© 1999 Claude Castel
© 1999 French-speaking Association of Readers of the Urantia Book
A completely unforeseen tragedy that radically changes what we thought our life was, it can happen at any time. Jesus experienced it in his 14th year, on the day of the accidental death of his father Joseph. “Just when the outlook was good and the future seemed promising, a seemingly cruel hand struck down the head of the family of Nazareth.” (UB 126:2.2)
Why does the author of the text say: an “apparently” cruel hand? Is such a tragedy really cruel or only apparently cruel?
Are we victims of deceptive appearances?
On destiny, we often hear people say “everything is written in advance” or on the contrary “we are entirely free, God does not exist”. If this were the case, we would then be either puppets in the hands of God, or beings completely left to our own devices, without a destiny goal. This is not what the L.U. says about man’s free will. It informs us that we live in a world in directed evolution with a free will limited within a certain framework by the Master Architects (UB 118:7.1). Consequently, if the evolutionary framework is set by the latter, the details of this evolution belong fully to us while being conditioned by the circumstances of life which regulate the speed and direction of progress (UB 118:8.6).
Reading the passage on Joseph’s death, one might think that everything had been decided in advance for Michael’s effusion and that this accidental death had been duly programmed. This is an error (UB 118:10.1). Destiny is fixed in the present, according to the past, in the direction of the goal of destiny, according to our own decisions and the circumstances of life. Everything is played out in the present and the latter definitively fixes history.
As Mary and Joseph wanted to give their eldest son the best possible education by planning to send him later to the renowned Hebrew academies of Jerusalem to be trained with the aim of making a distinguished career, the circumstances of life (which constitute for us a divine law) radically changed the course of Jesus’ existence by plunging him into the role of father and educator of his brothers and sisters, and at the same time removing any possibility of going to pursue studies in Jerusalem. It is obvious that for Mary and her family, this tragedy was truly a cruel catastrophe. She had lost her husband, the financial support of the family and all her plans for Jesus were turned upside down. Her sadness lasted a very long time.
So how can the author say that this unprepared tragedy was only apparently cruel? Over time, history places chance events in a different logic for us. Even if these events could have happened differently, the fact that they happened this way constitutes the divine law to which Jesus and his family were forced to submit. To us, many acts of the Almighty Creator often appear ruthless and cruel. But this is not true because God’s acts are intelligent, wise and benevolent, and they always tend to the happiness and best good of all in the long term (UB 3:2.8 and UB 10:7.5). If the cruelty of a tragedy is very real in the present moment, the perception of such an event changes over time, with the broadening of human vision and a better ability to understand divine intentions (UB 118:10.12-13 and UB 3:2.10).
When we know the rest of Jesus’ life, we understand better why the events happened in this way when Joseph could never have had an accident. If they were undeniably cruel to the family, the divine intention was not. Hence probably the use of the expression “apparently cruel” by the author of the booklet.
Claude Castel