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126:5.1 [[Gradually]] [[Jesus]] and his [[family]] returned to the [[simple]] life of their earlier years. Their [[clothes]] and even their [[food]] became simpler. They had plenty of milk, butter, and cheese. In [[season]] they enjoyed the produce of their [[garden]], but each passing month [[necessitated]] the [[practice]] of greater [[frugality]]. Their breakfasts were very [[plain]]; they saved their best food for the evening meal. However, among these [[Jews]] lack of [[wealth]] did not imply [[social]] inferiority.

126:5.2 Already had this [[youth]] well-nigh [[encompassed]] the [[comprehension]] of how men lived in his day. And how well he [[understood]] life in the [[home]], field, and workshop is shown by his subsequent [[teachings]], which so repletely [[reveal]] his [[intimate]] [[contact]] with all [[phases]] of [[human]] [[experience]].

126:5.3 The [[Nazareth]] [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chazan chazan] continued to cling to the [[belief]] that [[Jesus]] was to become a great [[teacher]], probably the successor of the renowned [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamaliel Gamaliel] at [[Jerusalem]].

126:5.4 Apparently all [[Jesus]]' [[plans]] for a [[career]] were thwarted. The [[future]] did not look bright as matters now [[developed]]. But he did not falter; he was not discouraged. He lived on, day by day, doing well the [[present]] [[duty]] and [[faithfully]] discharging the [[immediate]] [[responsibilities]] of his station in life. [[Jesus]]' life is the everlasting [[comfort]] of all [[disappointed]] [[idealists]].

126:5.5 The pay of a common day-laboring [[carpenter]] was slowly diminishing. By the end of this year [[Jesus]] could earn, by working early and late, only the equivalent of about twenty-five cents a day. By the next year they found it [[difficult]] to pay the civil [[taxes]], not to mention the [[synagogue]] assessments and the [[temple]] tax of one-half shekel. During this year the tax collector tried to squeeze extra [[revenue]] out of [[Jesus]], even threatening to take his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harp harp].

126:5.6 Fearing that the [[copy]] of the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Septuagint Greek scriptures] might be [[discovered]] and confiscated by the tax collectors, [[Jesus]], on his fifteenth birthday, presented it to the [[Nazareth]] [[synagogue]] [[library]] as his [[maturity]] offering to the Lord.

126:5.7 The great [[shock]] of his fifteenth year came when [[Jesus]] went over to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepphoris Sepphoris] to receive the [[decision]] of Herod regarding the appeal taken to him in the dispute about the amount of [[money]] due [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph Joseph] at the time of his [[accidental]] [[death]]. [[Jesus]] and [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus) Mary] had [[hoped]] for the receipt of a considerable sum of [[money]] when the treasurer at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sepphoris Sepphoris] had offered them a paltry amount. Joseph's brothers had taken an appeal to [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas Herod] himself, and now [[Jesus]] stood in the palace and heard Herod [[decree]] that his [[father]] had nothing due him at the time of his [[death]]. And for such an unjust decision Jesus never again trusted [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas Herod Antipas]. It is not surprising that he once alluded to Herod as " that fox. "[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Gospel_of_Luke#Chapter_13]

126:5.8 The close [[work]] at the [[carpenter]]'s bench during this and subsequent years deprived [[Jesus]] of the [[opportunity]] of mingling with the [[caravan]] passengers. The [[family]] supply shop had already been taken over by his uncle, and [[Jesus]] worked altogether in the [[home]] shop, where he was near to help [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary_(mother_of_Jesus) Mary] with the [[family]]. About this time he began sending James up to the camel lot to gather [[information]] about world [[events]], and thus he sought to keep in [[touch]] with the news of the day.

126:5.9 As he grew up to [[Maturity|manhood]], he passed through all those [[conflicts]] and [[confusions]] which the [[average]] [[young persons]] of previous and subsequent ages have undergone. And the rigorous [[experience]] of [[supporting]] his [[family]] was a sure safeguard against his having overmuch time for idle [[meditation]] or the indulgence of [[mystic]] [[tendencies]].

126:5.10 This was the year that [[Jesus]] rented a considerable piece of [[land]] just to the north of their [[home]], which was divided up as a [[family]] [[garden]] plot. Each of the older [[children]] had an [[individual]] [[garden]], and they entered into keen [[competition]] in their [[agricultural]] [[efforts]]. Their eldest [[brother]] spent some time with them in the [[garden]] each day during the [[season]] of [[vegetable]] cultivation. As [[Jesus]] worked with his younger brothers and sisters in the garden, he many times entertained the [[wish]] that they were all located on a [[farm]] out in the [[Rural|country]] where they could enjoy the [[liberty]] and [[freedom]] of an unhampered life. But they did not find themselves growing up in the country; and [[Jesus]], being a thoroughly [[practical]] [[youth]] as well as an [[idealist]], [[intelligently]] and vigorously attacked his [[problem]] just as he found it, and did [[everything]] within his [[power]] to [[adjust]] himself and his [[family]] to the [[realities]] of their situation and to [[adapt]] their condition to the highest possible [[satisfaction]] of their [[individual]] and [[collective]] longings.

126:5.11 At one time [[Jesus]] faintly [[hoped]] that he might be able to gather up sufficient means, provided they could collect the considerable sum of [[money]] due his [[father]] for work on [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas Herod]'s palace, to warrant undertaking the purchase of a small [[farm]]. He had really given serious [[thought]] to this plan of moving his [[family]] out into the [[Rural|country]]. But when [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herod_Antipas Herod] refused to pay them any of the funds due [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Joseph Joseph], they gave up the [[ambition]] of owning a [[home]] in the [[Rural|country]]. As it was, they contrived to [[enjoy]] much of the [[experience]] of [[farm]] life as they now had three cows, four sheep, a flock of chickens, a donkey, and a dog, in addition to the doves. Even the little tots had their regular [[duties]] to [[perform]] in the well-regulated [[scheme]] of [[management]] which characterized the [[home]] life of this [[Nazareth]] [[family]].

126:5.12 With the close of this fifteenth year [[Jesus]] completed the traversal of that [[dangerous]] and difficult period in [[human]] [[existence]], that time of [[transition]] between the more complacent years of [[childhood]] and the [[consciousness]] of approaching [[Maturity|manhood]] with its increased [[responsibilities]] and [[opportunities]] for the acquirement of advanced [[experience]] in the [[development]] of a [[noble]] [[character]]. The [[growth]] period for [[mind]] and [[body]] had ended, and now began the real [[career]] of this [[young man]] of [[Nazareth]].

<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=Paper_126 Go to Paper 126]</center>
<center>[http://nordan.daynal.org/wiki/index.php?title=The_Urantia_Text_-_Contents Go to Table of Contents]</center>

[[Category:Paper 126 - The Two Crucial Years]]

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