© 2022 Trudi Cooper
© 2022 The Urantia Book Fellowship
by Trudi Cooper
One reason I so enjoy reading The Urantia Book is that it fills in so many details about Jesus’ childhood and early adulthood. The following is one of the stories about love I find most endearing.
When Jesus was fourteen years old, his father Joseph, a construction manager, died tragically after the falling of a derrick while at work in the governor’s mansion. Suddenly, Jesus was head of Mary’s family, at that time totaling seven children, with Ruth yet to be born. Joseph’s brothers appealed to Herod for the money still due Joseph at his untimely death, to no avail. This left his family nearly impoverished. Over the next several years, the family’s resources diminished. Therefore, it eventually became necessary for Jesus to sell his harp, which he had so loved playing!
A thoroughly practical youth as well as an idealist, Jesus vigorously applied himself to solve his family’s problems. He rented a considerable piece of land to the north of their home so that he and his siblings could take up gardening and better enjoy much of the experience of farm life. They had chickens, sheep, a few cows, a donkey, and a dog, as well as doves. He patiently taught his younger brothers and sisters how to be farmers. He also toiled daily at the carpenter’s bench, earning the equivalent of twenty-five cents per day. His work was of such quality that he was in high demand. Nazareth was a crossroads of caravan trails where people from many lands converged, and Jesus spoke Aramaic, Hebrew, and Greek. He was well educated and beloved by his kinsfolk. Jesus was a charming, virile, comely, robust and handsome young man. In his nineteenth year, Rebecca, the daughter of a wealthy merchant and trader named Ezra, fell in love with Jesus. On her seventeenth birthday, Ezra invited Jesus to their home for a celebration. Rebecca and her father proposed to financially compensate Mary and the children should Jesus decide to marry Rebecca. Jesus found himself in a difficult situation which required all his charm and tact. He knew his purpose on this earth was not to marry and have offspring. Instead it was to make a new revelation of man to God. As such, he turned down Ezra’s offer of marriage and compensation, saying his first duty was to personally care for his family.
Poor Rebecca was heartbroken, could not be consoled, and convinced her father to move his family away to Sepphoris. Many men subsequently sought her hand in marriage, but she turned them all away. She lived devotedly to see Jesus fulfill his career as a teacher of living truth. She followed him throughout his years of public labor. She stood by and watched as he rode the donkey into Jerusalem on the day of preparation of the Jewish Passover, and was one of the women standing at the foot of the cross on the fateful night of his crucifixion.
To me, this is such a tragic and beautiful story, one that we could not know except for the teachings of The Urantia Book. We are given insight about Jesus’s motivations and decisions. He was conscious of his purpose here, yet sympathetic and sensitive to the feelings of those whose lives he touched. This and other stories in The Urantia Book show the true and deeply-felt humanity of our beloved Creator, Son of God, and Son of Man-Jesus.