And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart.
And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them ... This is added lest it should be thought that He now threw off the filial yoke, and became henceforth His own master, and theirs too. The marvel of such condescension as this verse records lies in its coming after such a scene, and such an assertion of His higher Sonship; and the words are evidently meant to convey this.
But his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. After this it will be observed that Joseph entirely disappears from the Sacred Narrative. Henceforth, it is always "His mother and His brethren." From this it is inferred, that before the next appearance of our Lord in the History Joseph had died. Having now served it, he double end of being the protector of our Lord's Virgin-mother, and affording Himself the opportunity of presenting a matchless pattern of subjection to both parents, he is silently withdrawn from the stage.