How Saint Joseph Tricked the Devil
Saint Thomas lays out three simple reasons Saint Joseph was necessary to the Holy Family. He says this:
The first [reason] is taken on the part of the one conceived, namely, that the birth be concealed from the devil; the second on the part of the mother, namely, that she not be stoned; and the third reason is on the part of Joseph, that he might serve the mother and the child, and furnish testimony of her virginity.
Saint Joseph had three main roles in the Holy Family.
To deceive the devil regarding Christ’s divinity and miraculous birth.
To protect Mary and prevent her from being stoned as an adultress
To serve the Holy Family and bear witness to Mary’s virginity
This article will primarily focus on the first point because I find it fascinating!
Maybe you’re wondering, doesn’t the devil know that Jesus was born of a virgin?
Saint Thomas teaches that God kept this information from the devil because He did not want Christ to be persecuted before the appointed time. If the devil had known that Jesus was the Son of God at His birth, he would have persecuted Him too severely as a child. Thomas says:
During His infancy it behooved the malice of the devil to be withheld, lest he should persecute Him too severely: for Christ did not wish to suffer such things then, nor to make His power known, but to show Himself to be in all things like other infants.
Christ’s divinity needed to be concealed from the devil until the appointed time. If the devil had known Jesus was divine, God’s plan for salvation would not have come to fruition in the way He desired.
Thomas adds that the virginity of Mary needs to be concealed from the devil because:
This virginal birth, because of the preceding prophecy, would have been the most certain sign of the Son of the living God.
The devil is an expert on the Scriptures and knows the prophecy from Isaiah 7 that a virgin shall conceive and bear a son. If the devil had known that Jesus was conceived miraculously by a virgin, God’s plan would not have unfolded the way He desired, so Joseph was necessary in order to deceive the devil. The devil looked at the Holy Family and assumed that Joseph was the natural father of Jesus, so he did not consider Him to be the Son of the Virgin or the Son of God.
But don’t the devils confess Jesus to be the “Son of God” in Luke 4:41?
In Luke’s Gospel, Jesus drives out demons, and as they are being expelled, they cry out, “You are the Son of God.” It seems like they know Christ’s divinity at this point. Thomas answers by saying:
It must be said with Chrysostom that [the devils] did not have firm and sure knowledge of God’s coming, but only conjectures; hence Augustine says in The City of God that he was “recognized by the devils not by that which is eternal life, but by certain temporal things effected by his power.”
The devil conjectured or opined that Jesus may be divine because of the miracles that He performed. However, when he saw Jesus’ evident weakness, he reasoned that Jesus must not be the omnipotent God. The devil was not afraid to come and tempt Jesus after His 40-day fast because he saw Jesus weakened nearly to the point of death, and he concluded from His weakness that He must be merely a man.
So, when does the devil discover Jesus is God?
The exact time is unknown; however, it must have been sometime after the Crucifixion had been set in motion. Saint Paul says, “If they had known it, they would never have crucified the Lord of glory” (1 Cor 2:8).
The devil was blinded by his arrogance and did not see that the poor, weak Christ-child was truly God. He assumed Christ would come in power and glory as a king or high priest and not in human weakness and obscurity into a family headed by a poor carpenter. Jesus, Mary, and Joseph blinded the devil with their humility and thereby caused him to bring about his own downfall.
Without Joseph, the devil would have discovered the Virgin Birth, Mary likely would have been stoned, Herod would have captured Jesus, and God’s plan would have been thwarted. Catholics often point out the integral part Mary played in Salvation History by saying, “If there were no Mary, there would be no Jesus.” If Mary had not consented to God’s plan, there would be no Incarnation. On this feast of Saint Joseph, perhaps we should consider that if there were no Joseph, there would be no Mary and no Jesus. The survival of the entire Holy Family depends entirely upon Joseph’s obedience to God.
Mary and Jesus are certainly above Joseph in heaven, but consider that they both owe their lives to Joseph. If he had not taken Mary into his home, she would have been stoned. If he had not woken up and fled in the middle of the night, Jesus would have been captured and killed by Herod. God chose to honor Saint Joseph by giving him these tasks and making him the savior of the Savior, the guardian of the Virgin, and the Head of the Holy Family. If God Himself entrusts Mary and Jesus to Joseph, how much more should we entrust ourselves to him?
Today, on this glorious feast of Saint Joseph, say a prayer thanking Joseph for his role in protecting the Holy Family and saving your soul. Without Joseph, there would be no Jesus to save you and no Mary to intercede for you.
To summarize so far, the devil is on a very short leash. God only permits the devil to do and know certain things. God decided to keep the devil ignorant about Jesus’ divine origin, and Joseph played an essential part in this. He was integral in deceiving the devil into thinking Christ was merely a man. To put it simply, Joseph’s job was to appear to be Jesus’ natural father to deceive the devil into thinking Christ was born naturally in order to protect the Christ-child from the devil’s persecution and to protect the Virgin from being stoned as an adultress.
In case anyone is thinking, “Yes, Joseph saved Mary’s life by protecting her from being stoned and saved Jesus from Herod, but God could have saved Mary and Jesus in another way if Joseph had failed. You’re putting too much emphasis on a man and not enough on Jesus.” I respond that while it is possible that God could accomplish His will through another, He actually did it through Joseph. God is concerned not with what could have happened but what has actually transpired. As Saint Paul says, “An athlete is not crowned unless he competes lawfully” (2 Tim 2:5). The Word freely chose from all of eternity to subject Himself to human parents. He chose to have his life saved by Joseph so that He may honor Joseph forever in heaven. Jesus honored Joseph on earth and continues to do so in heaven by granting him whatever he asks for. To put it simply, we can never honor Joseph too much because we can never honor him as much as Christ did. Christ is glorified in and with His saints, especially His parents.
From my own experience, I know that Joseph is a powerful intercessor. The first thing my beautiful bride and I did on our honeymoon was consecrate our marriage to Saint Joseph at the Loretto Chapel in Santa Fe. I can honestly say this was the best decision we have ever made as a married couple. Just as Joseph once protected the Holy Family, he now protects our growing family. If any of our readers are married or engaged, I highly recommend making Joseph the patron of your marriage!
Hopefully, this article has inspired you to grow in devotion to Saint Joseph; here is a powerful prayer to get you started.
O dearest St. Joseph, I consecrate myself to you honor and give myself to you, that you may always be my father, my protector, and my guide in the way of salvation. Obtain for me a greater purity of heart and fervent love for the interior life.
After your example, may I do all my actions for the greater glory of God, in union with the Sacred Heart of Jesus and the Immaculate Heart of Mary. O blessed St. Joseph, pray for me, that I may share in the peace and joy of your holy death. Amen.
Saint Joseph most chaste, pray for us!
Thanks for reading,
P.S. How has Saint Joseph impacted your life? Tell us about it in the comments!
Reference:
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~Sent.IV.D30.Q2.A1.Q3.2
https://aquinas.cc/la/en/~ST.III.Q29.A1.Rep3
Love this! Many ideas that I've never considered before. And yes, St. Joseph is an amazing Intercessor.
Really interesting stuff! The knowledge of the devil here, and what he thought he was doing, offers such a rich ground of consideration.
You might also like this, on how we know more about St Joseph than we think we do:
https://wmreview.substack.com/p/st-joseph-coleridge