demon. All the while, he’s holding the Christ child. His eyes are always fixed on Jesus, not the demons or anything else. And, in all the pictures, Jesus’ hand is raised in power and blessing. It is clear that it is not the staff of Joseph that defeats the demons, but the power of Christ working through it. Jesus is why Joseph is confident. Jesus is why Joseph is silent. Joseph has nothing to say but, “look to Him.”

I think it’s the fact that there are no real stories about Joseph that make him such a powerful witness of the faith.

He’s the “terror of demons” not because of powerful stories in the gospels of Joseph battling dark forces with Jesus. No, he’s the terror of demons because of what we read in today’s gospel reading. When called upon to do a hard thing, Joseph said yes and quietly went about what was needed of him. He trusted and obeyed God. Did hard things. And, didn’t complain about it. He’s a worker. He’s a terror of all dark things because of his quiet confidence and faith.

In our focus on the miracle of the virgin birth, of the power of Mary’s “yes”, we often overlook the reality everyone else was seeing. Mary is showing up to the rehearsal dinner visibly pregnant. We look at the story as “how nice, kind, and wonderful it is of Joseph to trust God.” We seem to think that those around him had our modern, Christian way of thinking, “How nice of that Joseph boy to forgive Mary and take the child as his own.”

In reality, people were thinking the child was Joseph’s. He’d messed up presumably as much as Mary. He wasn’t just bravely obeying God. He wasn’t just making a bold public example of what others would interpret as forgiveness. No. Joseph was bringing shame upon himself. He was willingly allowing others to think ill of him. In a small village, as a working carpenter, in a shame-based culture, Joseph willingly and quietly took on the risk of great shame. He trusted God that if he lost clients because of what they thought of him, that he’d get more. He trusted God that this crazy thing that happened to Mary was true. He trusted God with the worries and complexities of one, raising a child that isn’t your own, and two that child being the Messiah.

Marital stress, career troubles, fatherhood in a really tricky situation. Joseph faced all of this. The angel said, “do not fear.” So, Joseph, “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.” That is the quiet, confident faith in God that Joseph points us towards.

I don’t know about y’all, but I’ve been put in near paralysis with just a fraction of these life challenges. I just recently went through a work thing. For months it was all I talked to God and many of you about. And, it wasn’t even that big of a deal. I wasn’t at risk of being fired. I wasn’t potently losing work. I wasn’t worried about not being able to provide for my family. I had a small, little thing, and it was rough. Joseph faced a total life catastrophe — marriage, children, career, money — and just said, “Yes, Lord. Thy will be done.”

In Advent we are called to sit with the reality of the world. Death, sin, evil, and corruption surround us. God declares to us that he hates these things. He judges them. He promises that he intends to burn away the pain and evil and to refine us into beautiful, pure, shining gold. He promises, but not yet. For reasons we do not yet understand, it’s still not time. He came as man, defeated sin and death on the cross, and rose the third day. But, then, He founded his Church and told us to wait for part two.

We’re left with two options. We can do as the world and pretend that everything’s fine, plaster over the darkness with inexpensive aluminum, artificial lights, and all the rest. We can feast and forget.

And, I get it. To reflect on the reality of creation as she now stands is a frightful thing. To look at death and destruction, hunger, fear, and all the rest is a horrible thing.

But, that is not what Advent calls us to. That is not what St. Joseph comes to us for.

Thing back to the images the church makes of St. Joseph. He stands confidently among demons, fire, and the horribleness of the fallen world. And, his face shows no fear. He’s not running. He’s not sweating. He stands holding Christ and looking towards Him alone. He trusts in God. Quietly. Confidently. Without show. St. Joseph is an example to us of what solid faith can be. It’s not miracles. It’s not bold statements. It’s not heroics. It’s simply trusting God and quietly doing what He calls you to do.

Joseph took Mary as his wife. He trusted God with his career and his client list. He trained Jesus as his own son, as a carpenter. He didn’t fret about raising the Messiah. He didn’t try and fix his career himself. He trusted and did the work of husband, father, and carpenter. The work God placed before Joseph, he did. Nothing more. Nothing less.

And, yet, the echoes of Joseph are written all over the gospels. Mary, presumably a widow, is never seen wanting. She has a home, food, and can travel. Joseph was apparently right to trust God with his carpentry business. Jesus, trained my Joseph as a carpenter at construction sites instead of as a Rabbi, knew of the common man. He taught in parables that knew of farming, work, and hardship. When he called the children to come to him, he was doing what he saw in Joseph’s life. Receiving the children God placed before him and loving them as his own.

As we await the great feast of Christmas, let us not skip over Advent. Christ came. He took on our flesh. He died on Calvary. On the third day He rose again. He trampled death and opened to us the path to eternal life.

In Advent, we know this is true. But we also reflect on the fact that we, like Israel of old are waiting. We wait in greater confidence, because he came once, we know he’ll come again. But, still, we wait. We wait amidst hunger, sickness, death, and sadness. We wait with broken families, addiction, and war. We wait in instability and stress.

An angel of the Lord said, “do not fear.” Joseph “woke from sleep” and “did as the angel of the Lord commanded him.”

In the darkness of waiting, we can be confident lights like Joseph. We can look to our Lord and trust in Him. We can open our lives to obedience to be the instruments of God’s peace in the world.

We don’t need to protest. To be the guy who makes bold statements and fights the power. We don’t need to feed the thousands. In our steady, confident lives of faith — praying the office, reading scriptures, attending mass, serving the poor, forgiving, loving, being kind, and all other Christian virtues — we can be the hidden, steady, silent workers of God’s kingdom. In our quiet work, God’s powerful, refining love ripples out from us in ways we can’t imagine. Our faithful, boring lives of faith are written into the stories of everyone in our circles.

Look to Christ. Trust in Him alone. Receive and do the work He’s given you to do. Do not fear. In our quiet obedience and trust in our Lord we shake the very foundations of Hell. In our simple Christian lives we, like Joseph, become the terror of demons.

Let us pray:

Saint Joseph, Terror of Demons, steadfast with thy mighty staff, cast thy solemn gaze upon the devil and all his minions and pray for us. Thou fled through the night to avoid the devil’s wicked designs; now with the power of God, pray our Lord Jesus to smite the demons as they flee from before thee! Lord Jesus, no demon dares approach while thou art near, so we beg of thee, as thou wast near Joseph, so be near to us. Saint Joseph, the terror of demons, pray for us! Amen.