This essay, “Jesus Was a Carpenter,” appeared in CGG Weekly on April 8, 2022.
“‘Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?’ So they were offended at Him.”
—Mark 6:3
When people first meet, among the first questions they ask each other is, “So, what do you do?” meaning, “How do you make a living?” This question comes up so quickly because how a person is employed reveals a great deal about him or her. If the individual is a nurse, one can assume certain characteristics. Similar assumptions—stereotypes that we depend on initially to fill in the blanks—would, in most cases, hold true for just about any other occupation. Most people come to understand the nuances against the stereotype as the relationship progresses.
Students of the Bible make the same assumptions about its characters. For example, we first encounter David, son of Jesse, as a handsome youth who spent his days as a shepherd, watching over his father’s flocks in the Judean hills near Bethlehem. Before long, he becomes a skilled warrior after killing the Philistine giant, Goliath. At some point, he soothes King Saul’s demonic anger with songs he played on his lyre (musician), apparently ones he wrote and continued to write all his life (poet/songwriter). Not long after that, he becomes an outlaw, hunted by Saul, and after that king’s death, he rises to become king over Judah and then over all Israel. We find out later that David also filled the role of prophet through his many psalms. Beyond these titles, he was a husband, father, friend, and man after God’s own heart.
We can employ the same technique with the greatest Son of David, Jesus Christ. The people of Nazareth had known Him and His family for a long time. When He came back to them teaching in the synagogue—not to mention His spreading fame in healing the sick and casting out demons—they were perplexed: “‘Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?’ So they were offended at Him” (Mark 6:3). They could not reconcile their long-time knowledge of Him with His ministry—they were stuck on the stereotype, failing to comprehend how He could be more than a carpenter and native Nazarene.
We should not be too harsh in judging Nazareth’s citizens; they reacted in a typical way. Jesus acknowledges their reaction as commonplace in His next words, which were perhaps proverbial before He said them: “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country, among his own relatives, and in his own house” (Mark 6:4). Their attitude toward Him limited their faith, and His work there suffered as a result (verses 5-6).
However, Christians tend to know Jesus in an opposite fashion. Through our religious studies, we know Him primarily as the Messiah, the Son of God, and our soon-coming King. At some point, we learn the fact that He worked as a carpenter with Joseph and His brothers before He began His ministry. As the eldest, He probably ran the family business after Joseph’s death. Yet, this fact often resides in our minds as mere background knowledge—not very important to our understanding of His real work and character. At most, it tells us that He made an honest living for His family by working with His hands.
Perhaps we should reconsider this line of thought.
The first verse Jesus Himself quotes is Deuteronomy 8:3: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'” Details are not just haphazardly thrown into Scripture; they are purposeful, and we are to live by every word. That the gospels tell us that Jesus was a carpenter in the years prior to His ministry is more important to our understanding of Him than we may have realized. Apparently, God thought it was the best vocation for His Son to prepare Himself for His greater, future work. If there were a better job—say, shepherd or farmer or merchant or government employee—the Father would have had Him do that.
Underlying the word “carpenter” in our English translations is the Greek word tektōn (Strong’s #5454), which appears twice in Scripture (Matthew 13:55; Mark 6:3). Greek speakers used the term to indicate “an artisan,” specifically a woodworker—thus, a carpenter. Its meaning, though, is broad enough to include the idea of a builder, a contractor, a craftsman, or simply a workman. In the Septuagint’s version of II Samuel 5:11, this word refers to stonemasons sent to David from Hiram of Tyre to help build his palace. As many commentators point out, since wood was a scarce commodity in the region, Jesus probably worked with stone as well as wood.
As a Man, Jesus built things. It may have been homes, barns, businesses, or governmental offices—any or all of them. Perhaps, as a craftsman, He made useful items like yokes and plows (as Justin Martyr claims in his Dialogue with Trypho, 88.8). Whatever the specific project, He used His skills to craft a thing from a raw resource to a finished product.
If we know Him from our reading of the whole Bible, we realize that He has done this since the beginning: He is Creator. He is our Maker. The apostle John refers to this fact immediately in his gospel: “All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made” (John 1:3). The apostle Paul puts it another way: “For by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers. All things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
When living as a human on the earth, He resumed His vocation and created. He made things. He built things. Having redeemed all believers from their sins by His shed blood, He now sits at the Father’s right hand as our glorified High Priest. But He is still the Creator, and He never ceases to create. He is building something greater than what He has done before. Paul explains in Ephesians 2:19-22:
Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief cornerstone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit. (Emphasis ours throughout.)
Jesus was a carpenter and learned valuable lessons about building from a human point of view. He uses these lessons—plus His vast knowledge of creation from times past—to construct an indestructible church from the raw materials of those His Father calls: “. . . on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18; see Luke 6:48). The called, described as “living stones” (see I Peter 2:5) are seeking “the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Hebrews 11:10). Christ is still involved in construction—ours!
This understanding should give us hope, even in the dark times of our lives or the coming time of the end. God is at work (John 5:17), and He will finish it to His glory (Revelation 19:7). Paul writes, “For we know that if our earthly house, this tent, is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens” (II Corinthians 5:1). We are in good hands. With His expertise, Jesus the carpenter will finish the job to perfection.
