Urantia Book 12. The life of Jesus of Nazareth, Joshua ben Joseph, Christ Michael, Sovereign God of the Universe of Nebadon. During Jesus’ 26th year (AD 20), he became aware that “he possessed a wide range of potential power, but it was not to be employed by his personality as the Son of Man, at least not until his hour should come” (128.7.1). The UB says it was literally true–that “in him were hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.” There were thousands of angels looking in on Jesus’ progress, delighting in his every word and act. Things were running smooth at home, except for Jude. He lived at home, but wouldn’t pay his share of the family expenses. He would embarrass Jesus with his sudden patriotic outbursts and his dangerous exploits. James and Joseph wanted to kick him out of the house, but Jesus wouldn’t consent. When they complained about Jude, Jesus would just say “Be patient.” Jesus hoped that Jude would imitate his older brothers if they were compassionate to him. But Jude didn’t change for a long time. Jesus was himself preparing the family for the day when he could be consistently out of the picture. In addition to revealing his Father to Humankind, he had another goal: “He had to untangle the complicated affairs of this planet as they were related to the Lucifer rebellion” (128.7.6). This year Jesus, having leisure time, trained James in the caravan repair shop. He also trained Joseph in managing the household. Mary sensed that Jesus was planning to leave; she had given up on the idea that he was the Messiah; she didn’t understand him at all, and this caused her much grief. Jesus would take each family member for long walks up the hill and around the countryside. He took Jude to an uncle to do harvesting, but Jude ran away. Simon found him working with a fisherman and brought him back home. Jude and Jesus reached an agreement, and Jude worked as a fisherman until and after he was married. He sent money home and was no trouble after he started work as a fisherman. This marked the time when all Jesus’ brothers were established in their life work, and Jesus could leave without abandoning them or his mother. In November a double wedding took place: James and Esta and Jacob and Miriam. Mary was happy for the newlyweds, but sad about Jesus. She knew he was leaving, but he wouldn’t talk about it. She desperately wanted him to communicate with her, especially about his plans; “he was profoundly silent about the future.” James’ contributions to the family were cut in half; he now had the upkeep of his own nice house given to the bridal pair by Esta’s father. Jesus now formally installed Joseph as head of household. Jude was sending his wages home each month. Martha took Miriam’s place in the home, and things were running smoothly by the end of the year. The day after the double wedding, Jesus had a secret conference with James. He told James that he was planning to leave home. He gave full title to the repair shop to James, abdicated as head of house, and established James as head and protector of his father’s house. They signed a secret pact that James would be responsible for the family, and Jesus would be released from all further obligations. Jesus did, however, promise to send money home to use as James saw fit.********************* Jesus did not easily separate from his family. He loved all of them and was concerned for their welfare. He would do anything for the comfort and happiness of his widowed mother. He had been preparing the family for his departure for 4 years, so they were not shocked to see him leave. When he was 27 (AD 21), Jesus departed on a rainy Sunday morning without fuss, only telling his family that he was going to Tiberius and other cities around the Sea of Galilee. He drifted to Capernaum, where he stopped to visit his father’s friend, Zebedee. Zebedee’s sons were fishermen, and Zebedee himself was a boatbuilder. Jesus was an expert in designing and building; at working with wood. Zebedee had been planning to build better boats and laid his plans before Jesus. He invited Jesus to help him build these boats, and Jesus readily consented. Jesus worked with Zebedee for a year, but in that time “he created a new style of boat and established entirely new methods of boatbuilding…(they) began to build boats of a very superior type, craft which were far more safe for sailing the lake than were the older types…Jesus became well-known to the Galilean fisherfolk as the designer of the new boats” (129.1.3). Zebedee’s wife, Salome, loved Jesus as she loved her sons James, John and David, and they learned that Jesus was also a great fisherman. Jesus lived with the Zebedees, but each month sent home money to James. He returned home in October to attend Martha’s wedding. Two years later he would come home again to attend the double wedding of Simon and Jude.************************************As Jesus was building boats, he was observing people and how they lived on earth. He would frequently visit the Capernaum caravan station. There was a Roman military post nearby of which the commanding officer was a gentile believer in Yahweh. His family was wealthy, so he built a beautiful synagogue in Capernaum and presented it to the Jews shortly before Jesus arrived in the city. Jesus conducted the services in this synagogue about half of the time he spent with the Zebedees. When it came time for Jesus to pay taxes, he registered himself as “skilled craftsman of Capernaum.” From then on he was known as a resident of Capernaum. There were many new books in the synagogue, and Jesus studied these books at least 5 evenings a week. The Zebedees worshiped Jesus, and Jesus had a question and answer session for them after dinner every night. He gave instruction at the level they could understand. He discussed his ideas about politics, sociology, science, philosophy, but never presumed to speak with “authoritative finality,” except when discussing religion–the relation of man to God. Young people were drawn to Jesus, I think, because he was non-threatening and interested in what they had to say. He loved people; he was interested in people. And the UB says he didn’t give unsolicited advice.********************************** Once a week Jesus held a meeting for all of Zebedee’s employees. This is the time he started being called “Master.” They all loved him. This year Jesus made higher levels of contact with his Thought Adjuster. This was the last year he would have a permanent home. But before his teaching career could begin, he had “a few years of extensive travel and highly diversified personal activity” before him.