Theo-illogical

I'm all about impressing my pastor.

There's a group of guys in my church who meet one morning each month with the pastor for breakfast and Bible study. Having been lured with the promise of free food, I accepted their invitation to join them this week. We enjoyed bacon, eggs, and the Baptism of Jesus.

One of the many asides in our discussion was about the presence, or lack thereof, of Joseph in the latter parts of the Gospel. He's obviously a big part of the story in the beginning of the New Testament, but after the manger scene and the arrival of the wise guys, you never hear about him again, save for a cameo appearance at the Temple when the preteen J.C. began his rabbiing.

Biblical scholars believe that the lack of mention of Joseph beyond this point indicates that he died while Jesus was a teenager. If that was indeed the case, as first-born son, J.C. would have the responsibility to care for the other children in the home until they were old enough to care for themselves, which may explain why he held off on the whole Messiah thing until he was 30.

That there were other children in the house led to our aside from the aside. You see, we Protestants are of the belief that after the whole inn thing, Joseph and Mary went on to bear children the old fashioned way. As such, we feel the brothers and sisters mentioned in the Bible where the real brothers and sisters of Jesus.

(Well, half-brothers and half-sisters, as it were.)

Pastor mentioned that Catholics hold to the premise that the Blessed Virgin Mary remained both Blessed and a virgin throughout her days. Those brothers and sisters, say the Catholics, were actually cousins who lived with Aunt Mary and Uncle Joe.

I figured this was the time to add my thoughts into the great theological debate; to join the ranks of the storied biblical scholars like ... well, like whoever those storied biblical scholars might be.

"This is twelve years later, the cousins were living in the home, and Mary was still a virgin?" I asked.

Pastor nodded.

"Well maybe that's why we don't hear any more about Joseph," I said.

We'll see if I am invited to next month's Bible study ...