Joseph Father of Jesus

Joseph, a dark-eyed brunette man, was offered a cup of water from a beautiful, young, brown-eyed, near blonde-haired Mary while he was at work at her father’s home. He fell in love with her and they married in March, 8 BCE when he was 21 years-old. They established a home in which they would ultimately welcome the Son of Man, Son of God, and our Creator Father. While Gabriel appeared to Mary the day after she had conceived to inform her of the birth of her future son, Joseph was only persuaded of the truth of this visit following a very impressive dream, after which he no longer doubted.

In the same month they were married, Caesar Augustus decreed a census for taxation purposes throughout the Roman Empire. The census was delayed for a year in Herod's region of Judea and Joseph, authorized to register his family, prepared to journey to Bethlehem. Mary, fearing that the baby might come while Joseph was away and hoping to visit her relative Elizabeth, insisted on accompanying him. Despite Joseph's initial objections, they departed together and as a result, Jesus was born in Bethlehem on August 21, 7 BCE.

The night before Herod ordered the massacre of the baby boys in Bethlehem in 6 BCE, Joseph and Mary departed with the baby Jesus for Alexandria in Egypt, and there Joseph worked as a carpenter while Mary and Jesus lodged with well-to-do relatives of Joseph’s family. They stayed in Alexandria two full years, not returning to Bethlehem until after the death of Herod. After they returned to their house in Nazareth, occupied by one of Joseph's married brothers, he again secured work as a carpenter, building a small workshop near a tarrying lot for caravans in the town.

Joseph was a mild-mannered man, extremely conscientious, and in every way faithful to the religious conventions and practices of his people. Both Joseph and Mary were good teachers in the home, as they were well-educated for the day. They experienced some levels of poverty until Jesus’ sixth year when Joseph began work as a builder.

While Joseph participated as fully as Mary in answering the many questions of their inquisitive son, he was also very busy in re-establishing his business. In accordance with Jewish custom, Mary turned over her son for the intellectual and religious education from his father, on August 21, 2 BCE. Joseph was fluent in both Aramaic and Greek and the family’s unique possession of the Scriptures in Greek made their home a much-sought place and provided Jesus the opportunity to interact with numerous devoted seekers of truth during his upbringing.

In June of 1 BCE, Joseph turned the shop in Nazareth over to his brothers and formally entered upon his work as a builder. Before the year was over, the family income had more than tripled, as Joseph worked in many locations in and aroundNazareth. Joseph was a good father to all his children. Jesus often asked keen questions which challenged him, but he did his best to always tell him the truth. He also took him on walks in the surrounding areas, pointing out places of traditional and historic note. In fact, on every one of their journeys, Joseph recounted much of the olden history and exploits of Israel's ancestors.

In May of 5 CE, Jesus’ eleventh year, Joseph took him on a business trip to Scythopolis, a “heathen” city that nonetheless made a big impression on Jesus. Joseph was a devout Jew, and he was not entirely comfortable with Jesus’ enthusiasm about the beauty of this Greek city and the competitive athletic games that were occurring during their visit. The games impressed Jesus so much that he proposed that they go home and try to build an amphitheater in Nazareth so that the young men of their town could benefit from such wonderful activities. Joseph lost his temper with Jesus for proposing such an anti-Jewish activity and told him never to bring it up again. It was the only time that Jesus experienced his father’s anger. But Jesus was chastened and never mentioned the matter again.

It was a trying experience for Joseph and Mary to undertake the rearing of this unprecedented child of combined divinity and humanity, and they deserve great credit for so faithfully and successfully discharging their parental responsibilities. Increasingly, Jesus’ parents realized that there was something superhuman residing within this eldest son, but they never even faintly dreamed that this son of promise was the actual creator of this local universe of things and beings. Joseph and Mary lived and died without ever learning that their son Jesus really was the Universe Creator incarnate in mortal flesh. But Joseph had always entertained the belief in the spiritual nature of Jesus' mission, while Mary hoped that Jesus was the promised Jewish Messiah.

The Passover feast of the year 7 CE fell on Saturday, April 9, and Jesus accompanied Joseph and Mary to Jerusalem for the celebration of his coming of age as a "son of the commandment." On their way, they stopped in Bethany at the home of a man named Simon who had three children, Lazarus, Martha, and Mary, who were around the age of Jesus. A friendship grew between the two families, and this home and family were to become very prominent and dear to Jesus for the rest of his earthly life.

As Joseph took Jesus around the Jerusalem temple to point out the different areas, he was perplexed at the indifference displayed by Jesus, who was not seeing the glories of his Heavenly Father as he had imagined they might be. Jesus was offended by the painted courtesans that paraded around the holy temple; he was unhappy that his mother was segregated with the women; and his feelings were exacerbated when Joseph took him to the market place with all the clamoring and slaughter of the sacrificial animals. Jesus pleaded with him to leave, and seeing his pale face, Joseph removed his son from the bloody scene.

Early in the year 8 CE, Joseph arranged to set aside the income from his Nazareth and Capernaum property to pay for Jesus’ long course of study at Jerusalem. Mary and Joseph agreed that he should go to school in Jerusalem in August of the following year when he would be fifteen years of age.

On the fateful day of Tuesday, September 25, 8 CE, a runner from Sepphoris brought to this Nazareth home the tragic news that Joseph 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. Unfortunately, Joseph died of his injuries before Mary could get there to be with her husband.They brought him back to Nazareth, and on the following day he was laid to rest with his fathers.

As a result, at just fourteen years old, Jesus assumed the responsibility of caring for his widowed and pregnant mother and siblings. He accepted these responsibilities and faithfully fulfilled them, becoming the head of the family for eight years until his younger brother, James, could take over these responsibilities.