The Saintly Sixteen continues with Absalom Jones taking on Joseph. In the first round, Jones defeated Matthias by the largest margin of Lent Madness 2016, 82% to 18% while Absalom Jones swept past Christina Rossetti by the second largest margin, 79% to 21%. Will this be a harbinger of a tightly contested race? Only time and your (single) vote will tell.
And, yes, the Supreme Executive Committee already knows this matchup is "not fair." But of course, that's the whole point of Lent Madness -- it's not about who wins, but about how much you learn and are inspired by these incredible holy men and women who have come before us in the faith. We assure you none of these saintly souls care one iota about winning the Golden Halo -- they've already won their crown of righteousness by virtue of their faithfulness. (Well, maybe they care just a little -- it affords them some pretty sweet heavenly street cred). The real "winners?" Everyone who takes the time to read, learn, and be inspired along this Lenten journey.
Yesterday, in the first matchup of the Saintly Sixteen, Constance defeated Helena 69% to 31%. She'll go on to face the winner of Clare vs. Vida Dutton Scudder in the Elate Eight. Today is the last battle of the week but fear not! We'll be back bright and early Monday morning as Methodius takes on Albert Schweitzer in the Lent Dome.
Absalom Jones
Did you know...
In the mid-to-late 1700s, slaves living in Pennsylvania were allowed to marry and to learn how to write and read. Jones worked at night for many years to buy his freedom, but first he bought his wife’s. The reason? Their children would then be born free.
In Philadelphia, there is a chapel and a memorial window named for Absalom Jones. His ashes have been enshrined in the altar of the chapel.
When yellow fever struck Philadelphia in the 1790s, Absalom Jones assisted Dr. Benjamin Rush in treating people afflicted by the plague: blacks were initially thought to be immune, and many whites simply fled the city (including most doctors except for Rush and his assistants, some of whom died). Jones and other black Philadelphians helped nurse the sick and bury the dead. Jones in particular sometimes worked through the night.
One of Jones’s favorite biblical quotations was Galatians 5:1: “For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”
A renowned preacher, it's best to let Absalom Jones speak for himself:
“Our God has seen masters and mistresses, educated in fashionable life, sometimes take the instruments of torture into their own hands, and, deaf to the cries and shrieks of their agonizing slaves, exceed even their overseers in cruelty. Inhuman wretches! Though you have been deaf to their cries and shrieks, they have been heard in Heaven. The ears of Jehovah have been constantly open to them: He has heard the prayers that have ascended from the hearts of his people; and he has, as in the case of his ancient and chosen people the Jews, come down to deliver our suffering country-men from the hands of their oppressors” (“A Thanksgiving Sermon,” January 1, 1808)
“Let the first of January, the day of the abolition of the slave trade in our country, be set apart in every year, as a day of public thanksgiving for that mercy. Let the history of the sufferings of our brethren, and of their deliverance, descend by this means to our children, to the remotest generations; and when they shall ask, in time to come, saying, What mean the lessons, the psalms, the prayers and the praises in the worship of this day? Let us answer them, by saying, the Lord, on the day of which this is the anniversary, abolished the trade which dragged your fathers from their native country, and sold them as bondmen in the United States of America (“A Thanksgiving Sermon”).
Joseph
The canonical Gospels offer very few details about Joseph, the earthly father of Jesus. His mentions are limited almost entirely to the birth narratives in Matthew and Luke. It is speculated that Joseph must have died in Jesus’ childhood. Matthew presents him as a particularly righteous man, obeying God faithfully and often doing exactly what God commands word for word. And it is no small thing what Joseph was asked to do.
The earliest non-canonical stories about Joseph (found in the Proto-Gospel of James and the Infancy Gospel of Thomas—both of which are delightful, quick reads) help us understand the enormity of the task and give us a glimpse of his character.
In the Proto-Gospel of James, Joseph enters the story as an old man, widowed with his own children (according to another ancient source, Joseph is 90 with four sons and two daughters). Mary is 12 and living in the Temple. The Temple authorities need someone to look after her. Joseph is chosen by means of a divine sign—a dove emerges out of his rod and lands on his head. Joseph is initially reluctant to take on the task, citing his old age and his own children that require his care and attention. He is ultimately convinced by the priests and takes Mary into his home.
Sometime later, when Mary is found with child, Joseph expresses guilt over having failed in his responsibility to watch over her. He and Mary are brought to trial in the Temple and given a sort of truth serum, the “water of refutation.” They drink the water, no sin is revealed, and they are sent on their way. These fantastic stories remind us of the social stigma that both Joseph and Mary bore and the great sacrifices they made to serve God faithfully.
The Infancy Gospel of Thomas imagines what it must’ve been like to raise the child-God Jesus. In summary, not easy. The boy Jesus is about what you’d expect if you gave any random three-year-old total power. Jesus kills kids who bump into him, makes mute (and nearly dead?) teachers that cross him, and generally terrorizes Nazareth. At one point, Joseph, exasperated, implores Mary, “Do not let him out the door, for those who anger him die.” When a teacher expresses interest in teaching the young boy, Joseph simply replies, “If you’re that courageous, brother, take him along with you.”
But Jesus is not a terror for the whole story. He grows and matures and becomes more like the Jesus we are familiar with in the Gospels. And it is under Joseph’s steady and faithful guidance that Jesus learns how to live in harmony and to contribute to the welfare of the community.
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168 comments on “Absalom Jones vs. Joseph”
Two heroes from very different ages and for different reasons. I greatly admire them both, but voted for Absalom for his courageous fight in the name of Christ against slavery and racism, an evil which still so horribly plagues our society and even the church. Saints Absalom and Joseph, pray for us!
Absalom was awesome, but how can anyone compete with the man who reared Jesus?
St. Joseph......the holiest man imaginable. Married to the sinless Mary and raising the Son of God! What pressure......
Joseph! The very definition of "salt of the earth". Faithful, devoted Joseph. And you will rarely if ever find me passing up the opportunity to vote for a biblical saint.
This was a hard choice, but I finally went with Absalom Jones. Instead of bringing in stories of very doubtful (to put it mildly) historicity from non-canonical gospels, leading people to imagine that the sinless Jesus murdered other toddlers he didn't like, I wish the selection on Joseph had alluded to a very good reason to choose him: the fact that Jesus, unlike other Jews of his time, called God "Father," apparently using the same term that small children used for their own fathers, "Abba." Joseph must have been a loving and compassionate father for Jesus to have chosen that name for God.
Although I honor Absolom Jones, and speculate that the information offered about Joseph is more fable than fact, one fact remains.
Joseph cared for Jesus as a father. One of the loveliest sermons I've heard about Mary was called "she said yes"
So did Joseph. What would the Holy Family have looked like without him? Joseph was also asked. He said yes.
I'm a stepmom - God bless Joseph.
When I read the blog for today about Joseph, I was truly disappointed. Did you ever wonder why these other pseudo-gospels did not make it into the Bible? Joseph could have turned Mary over to the authorities, but he didn't. Joseph could have walked away from it all, but he didn't. He took on the role of a father. In a conversation with my granddaughters who are reaching college age, it became clear that the time comes when we must let the children go and trust that we brought them up to know right and wrong. What did Jesus become - Savior - Messiah - Prince of Peace!!!!!
Tim & Scott -- there doesn't seem to be any way to write to you, so I'm must resort to this comment --
I replied to the Lent Madness email at 12:35 (5 hours ago) but just discovered that you probably didn't receive it. I'm on the road and tried to vote via my phone, but I don't think I was successful; It looked like it didn't go thru, so I tried again. Please check - if there are multiple votes it's not fraud, just incompetence on my part. I voted for Mr. A Jones, and now seeing how close the vote is, I don't want my tech problems to mess anything up (nor do I want you to ban me from future participation). Thanks.
As a graduate of Rush University School of Medicine, I had to vote for Absalom Jones who worked for and with my alma mater's namesake, Dr. Benjamin Rush!!!!!
I would vote for Absalom Jones if he weren't paired against Joseph. Sorry, Ab.
Agree, my thoughts exactly
I vote for the man I think he is;regardless of anyone's portrayal. I can't think why anyone would do otherwise. St. Joseph, for all the right reasons.
I agree Len. I couldnt believe what I was reading. I would so have loved to see Joseph get the golden halo. Joseph door all the reasons you mention. And not to denigrate anything Absolom did so righteously.
I voted for Joseph because he is Jesus's father.
Right on Martin! I don't think anyone could come up with a better reason for voting for Joseph!
Actually, both the Merriam Webster dictionary AND the Oxford English dictionary give a definition of enormity in a neutral sense of something being immensely huge as in "The enormity of the universe is difficult to describe." They also give the definition of enormous evil. Both dictionaries catalog usage and though go to experts -- writers, and others who use the English language professionally -- to decide on what is legitimate usage!
My wife reminded me that Joseph is also the Patron of a Holy Death. This is because it is believed that he died in the presence of Jesus and Mary. In the Cathedral of St. Francis, in Santa Fe, is a chapel to St. Joseph. In this chapel is a painting of Jesus, holding the dead Joseph on his lap. Joseph's right hand hangs down limply and below it, on the floor, lies his miraculous staff. Unfortunately, we were unable to find an online image of this painting. I encourage anyone who visits the Cathedral to seek out this painting. It will make your heart ache and melt.
I'd like to vote twice...one vote for each candidate!
I cannot see myself curing yellow fever, being a physician nor can I see myself taking on the establishment of slavery. I know very few people who would be up for it.
I voted for Joseph because he did the next right thing, as simple as it was. I can do that. I believe that anyone can.
There are 970,000 plus physicians in the United States, NOT some small number!
I imagine someone else has noticed, but deep into my second Lent Madness, I have noticed an pattern. I vote in the early morning when there are about 1000 votes cast. The percentages between the two saints virtually never changes but 1% or so from that point on until the lights go out. The SEC probably has the data stored away, but that happens every day. This means either that the early voters express the balance of opinion that remains the whole day, or something else. No come-from-behinds, no widening the % gap. This may be a divine consensus establishing itself, but it's not human.
Bob, something that I think is important to notice is that there is a huge difference between the actual vote (the literal count) and the comments section. The tiny community that comprises the comments section is a very small percentage of the number of actual voters. The comments in the blog threads often diverge from the overall mass count. People in this section are thoughtful, argumentative, spiritual; they can be and often are swayed by others' ideas. I suspect many people simply cast their vote and log off without ever reading the comments. That voting phenomenon (probably not different from overall voting patterns on public/civic issues) helps account, I imagine, for the general stability of voting patterns here in LM. Once a trend has been established, it is rarely disturbed (except by a few of St Bridget's Chicago-style voters, who apparently even include those on the rolls of the dead!). I enjoy this tiny sub-set of LM voters, who think and reflect and discuss.
My soul is fasting
Through Lent madness withdrawal.
on Monday I feast.
Only one more day, Barbara! Only…gasp!…one…more…day...
COME ON MONDAY!!!!
( I don't do LMW well. 🙁
Nice haiku!
Sunday and I'm still upset about Friday's presentation of Joseph. How cruel to present such falls information about him ! He took everything on faith and flowed God's direction. Not an old man with a pregnant young woman.
I'm starting to question the other writings on the saints or saintly people that have been written.