Tag: Joseph

Qur’an Cover-to-Cover: Day 20 (“Joseph”)

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joseph

Thus far in the Qur’an we have encountered the stories of the prophets Adam, Noah, Hud, Salih, Abraham, Jacob, Shu’ayb, Moses and of Isa’s mother, Mary. Today we hear about the story of Joseph the patriarch, the one whom the Bible describes as having a “coat of many colours”:

Surah 12 – “Joseph” (Yusuf)
We open with the affirmation that the Qur’an is a “clear Book”. There is also the assertion by Allah that He is revealing “the best of stories” to Muhammad, about which he was previously unfamiliar. This seems to me to me an unlikely claim, given that Muhammad would have certainly had contact with Jews while he was a merchant trader.

We are then treated to the Islamic version of the story of the Patriach Joseph. Joseph tells his father about his dream where the sun, moon and stars bowed down to him. Jacob tells Joseph not to share this dream with his brothers, for fear they will plot against him.

(Although I’ve questioned previously whether the author of the Qur’an knew Isaac was the father of Jacob, this chapter does appear to recognize that correct relationship when Jacob is quoted as saying “[Allah will] complete His favour upon you and upon the family of Jacob, as He completed it upon your fathers before, Abraham and Isaac”)

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The “brothers” of Jesus

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A friend recently sent me a Facebook message asking about a passage from the Bible she had heard at Mass:

“Can you shed light on the “brothers” of Jesus in the gospel today for me? James, Joseph, Simon and Judas…” 

The passage referred to was from Matthew’s Gospel:

They were astonished [at Jesus] and said, “Where did this man get such wisdom and mighty deeds? Is he not the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother named Mary and his brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? Are not his sisters all with us? …”  – Matthew 13:54-58

So what do we make of these guys, these “brothers” of Jesus?

Mary, Mary, quite contrary…

The Catholic Church teaches that Mary was not only a virgin at the time of Jesus’ birth, but also that she remained a virgin for the rest of her life. However, doesn’t the above passage mention the “brothers…[and]…sisters” of Jesus? Doesn’t that prove that Mary had other children after Christ?

As you can imagine this issue is often raised in Catholic-Protestant dialogue, since the doctrine of the Perpetual Virginity of Mary found in Sacred Tradition seems to many Protestants to obviously contradict Sacred Scripture.

There’s a lot which could be said on this subject, but in this post I would like to offer a brief response and explain how Catholics understand the mention of Jesus’ “brothers”.

Mary

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The Two Josephs

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As I mentioned before, I’m currently working my way through St. Matthew’s Gospel. I was reading a commentary the other day where it noted the parallels between the two main Josephs in the Bible:

 Joseph #1

St. Joseph the All Comely

The first Joseph is the Joseph of the Old Testament.

This Joseph was the one who had dreams and was sold into slavery by his own brothers (Genesis 37:28). When he resisted the advances of his master’s wife he was falsely accused and thrown into prison. Fortunately, because he could interpret the Pharaoh’s dreams (Genesis 41:1-36) he later ascended to the role of Prime Minister (Genesis 41:39-40).

Later, during a great famine, Joseph’s brothers come to Egypt to buy grain. After testing their hearts (Genesis 44), Joseph responds with mercy and brings his whole family to live with him (Genesis 47:11-12)

Joseph #2

St Joseph IconThe second Joseph is the Joseph of the New Testament.

This is St. Joseph, the man who was betrothed to Mary (Matthew 1:19). When he found out that Mary was pregnant, he considered divorcing her. However, after an angel appeared to him in a dream, he resolved to take her as his wife and become the foster father of Jesus (Matthew 1:20-25).

After Jesus’ birth, St. Joseph receives another dream warning him of Herod’s plan to kill Jesus so he takes his wife and son to Egypt. Eventually he brings his family back and settles them in Galilee (Matthew 2:20-23).

Most people assume that St. Joseph died prior to the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry since he is not mentioned during that time.

Now, the parallels…

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