Page 1388 2. THE DEATH OF JOSEPH
” All did go well until that fateful day of Tuesday, September 25,
[A.D. 8] when a runner from Sepphoris brought to this Nazareth home
the tragic news that Joseph [a building contractor] had been severely
injured by the falling of a derrick while at work on the governor’s
residence. The messenger from Sepphoris had stopped at the shop on the
way to Joseph’s home, informing Jesus of his father’s accident, and
they went together to the house to break the sad news to Mary. Jesus
desired to go immediately to his father, but Mary would hear to
nothing but that she must hasten to her husband’s side. She directed
that James, then ten years of age, should accompany her to Sepphoris
while Jesus remained home with the younger children [Jesus then had
seven brothers and sisters, all younger than Jesus] until she should
return, as she did not know how seriously Joseph had been injured. But
Joseph died of his injuries before Mary arrived. They brought him to
Nazareth, and on the following day he was laid to rest with his fathers.
Just at the time when prospects were good and the future looked
bright, an apparently cruel hand struck down the head of this Nazareth
household, the affairs of this home were disrupted, and every plan for
Jesus and his future education was demolished. This carpenter lad, now
just past fourteen years of age, [He Incarnated here August 21, 7
B.C.] awakened to the realization that he had not only to fulfill the
commission of his heavenly Father to reveal the divine nature on earth
and in the flesh, but that his young human nature must also shoulder
the responsibility of caring for his widowed mother and seven brothers
and sisters–and another yet to be born. This lad of Nazareth now
became the sole support and comfort of this so suddenly bereaved
family. Thus were permitted those occurrences of the natural order of
events on Urantia which would force this young man of destiny so early
to assume these heavy but highly educational and disciplinary
responsibilities attendant upon becoming the head of a human family,
of becoming father to his own brothers and sisters, of supporting and
protecting his mother, of functioning as guardian of his father’s
home, the only home he was to know while on this world.
Jesus cheerfully accepted the responsibilities so suddenly thrust
upon him, and he carried them faithfully to the end. At least one
great problem and anticipated difficulty in his life had been
tragically solved–he would not now be expected to go to Jerusalem to
study under the rabbis. It remained always true that Jesus “sat at no
man’s feet.” He was ever willing to learn from even the humblest of
little children, but he never derived authority to teach truth from
human sources.”