Where's Father Joseph?

Where Have All the Fathers Gone?

In the Bible - Long, Long Ago

Joseph Portrayed as a Vigorous Young Father

We first meet Joseph in the Bible as a prospective groom struggling with the finding that his young, prospective bride is with child--and not by Joseph. But God sends him a dream urging him to accept Mary (and name her son Jesus), for her pregnancy was from the Holy Spirit.

We soon see him as a traveler bound from Nazareth  to Bethlehem, to comply with a Roman census. There he registered with his new wife Mary as a man of the lineage of the historic King David. Next he flees with his family to Egypt to escape the murderous plans of Herod the Great. A few years later he comes back from  Egypt and returns to Nazareth in Galilee where he pursues his occupation as a "carpenter" -- a worker in wood and stone and construction.

Finally we see him on his annual sojourn to Jerusalem for the great Feast of Passover. Jesus goes missing for the return trip, and both parents have to go back to Jerusalem to look for him. They find him hob-knobbing with the teachers in the temple. 

It is interesting that we don't find Joseph rebuking Jesus, but rather his mother Mary, who says, "Son, why have you treated us this way? Your father and I have been searching for you in great distress!" Is this because Joseph is his adoptive, rather than his natural father? Does Mary have more authority over the child Jesus than does Joseph?

At any rate, that is the last we see of Joseph, the adoptive father of Mary's son. At about 30 years old, Jesus leaves his boyhood home, changes his occupation from carpenter's son to prophet, and moves miles away from Nazareth  to Capernaum, on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Has Joseph died? How would we be able to tell?

There are two indicators that point to the death of Joseph, one in church tradition, and the other documented in the Bible.

Joseph the Elderly and Weakened Carpenter

A very early tradition of the church (first and second century) held that Joseph was already elderly when he married Mary. He had already begotten four sons (James, Joseph, Simon, and Jude), and two or three daughters (Mary, Salome, and Anna). His wife may have died in childbirth, leaving Joseph in need of a wet-nurse and a step-mother for his children. In this tradition, Joseph lived to a ripe old age, but nevertheless died before Jesus was 30.

But in the Gospels we find a more reliable indication, in the episode when Jesus was accused by his enemies of having totally lost his mind. When news of these accusations reached Jesus' family, there was only one thing they were required to do: that is, launch an investigation to determine whether Jesus had gone bonkers, and if so, to take him into custody for the protection of himself and the people of the land.

That unpleasant duty would fall upon the father, or if there was no father, to be taken up by the oldest male in the family. That would be James the eldest, on his way to becoming known as James the Just. But who shows up? "His mother and his brothers" (Mark 3:21). Again, who has the highest potential of authority over Jesus? His eldest stepbrother, or his mother? Probably James, always the practical one, had brought along not only Jesus' mother, but all of his stepbrothers, just to make sure.

But one might say, "If Joseph was alive but frail, he may have sent Jesus' mother and stepbrothers." Valid point. But I submit that if Joseph were alive during this incident, his inability to attend would have been noted by Mark, to protect Joseph's honor. At any rate, the likelihood that Joseph had already died is the more probable situation.

NEXT WEEK: Why don't we hear more about "Jonas," the father of fishermen Simon Peter and Andrew? Isn't he the actual owner of their fishing boat? Or has he died?