ISN'T THIS THE CARPENTER?

 MAY 31, 2022

MARK 6:3

3 Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.



Each Advent/Christmas season, we celebrate Jesus’ incarnation by remembering, rereading, and retelling the story of that first Christmas morning.

The next time we fix our eyes on the baby in the manger, I wonder if we ought to take notice of the other manger people. We tend to focus on Jesus, of course, Mary and Shepherds, but what about Joseph? He is often the forgotten figure of the nativity. It occurred to me recently that Joseph represents the home that Jesus was born into. I wonder if there is something for us to notice in this home that Joseph provides that implies some significance, maybe even some foundation for Jesus’ future work.

For example, the life of a carpenter during the time of Jesus was quite mobile. Most carpenters traveled from construction site to construction site, along with other skilled craftsmen, and did not work primarily in their home village.

It is quite likely that Jesus may have been familiar to leaving Nazareth and traveling to various provinces along the Sea of Galilee long before becoming a traveling, Rabbi. It is possible that from a young age, he might have traveled with Joseph throughout Galilee, working on different projects, and thus becoming familiar with the land he would eventually travel through as an adult.

From the outset of the Bible’s story, we understand that God knew that He would have to send Jesus to earth, to bring peace and hope and Justice and to demonstrate the overwhelming love the creator has for his creation. This is certainly revealed in the later part of Genesis 3. Knowing this, what God planned to do, and knowing the ultimate purpose of Jesus’s life on earth, is it just me, or is the fact that God chose for Jesus to grow up in the home of Mary and a carpenter named Joseph something that should stop us in our tracks and cause us some reflection.

I mean when you think about it, God could have placed Jesus in a priestly household like the prophet Samuel or John the Baptist. Jesus could have grown up in the household of a Pharisee like the Apostle Paul. But instead, God placed Jesus in the household of a craftsman, doing work that likely looked very similar to the work many people do today.

Dr. Ken Campbell has pointed out that the Greek word tektōn that most of our Bibles translate as “carpenter” in Mark 6:3, would more accurately be translated as “builder,” someone who “worked with stone, wood, and sometimes metal” to create new things. It is Dr. Campbell’s view that Jesus and Joseph fundamentally operated a family-owned small business, as he writes, “negotiating bids, securing supplies, completing projects, and contributing to family living expenses.”

Doesn’t that sound familiar? It should. Essentially, Jesus and Joseph’s work seem to be most like ours. Would you agree?

It is strange to think that God Incarnate, the one we read of yesterday who had “created all things, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, was taught to build things by a human earthly father. Yet it seems that in this, as in all other aspects of His earthly life, Jesus submitted Himself to the humility of being fully human (Philippians 2:6–8). How amazing to think that Jesus, the creator of the universe, our Savior and Lord, the Word of God, the Son of God, was taught to build things with the very materials He spoke into existence.

Yesterday it was Jesus the Creator, and today we have Jesus the Carpenter. I do not know if I have wrapped my mind around all that Jesus the Carpenter may mean for us, but I feel that one key truth of this is that it gives great dignity, value and meaning to the work you and I do each day.

As the contemporary testimony, Our World Belongs to God, puts it:

Our work is a calling from God.
We work for more than wages
and manage for more than profit
so that mutual respect
and the just use of goods and skills
may shape the workplace.
While we earn or profit,
we love our neighbors by providing
useful products and services.
In our global economy
we advocate meaningful work
and fair wages for all.
Out of the Lord’s generosity to us,
we give freely and gladly
of our money and time.