Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] The Death of Joseph the Carpenter as Told by Jesus, Written by Bart Ehrman. Read by Ken Teutsch.
[00:00:11] Here now is a translation from the Coptic of a section of the intriguing apocryphal gospel, the History of Joseph the Carpenter by my colleague Zlatkople, as found in our book the Other Gospels, Oxford Press, 2014.
[00:00:27] As you'll see, there are 11 chapters before this and yet more after it for the whole thing, along with some 40 other apocryphal gospels, check out our book.
[00:00:37] This is Jesus speaking to his disciples in the first person.
[00:00:42] Joseph's death draws near.
[00:00:46] But then the death of Joseph my father drew near, as is appointed to all people.
[00:00:52] When his body grew ill, his angel announced to him, in this year you will die. And as his soul was troubled, he went up to Jerusalem. He entered the temple of the Lord and repented in front of the altar. He prayed in this way, saying, I'm omitting the prayer here.
[00:01:10] After these things, he returned to Nazareth, the town where he resided, and fell sick with the illness of which he was to die, as it is appointed to all people. And his illness was very grave. More than all other times. He was sick from the day he was born into the world.
[00:01:27] Joseph's biography summarized this is the life sketch of my beloved father Joseph. He was 40 when he took a wife. He remained in wedlock with his wife for another 49 years. She died and he lived alone for a year. My mother spent two years in his house when the priests gave her to him, after he was told by the priests, guard her until the time for celebrating your marriage.
[00:01:53] At the beginning of the third year of her dwelling in his house, that is the 15th year of her life, she bore me on the ground in a mysterious fashion. No one understands it in the whole creation, save me and my Father and the Holy Spirit, since we are in unity now. All the days of the life of my father Joseph, the blessed old man, were 111 years, as my good Father commanded. And the day he departed from the body was the 26th of the month Epiphy.
[00:02:24] He then began the transformation of the precious gold, which is the flesh of my father Joseph, and the change of the silver, which is the mind and wisdom. He forgot to eat and to drink, and the knowledge of his craft turned into error. And when the light rose on that day, that is the 26th of the month Epiphyte, my father Joseph became disturbed on his bed. He let out a loud groan, clapped his hands and cried out in great disturbance, speaking as the lament of Joseph.
[00:02:58] Woe to me today.
[00:03:00] Woe to the day my mother bore me to the world. Woe to the womb in which my life was sown. Woe to the breasts whose milk I sucked. Woe to the knees on which I sat. Woe. Woe to the hands that lifted me up until I grew up and came to live in sin. Woe to my tongue and my lips, for oftentimes they have been implicated in violence, in calumny and false slander, and in idle words of distraction, full of deceit.
[00:03:28] Woe to my eyes, for they have looked at wrongdoings. Woe to my ears, for they have loved to listen to empty talks. Woe to my hands, for they have laid hold of things that are not theirs. Woe to my stomach and bowels, for they have craved for foods that are not theirs. Whenever my stomach found something, it burned it more than a burning fiery furnace and made it useless in all respect.
[00:03:52] Woe to my knees which have served my body ill, taking it to many a worthless path. Woe to my body, for it has made my soul barren and estranged from God who created it. What am I to do now? I am enclosed on all sides. Truly. Woe to all who will sin.
[00:04:11] Truly. This is the same great trouble which I saw upon my father Jacob when he was coming forth from the body, and which has also overtaken me, the wretched one, as of today.
[00:04:21] But hurry, O God, the arbitrator of my soul and my body, who do your will in me.
[00:04:29] Jesus. At Joseph's deathbed While my beloved Father Joseph was saying these things, I got up and approached him as he lay down. I found him troubled in his soul and his spirit. And I said to him, hail, my beloved Father Joseph, whose old age is good and blessed. At once he answered in great fear of death, saying to me, hail many times, my beloved son. Behold, my soul has rested within me a little when I heard your voice.
[00:04:57] Jesus, my Lord Jesus, my true king, Jesus, my good and merciful Savior, Jesus the redeemer, Jesus the pilot, Jesus the protector, Jesus, who are all goodness. Jesus, whose name is sweet in the mouth of all and very soothing. Jesus, the eye that sees, the ear that listens, listens with righteousness. Hear me today, me, your servant, as I beseech you, shedding my tears in your presence.
[00:05:23] You are truly God. You are truly the Lord. Just as the angel oftentimes said to me, and especially on the day that my heart was in doubt because of typically human thought about the Blessed Virgin. For she conceived a child and I said, I will dismiss her quietly. But as I was thinking about this, the angel appeared to me in a vision and said to me, joseph, son of David, do not be afraid and accept Mary, your wife to yourself. For he whom she is about to bear is from the Holy Spirit. Do not doubt at all about her conception, for she will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus. You are Jesus Christ, the Savior of my soul and my body and my spirit. Do not find fault with me, your servant, and the work of your hands. I did not understand, my Lord, nor do I know the mystery of your incredible birth. Nor did I ever hear that a woman had conceived without a man, or that a virgin bore a child while sealed in her virginity.
[00:06:21] My Lord, if this mystery had not been ordained, I would not believe in you and your holy birth, nor would I glorify her who bore you. Mary, the Holy Virgin.
[00:06:31] Joseph recalls an episode from Jesus infancy.
[00:06:36] I remember also the day when the aspect bit a boy and he died. His people surrounded you in order to deliver you to Herod. Your mercy laid hold on him. You raised him even though they falsely charged you, that it was you who killed him. And there was a great joy in the house of the one who had died. I immediately took you by the ear and spoke with you, saying, be prudent, my son. You rebuked me at once and said, if you are not my father according to the flesh, surely I would tell you what you did to me.
[00:07:08] Now then, my Lord and my God, supposing that you have settled accounts with me for that day and caused these fearful signs to fall upon me, I beseech your goodness not to bring me to your judgment. I am your servant and the son of your servant. If you break off my bonds, I will offer you a sacrifice of praise, which is the confession of the glory of your Godhead, that you are Jesus Christ, truly the Son of God and the Son of Man at once.
[00:07:37] Jesus. To Mary on the inevitability of death.
[00:07:41] As my father Joseph was speaking, I could not refrain from shedding tears. And I cried, watching as death held sway over him, and listening to the words of misery, he was speaking.
[00:07:53] After this, my brothers, remember my death on the cross for the life of the whole world.
[00:07:58] Then my beloved mother Mary, whose name is sweet in the mouth of all who love me, got up and said to me in great pain, woe to me, my beloved son. Is he perhaps going to die? Joseph of the good and blessed old age, your beloved and honorable Father according to flesh.
[00:08:15] I said to her, my Beloved mother, who is there ever among people who have worn flesh that did not taste death? For death is the ruler of humankind. My blessed Mother, indeed you also must die. Like all people, whether it is Joseph, my father, or you, my blessed mother, your death is not death, but life eternal and unending.
[00:08:39] For I am also going to die for the universe because of the mortal flesh I wore in you.
[00:08:44] So now, my beloved mother, get up and go inside to the blessed old man Joseph, until you get acquainted with the ordinance which will come from on high.
[00:08:53] And she got up and and entered the place where he lay. And she found him with the mark of death shone forth in him.
[00:09:00] I, for my part, my beloved ones, was sitting at his head. And Mary, my mother, was sitting by his feet. And he lifted up his eyes to my face, but was not able to speak, for the hour of death held sway over him. He thus lifted up his eyes and released a loud groan.
[00:09:16] And I held his hands and his knees for a long while. And he looked at me and beseeched me, do not let me be taken away. And I placed my hand beneath his heart and found his soul brought to his throat, for it was about to be brought up from his body.
[00:09:32] But the last hour had not yet been completed for death to come.
[00:09:37] Otherwise it would not have refrained, for it was accompanied by disturbance and preceded by crying and destruction.
[00:09:46] The account continues from there.
