Jesus Christ lived on the earth for 33 years and during that time He was fully God and fully human. He obeyed His Heavenly Father and obeyed His “adopted” earthly father. In doing so, the Bible tells us that He followed in the family trade of carpentry. The Bible records, in Matthew 13:55, that Joseph, Mary’s husband, and Jesus’ earthly father, was a carpenter.
In biblical times, a carpenter generally would have been a person of manual labor who worked primarily with wood and sometimes stones. The creations of a carpenter in Jesus days would have been the doors, furniture, tools and yokes and other tools.
Picture it, if someone in town needed an additional chair for guests coming to dine with them. Perhaps in the case of a wedding, a certain number of tables would be needed. Perhaps a new wooden spoon to stir the pot on the open fire? In all of these situations, I am sure the townspeople knew they could enquire of Joseph the carpenter. No wonder why, in scripture, some referred to Jesus as the “carpenter’s son”.
Furthermore, the Bible paints a vivid picture that Mary is eventually widowed at some point and as a result Joseph is no longer mentioned in scripture but in Mark 6:3, Jesus is now the one that people are referring to as “the carpenter”. So if someone needed a new cart or a new yoke for their livestock, they could call Jesus. If part of their door was damaged, they could call on Jesus, the carpenter.
Because Jesus lived an obedient life. He obeyed his Heavenly Father through submission to his adopted father. As a boy growing up Jesus most likely learned the trade of carpentry from Joseph, which would have been customary to follow in the trade of one’s father.
One could even suppose that he assisted Joseph in his work at times, all the while being about his father’s business. The work of a carpenter, especially in AD was very physically demanding. They did not have a hardware store where they could purchase perfectly tapered wood materials to build their projects. It was part of the carpenter’s job to, himself, smooth out the rough edges.
The carpenter often chiseled at the pieces that he knew he needed, to create the structure or item he was working on. A carpenter has to be able to have a vision, then find all the pieces necessary and chop, chip, smooth and prepare each piece to come together to build what he had already envisioned.
Jesus would have had to have done all these things for the people of his time to also address Him as “the carpenter “. He was a master builder. He could build but he could also repair, restore, cut and shape.
Some say that Joseph and Jesus probably also worked as stonemasons as well, expanding Jesus’ expertise as a builder.
Scripture tells us in Psalms 127:1 “Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labor in vain”.
Jesus is still ,today, doing the work of a master builder. He is building His church. He chisels sin, pride, and calluses away from our hearts. He smoothes out the rough edges of our behaviors and polishes us with the oil of joy; with His own blood as a sealant to protect us from the elements of life. Allow the Lord to build your life, to build your character, to build your church, to build your family ; and in the process, give Him room to repair the parts that are broken.
House of Prayer for All Nations church is a place that God has His hands on to build, shape and beautify for His glory. All are welcome to come and worship the Lord and learn just how He can restore, renovate and renew your heart and mind each Sunday at 4119 DeMaisonneuve West (Atwater metro) starting 12PM noon.
Blessings,
Tynesha
