Template:Joseph a Father
Joseph the Father
Some people suggest that Joseph was 80 or even 90 years old when he got married.[1] This is unlikely for numerous reasons other than its dubious source. Joseph would have to be making almost hundred-mile hikes in a few days at more than 90 or 100 years old if we are to believe the Bible account of his journey to the Temple in Jerusalem. Most historians agree that both Joseph of Arimathea and Joseph were a part of the Essene sect. Essenes men often did not get married until after they completed their studies and prepared to provide a home for their family.
Joseph was probably humble but not a carpenter but a stonemason. He had to know math, architecture, the use of and types of stone. This would take years of study, and of course, he had to study the scriptures, all while learning the tools and techniques of building with stone. He could have been 35 or even in his 40s before he was stable enough to get married. Also according to some sources like the Gospel of James Joseph already had sons.
If Joseph was astute and proficient at his trade and built a crew that could work large stone there was literally tons of work for him and his people. There was no town of Nazareth at that time but there was a large community of Nazarene Essenes. There was big-money for skilled architectural stonemason after the arrival of Romans who loved to build in stone in places nearby like Cearsaria but also in Egypt. There are stories from antiquity of Jesus helping Joseph fitting stones in Egypt.
Joseph was actually Mary’s first cousin, once removed, as they shared the same grandfather, Matthan, who was descended from both Judean and Parthian royalty making both of them part of those same extended royal families as well. Bloodline mattered. It gave you rights and also celebrity status. So, Joseph was likely born around 49 B.C. to Jacob, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. That would have made him around 42 when he was married.
Jesus' cousin was John the Baptist. There is no sign of rejection of Jesus by John in the Bible although he did not know he was the Messiah until he was already in prison. [2]
James was his brother and never gave any sign of rejecting Jesus. He served in Jerusalem, suffering death at the hands of the murderous Pharisees. He was doing his job as minister of the Kingdom of God on earth.
Joses, Simon, and Jude who were also his brothers "according to the flesh"[3] accepted Jesus and worked diligently for the early Church who were the called out by Christ and appointed a kingdom. Again like the Levites before them they taught the way of providing guidance through a daily ministration rightly dividing bread from house to house.[4] Others who did not follow The Way continued to eat of the Corban of the Pharisees and the free bread of Rome which not only made the word of God to none effect it also made them surety for the debt.
Jesus' mother never "rejected" him, but she feared his going to Jerusalem.
The problem with these interpretations of Mark is because people do not understand what the Church was doing and how it was organized. The Church was an appointed Kingdom of God or government of God on earth. It was not like other governments of the world who exercised authority one over the other.
It was a voluntary government that functioned by way of the perfect law of liberty through the exercise of real faith, together with the hope of salvation through the charity living in the hearts and minds of other Christians in a broad community network of fellowship.
There were many requirements laid on those who would become his student ministers or disciples. These same restrictions had been laid upon the Levites centuries before, although many did not understand those requirements because of the teachings and sophistry of the Pharisees. His disciples could not own property in their own name, and they would have to give up what they already owned. Like the Levites who could not be a part of the walled camp and were called out as the Church in the Wilderness, if Jesus' disciples — who were called out of the world — were not willing to leave their family, they could not be one of His disciples.[5]
Of course, Jesus was not talking about abandoning our responsibilities to our young children or aging parents, but he encouraged prioritizing the commitment to be ministers of His Church. The commitment to be the ministers of His appointed kingdom included the responsibility of a daily ministration for believers who shared his Eucharist and communion in the network of the early Church all over the Roman Empire.
Christians did not eat at the table of kings or the Imperial Cult of Rome. They did not apply for the Corban of the Pharisees nor of Rome nor of any government that exercises authority one over the other like Modern Christians do. Early Christians knew that what those governments offered as welfare was actually a snare. To covet their benefits would entangle them again in the yoke of bondage and the elements of the world.
- ↑ The History of Joseph the Carpenter, composed in Egypt between the 6th and 7th centuries produces that idea of 90 years old.
- ↑ Luke 7:20 When the men were come unto him, they said, John Baptist hath sent us unto thee, saying, Art thou he that should come? or look we for another?
- ↑ Eusebius of Caesarea, Historia Ecclesiae, 1:7:11-14
- ↑ Acts 2:46 And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and singleness of heart,
- ↑ Luke 14:26 If any [man] come to me, and hate not his father, and mother, and wife, and children, and brethren, and sisters, yea, and his own life also, he cannot be my disciple.