Gene Laratonda's Blog

Jesus went out from there and came into His hometown; and His disciples followed Him. When the Sabbath came, He began to teach in the synagogue; and the many listeners were astonished, saying, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands?  “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” And they took offense at Him. (Mark 6:1-3)

Some try to explain this verse away by changing the meaning of carpenter. Some feel that this verse is not true. All scripture is given by inspiration of God and to say that this verse is false is to call God a liar.

In his own hometown the people knew him as the carpenter. This makes sense because Jesus’ stepfather, Joseph, was a carpenter:

“Is not this the son of the carpenter? (Matthew 13:55)

The scriptures suggest that Jesus, as first born son, followed the trade of his father. So from the time of a young man to the time of his ministry (33 years of age), Jesus was indeed a carpenter. A builder. How fitting for the master builder of the universe! Jesus was fully God, working miracles and living a sinless life, and fully man, doing the menial work of a day job as a carpenter. For those stuck in lackluster jobs, remember to look to Jesus as a model of a humble servant at work in an low-rate job.

The early church writer Justin Martyr wrote, “He was considered to be the son of Joseph the carpenter; and He appeared without comeliness, as the Scriptures declared; and He was deemed a carpenter (for He was in the habit of working as a carpenter when among men, making ploughs and yokes; by which He taught the symbols of righteousness and an active life)”. [Justin Martyr, a 2nd century Christian writer writing in  Dialogue with Trypho the Jew]

Let’s consider the City of Sepphoris (Modern day Zippori), situated a mere four miles from Nazareth. It was the largest city in Judea outside Jerusalem. Herod the Great had made it his Galilean Capital, but when he died in 3 BC his three sons were in Rome to confirm their inheritance. While they were absent a rebel leader named Judas attacked Sepphoris. The Roman legions soon crushed the rebellion, burning the city and enslaving the inhabitants. When the sons returned from Rome, Herod Antipas determined to rebuild the city, and he initiated a great building program that lasted for 20 years until he moved to Tiberias in AD 26. Jesus was about nine years old when the work began, and obviously much labour from Nazareth was employed in the work, including Joseph and his apprentice Jesus.

This entry was posted on Sunday, June 21st, 2009 at 9:42 pm and is filed under Carpentry, Christianity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.