Jesus the Carpenter - How His Humble Profession Reveals His Character

JESUS WAS A CARPENTER
EDITED BY GLENN PEASE
Mark 6:3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary,
and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and
Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they
were offended in him.—Mark 6:3.
GreatTexts of the Bible
The Carpenter
Jesus had gone up to the city of Nazareth. Once before He had visited it,
immediately after His baptism and at the very beginning of His ministry, only
to be angrily rejectedwith furious violence. This time His fame, which was
being spread through the land, led them to receive Him with a greatershow of
welcome. Theywere eagerto hear His words and to see His works. Buta
secondtime they turned from Him scornfully. “Whence hath this man these
things?” The words may have in them that dark and dreadful meaning which
the Phariseesdid not hesitate to express more plainly when they ascribedHis
miracles to the powerof the devil. At any rate, the people of Nazarethwere
offended in Him and went muttering, “Whence hath this man these things? Is
not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and
Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?”
“Is not this the carpenter?” This is an illuminating question. It throws light;
and it throws the light in two directions. When you hold up a lamp or lantern
in order to see the face of some one approaching you in the dark, you light up,

not only the face of the personapproaching you, but you light up your own
face as well. When these people ask the question, “Is not this the carpenter?”
they light up their own faces and also the face of Jesus.
I
Jesus was a Workman
The word translated “carpenter” is a more generic term than our English
word. It conveys something more than the specific handicraft designatedby
the latter, and implies generallya fashioner of articles in wood. Jesus the
carpenterwas a maker of all such utensils as were useful in the house and in
the field. Justin Martyr, who lived near to Christ’s own times, tells us that He
made ploughs and yokes, as wellas the articles we include within the scope of
carpentry. He was the fashionerof whatevertended to stability, order, and
productiveness. Surely we may see something more than an accidental
significance and appropriateness here! His calling was the symbol of the
constructive and productive, as opposedto the destructive, principle in the
world.
That Jesus, before He beganHis prophetic career, occupiedthe lowly state of
a carpenter, is of universal, permanent, and, one may add, ever-increasing
significance as a symbolic revelationof the genius of the Christian religion. It
is by no means a merely outward, indifferent fact, too trivial for mention in
even the fullest accountof the life of so greata Personage.It has distinct and
greatethical value, both as a biographicalfact, and as a means of propagating
Christian faith. How much that humble, yet not ignoble, occupationsignifies
as an element in the education of Jesus!What possibilities it provided of keen
insight into the heart of human life, and what protection it afforded against

the unrealities and insincerities attaching to more favoured socialconditions!1
[Note:A. B. Bruce.]
There is a beautiful tradition, that Joseph, His reputed father, died while
Jesus was yet a child, and so He worked, not merely to earn His own living,
but to keepthe little home togetherin Nazareth, and Mary and the younger
members of the family depended upon His toil. That is a beautiful tradition. It
may be true, but I do not press it. But this one fact is of utmost importance—
He workedfor His living. Oh! that we may derive the strength and comfort
from this fact which it is calculatedto afford. Business men, you who have
been at work all the week, and have been harassedby daily labours, and are
wearyand tired, and seeking fornew inspiration, this Jesus, whose name has
become a name of sweetnessand love, was not a king upon a throne; He was
not for the better part of His life a teacher, with the thrill and excitement of
public life to buoy Him up. No; the long years ran on, and He was doing what
some of you speak of as “the daily round, the common task.”2[Note:G.
Campbell Morgan.]
1. Jesus, as a workman, is brought into sympathetic relations with the masses
of mankind.—His gracious purpose, when He came to earth, was to fathom all
the depths of poor humanity, that He might sympathise and succourto the
uttermost. Not to be the Redeemeronly, but also the Brother and Friend of
man, was the mission of the Sonof God. Now, where can a more impressive
instance of this be found—a clearerproof that Jesus did actually make
Himself like unto His brothers than when we are told, as in the text, that He
became a carpenter? Here He is seennot merely “in fashion as a man,” but
passing down to man’s most tried and toilsome state, that, proving that, He
might implicitly experience every other.
He who said, “Be not anxious for the morrow,” often needed to trust His
heavenly Father for the morrow’s bread. As in the wilderness, whenready to

perish of hunger, so in the precarious position of a village tradesman, Jesus
wrought no miracle to provide bread, or to relieve His own mind, for His first
miracle was that in Cana of Galilee. Condescending from the throne of
universal providence to live a life of faith for our sakes,the Sontrusted the
Father before He stoodup to preach, “Your heavenly Father knoweththat ye
have need of these things.”
Probably all of Jesus’apostles were manuallabourers exceptMatthew. We
are told expressly that Paul, the greatestofthem all, earned his living by
working with his hands. Again and againin his letters Paul calls attention to
the factthat he has earned his own living by manual labour. Nor was he
ashamedof it. He seems to have been proud of his hands because the haircloth
had blackenedthem and the thread had left its marks on them. Listen to him
as he says to the elders of Ephesus, who met him down on the sea coastat
Miletus: “Ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my
necessities, andto them that were with me.” The sight of his hands drew them
to him, and made them love him all the more. After he had prayed with them
they fell on his neck and kissedhim—strong men sobbing because they were
to see his face no more. These are two facts, then, never to be forgotten, that
Jesus, the founder of the Christian religion, was a manual labourer, and the
pierced hands into which He will gatherthe lives of nations and men are
hands that have been disciplined by toil. Paul, the apostle, who did more for
Christianity than any other man who has everlived, also was a manual
labourer, and the hands with which he grips the heartstrings of the world are
hands that have been stained by toil.1 [Note:C. E. Jefferson.]
It is a significant fact that not a few high-minded thinkers of modern times,
repelled by that insidious blight which works in scenes offrivolity and pomp,
have gone forth to live in communities where all take equal share in tilling the
soil, shaping the plough and loom, and putting the hand to tasks whichare
accountedmean. The names of Robert Owen, Laurence Oliphant, Count
Tolstoi, togetherwith many men and women who have entered settlements to

cultivate rural simplicity, stand for a movement which may yet change our
chaotic civilisations. Notonly is there an instinctive desire for the keener
vitality which comes from strenuous, wholesome physicaltoil, but the restless
sense ofrace-relations is appeasedby such a programme of life. Under these
primitive conditions some who have been born to luxury and unearned ease
find themselves in more vivid sympathy with the rank and file of their fellow
citizens.2 [Note:T. G. Selby.]
There is a pretty story told by Martin Luther of a goodbishop who earnestly
prayed that Godwould revealto him something more than the Bible tells
about the childhood of Jesus. At last he had a dream. He dreamed that he saw
a carpenterworking with saws and hammers and planes, just like any
carpenter, and beside him a little boy picking up chips. Then came a sweet-
facedwoman in a greendress, and calledthem both to dinner, and set
porridge before them. All this the bishop saw in his dream, himself standing
behind the door, that he might not be perceived. Then the little boy, spying
him, cried out, “Why does that man stand there? Shall he not eatof our
porridge with us?” Thereupon the bishop awoke. This charming little dream-
fable carries with it a beautiful and an important truth. It is the carpenter’s
child who wanted all the world to share His porridge with Him, who has
conquered the heart of humanity.3 [Note: J. Halsey.]
2. He obliterated the distinction betweenthe sacredand the secular.—No
more effectualand impressive method could have been devised for abolishing
the false distinction betweenthe sacredand the secularthan that of sending
the greatMessiahto spend the opening years of His manhood in a workshop.
The officialpriesthood at one time put a huge barrier betweenthe sanctuary
and the work-a-dayworld, that needed to be broken down before the
prophecies could be fulfilled. The Temple courts at Jerusalemhad been
hallowedby many a supernatural vision of the Divine Glory, but the new
theophany was to be in a scene of common toil. To make One who had
wrought with His hands the all-commanding personality of His age, was to

prepare men, by an ascending scale ofamazement and faith, for the great
mystery of His origin and of His after-reign of mediatorial power.
The necessityofsecularwork is sometimes spokenof among Christians as if it
were an evil—a kind of degradation to them—at leasta burden and a
hindrance—something in spite of which they may retain their Christianity,
but which can surely not be helpful to it, or form any part of it. Under the
influence of such a feeling, some—especiallyfreshconverts—wouldfain
abandon their secularengagements altogether, andgive themselves wholly to
what they call a religious life—to meditation, and prayer, and preaching, and
duties such as these. But does not the clear daylight of the text dispel such
shadows and delusions of morbid or mistakenminds? Jesus is here seento set
His holy sealon worldly work—to make it no more worldly—but Christian,
Heavenly, Godlike. Was not His whole life like His seamless robe—ofone
perfect piece—allofit religious—allof it devoted to God—all of it gleaming
alike with the fair colour of holiness? Yet thirty years of it were expended in
learning and doing the work of a carpenter, and only three in the sacredoffice
of the Ministry.
As you gaze upon the earliestChristian pictures in the Roman catacombs, you
cannot fail to recognise that the conceptionof Christ which was conveyedto
the simple minds of the men of the secondand third century by the gay and
winsome figure of the Good Shepherd, with the happy sheepnestling on His
shoulder, with the pastoralpipes in His hand, blooming in immortal youth,
must be very different from that of the men of a later age, for whom the
gracious and gentle Pastorhas given place to the crucified Sufferer, depicted
in countless aspects ofmisery and woe, from the gaunt and ghastly Crucifixes
and Pietas and Entombments of the early Florentines, to the sublime dignities
of MichaelAngelo and Tintoret and Corregio.1[Note:Bishop Stubbs.]

3. Jesus the carpenter has ennobled manual labour.—It may be said that this
is a truism, and that the Gospelof“the dignity of labour” has become almost
a cant. It is true the sentiment has been heard before, but how many of us are
sufficiently superior to the conventionaland artificial distinction of modern
societyreally to believe in the honourableness ofhandicraft? If people believe
in it, why are they so anxious to escape fromit? Why is it that apprenticeship
in all trades is dropping out of vogue, and that nearly all the youths who leave
our schools preferto seek a miserable clerkship rather than to earnan
honourable maintenance by manual toil, and that girls prefer almostanything
to domestic service?
In the north of Holland, and about five miles from Amsterdam, there is a
shipbuilding and manufacturing town called Zaandam; and in that town a
very humble old house is carefully preserved in which a carpenter lodgedfor
a time more than two hundred years ago. Visitors to Zaandam go to see that
old house;it is on recordthat in the year 1814 it was visited by Alexander i.,
the Czar of Russia. ThatEmperor went to see it because the carpenterwho
had lived in it in 1697, and for whose sake the house is still preserved, was no
less a personage thanone of his own predecessors—Peterthe Great, the
creatorof the modern RussianEmpire.1 [Note: C. Jerdan.]
4. Jesus the carpenter is an example to all goodworkmen.—The conviction
cannot be too forcibly urged that the only dishonourable employments are
immoral or dishonest ones. The man who makes an honest plough or table is
as honourable as the man who makes a poem or a sermon, and he may be as
much of a gentleman. “No work can degrade you unless you first degrade
your work.” It is not work, but bad workmanship, that is disgraceful. We
know the kind of ploughs and tables, windows and doors, the Carpenter of
Nazarethmade; and unfortunately we know, only too well, the kind of thing
many a modern carpenter puts into suburban villas, and calls it a door or a
window-frame. Such carpentering is degrading, but it is the scamping and not
the work that is low. You may not know much of Thomas à Kempis’ Imitation

of Christ; but every bit of honestwork is an imitation of Christ.2 [Note:J.
Halsey.]
A recent writer on Japan says:“If you visit Kyoto to order something from
one of the greatestporcelainmakers in the world—one whose products are
better known in London and Paris than even in Japan—you will find the
factory to be a woodencottage in which no English farmer would live. The
greatestmakerof cloisonne vases,who may ask you fifty pounds for
something five inches high, produces his miracles behind a two-storiedframe
dwelling, containing perhaps six small rooms. The best girdles of silk made in
Japan, and famous throughout the empire, are woven in a house that cost
scarcelyone hundred pounds to build.” Robes of immaculate righteousness,
delicate and radiant character, and miracles of goodnessatwhich other
worlds marvel, are still produced in some of the mean byways and obscure
surroundings of the world. “Blessedare ye poor, for yours is the kingdom of
heaven.”1 [Note:T. G. Selby.]
5. But His work was not only good;it was the work of self-sacrifice.—A
famous English painter, Mr. Holman Hunt, gave to the world in 1873 a great
religious picture, representing Jesus in the workshopat the close ofthe day.
When we look at it, we see that the earthen floor is well coveredwith shavings,
which have come from the planing bench near where Jesus stands. Close by
the bench is a trestle of native form; and the large hand-saw has been left in
the wood, not yet cut through. Jesus has thrown out His arms as He yawns in
weariness;and His shadow formed on the wall in the level evening sunlight, as
it is seenwith alarm by His mother Mary, looks like that of a man crucified.
Mr. Holman Hunt has calledthis picture “The Shadow of Death.”
II

Jesus had Brothers and Sisters
Are there not some of us to whom it never occurredbefore that Jesus had
brothers and sisters just as we have? Indeed, everything that is human in the
life of Jesus is to some of us more or less unreal. We acceptthe statements of
theologyconcerning His humanity, but with a certain mental reserve. Even
when one of the sacredwriters himself tells us “He was tempted in all points
like as we are,” we doubt whether he quite meant all he said; and to some of
us, it is to be feared, the temptation in the wilderness is little more than a
scenic display. We cannot think of Jesus as boy and man, as son and brother,
entering like others into ordinary human relationships. We must needs
picture Him with a halo of unearthly light about His head, and, as Professor
Rendel Harris has recently pointed out, even a writer like DeanFarrar cannot
speak of the “boy” Jesus without printing the word with a capital B, as if to
suggestthat He was never like other children. The truth is, many of us are
Apollinarians without knowing it.1 [Note:G. Jackson.]
Assuming, as we reasonablymay, that Josephdied some time before Jesus
was thirty years old, we may find in this factsome new points of contactwith
the sympathy of Christ. The father being dead, Jesus as eldestsonwould
become the head of the household. On Him would now devolve the charge of
supporting Mary and those who were still children, and He would become the
guide and counsellorof those nearer to Him in age. How blessed, then, in all
our hours of lonely anguish, to remember that Jesus lived as a sonwith the
widow, and as a brother with the fatherless, and that all their griefs were
mingled in the cup He drank on earth!2 [Note:T. V. Tymms.]
1. This is the consecrationofthe family.—We have often been told that the
first thirty years were the long and patient training for His life-work. Is it not
rather that these thirty years were the patient doing of that work? Was it not
as a lad of twelve that He said, “Wist ye not that I must be about my Father’s

business?” And from that hour assuredlyHe everdid His Father’s business.
We see Him in that little home. Rising early He hastens to help His widowed
mother with such householdservice as He canrender. He hurries to bear the
pitcher to the well. All day He seeksto bring into the home some bit of sunny
brightness, some cheery confidence, some holy peace. And in His work He is
able to make things such as every carpenter makes—things that minister to
the pleasure and service of men. Thus is He doing the business of His Father
in heaven day after day and year after year through all those thirty years. For
us the greatlessonis this—that the only religiona man has, is what he has
always, not sometimes—whathe is in everything, not just now and then.
In this connectionanother thought occurs. As stepping into Joseph’s place,
Jesus would become not only the chief bread-winner and comforter of the
family, but on Him would fall the duty of conducting the daily worship which
was never omitted in the home of devout Jews. We may think of Him,
therefore, as reading the Scriptures, offering prayer, and at specialseasons
maintaining all those religious rites which were of a private character.
We who are brothers and sisters, are we doing what we can to make the home
all that it ought to be? Do we diligently cultivate what some one has happily
calledthe “art of living together”? “Is he a Christian?” askedsome one of
Whitefield concerning another. “I do not know,” was the answer;“I have
never seenhim at home.”1 [Note:G. Jackson.]
2. It is also the creationof a largerfamily.—When “one saidunto him,
Behold, thy mother and thy brethren stand without, seeking to speak to thee,
he answeredand saidunto him that told him, Who is my mother? and who
are my brethren? And he stretchedforth his hand towards his disciples, and
said, Beholdmy mother and my brethren! For whosoevershalldo the will of
my Fatherwhich is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother.” He
that doeth the will of my Father in heaven—he is the man who stands nearest

to Christ. Others might call James “the Lord’s brother”; he calledhimself the
“servantof God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” The new relationship was
deeper, more sacredeven than the old. And that same fellowship, with all of
Divine blessednessthatgoes with it, is open to us to-day. Let us come to God,
let us lay our hands in His, let us sayto Him, “Lo, I come to do thy will,” and
even of us Jesus willsay, “Beholdmy brother, and sister, and mother.”
III
Jesus was a Cause of Offence
“Theywere offended in him.” What was the cause of offence?
1. He could not be measured by the stature of His family.—The question
shows us that these men in Nazareththought that one canaccountfor a man
simply by knowing his parents and brothers and sisters. There was nothing
wonderful in Josephnor anything extraordinary in Mary, and therefore there
could be nothing greatin Jesus. But in reasoning thus these people were
mistaken. There was nothing wonderful about the parents of Muhammad, or
of Luther, or of Goethe, or of Shakespeare.You cannot tell what a man is,
simply by knowing what his parents were. Godhas something to do with the
making of a man. These people in Nazarethsupposed that under equal
circumstances characters mustbe equal. They adopted the principle that one
child must be as bright as another, and that one boy must be as goodas
another if they grow up in the same home. All of which is of course an error.
These people overestimatedthe importance of circumstances, andforgot that
God has something to do with the making of a man. Their greatmistake was
that they left out God.

One does not look for a bird of paradise to be hatched in the nestof crossed
sticks built by the rook, and these critics scarcely expectedto see the brilliant
Delivererwho had been the subjectof prophecy for twenty centuries emerging
from a cottage. The Hindus compare a pretender to a crow which has stuck a
pomegranate flowerinto its tail. The murmurings in the synagogue, bandied
from lip to lip as the assemblypoured forth into the street, implied that Jesus
had no hereditary genius or refinement, that He belonged to an average stock,
and that He was attempting a task too big for His antecedents.1[Note:T. G.
Selby.]
2. He had begun to teachwithout having had the specialtraining of a
teacher.—Itis much easierfor a worldly soul to pay homage to the trained
scholar, howeversuperficialhis insight, than to an artisanwho claims to know
the mind of God, and to find prophetic foreshadowingsofhis own work in the
Old TestamentScriptures. But over-specialisationmay sometimes involve
intellectual or spiritual suicide, and God has to go outside the caste to find a
fitting instrument of His will. MichaelAngelo did not spring from a family of
sculptors; Shakespearewas notreared in a cloisterof learning; nor did John
Bunyan illustrate the law of hereditary genius. Jesus Christbegan the work
which culminated in the Sacrifice ofthe Cross as a layman, and it was
resented,
“Who would do the scullion work in the greathouseholdof humanity if there
were no slaves?” This was the question that perplexed the greatphilosophers
of antiquity. This was the question which Christ answeredby making Himself
the slave of mankind and classing Himself among the scullions.1 [Note:C. W.
Stubbs.]
“Is not this the carpenter?” Yes, thank God! It was the carpenter, and
something more. For you can be a carpenter, and something more. Lowliness
of station is not exclusive of the highestgifts, nor incompatible with the

highest culture, nor inimical to the highestusefulness. You may be carpenter
and prophet, carpenter and poet, just as you can be house-drudge and angel.2
[Note:J. Halsey.]
In the Louvre in Paris there is a famous painting by Murillo. It is entitled,
“The Miracle of San Diego.” Adoor opens and two noblemen and a priest
enter a kitchen. They are amazed to find that all the kitchen maids are angels.
One is handling a water pot, another a joint of meat, a third a basketof
vegetables, a fourth is tending the fire. The thought of the artist is that it is in
toil and drudgery we develop qualities which are celestial.3[Note:C. E.
Jefferson.]
The greatGods pass through the greatTime-hall,
Stately and high;
The little men climb the low clay wall
To gape and spy;
“We wait for the Gods,” the little men cry,
“But these are our brothers passing by.”
The greatGods pass through the greatTime-hall

With veiléd grace;
The little men crowdthe low clay wall
To bow the face;
“But still are our brothers passing by!
Why tarry the Gods?” the little men sigh.
The greatGods pass through the greatTime-hall;
Who can may see.
The little men nod by the low clay wall,
So tired they be;
“’Tis weary waiting for Gods,” they yawn,
“There’s a world o’ men, but the Gods are gone.”4 [Note:A. H. Begbie, The
RosebudWall, 19.]

3. But the chief cause ofoffence was the claim that He made for Himself.—
This is the earliestoffence givenby the Gospel;and it is deeply suggestive,
because it is still the earliestoffence takenby eachindividual soul. What is the
ground of complaint here spokenof? Briefly stated, it is the homeliness of
Christianity. Men refused to recognise a thing which grew amid such mean
surroundings. Had Jesus claimedanything else than a Divine messagethere
would have been no objectionto His mean surroundings. Had He claimed
merely the inspiration of human genius no one would have seenany
contradiction in the poverty of His environment. For all human conditions the
Jew prescribed toil; he desiredthat every man should learn a trade, should
live as if he had to earn his bread. But when he came to speak ofman’s
relation to God, that changedthe spirit of his dream. To him the attitude of
God was ever one of rest. His Godlay in the secretplace ofHis pavilion, with
the curtains drawn, and the doors shut, and the windows deafened!He could
work only through His angels;He must not soilHis hands with mundane
things. He who professedto be a Son of God must be a child of mystery. He
must have nothing homely about Him. He must be all soul, no body; all wings,
no feet; all poetry, no prose; all heaven, no earth. And is not this also our first
ideal of the Divine Life? In our moments of religious awakening we deny that
morality is evangelical. We are offended when a preacher cries, “Salvationis
goodness,work is worship, integrity is the service of God!” We say, “These
are common things, homely things, things for the exchange and the market-
place;you will see them in Nazarethevery day.”1 [Note: G. Matheson.]
Jesus has drawn very near to us in our generation. We have been made to feel
Him as a Brother, as a living, breathing man, touched with all the feeling of
our infirmities. Back in the Gospels in their primal form we have gone, to let
the old tale tell upon us in its simplicity. All this has been for the good. Jesus
has become alive to many to whom He has been only a theologicalmummy.
Thank God for that. Only remember the nearness ofneighbourhood had its
own peculiar perils of old when He was on earth, and that these perils exist

still. It is just because they knew Him so familiarly and felt Him so close in
ancient Nazareth, that they rejectedHim.1 [Note: CanonScott Holland.]
Robert Hichens, in one of his books, tells the story of an artist who desired to
paint a picture to be called “A Sea Urchin.” Says the painter in one place, “I
had made studies of the sea for that picture. I had indicated the wind by the
shapes of the flying foam, journeying inland to sink on the fields. I wanted my
figure. I could not find him. Yet I was in a sea village among sea folks. The
children’s legs there were browned with the salt water. They had clearblue
eyes, sea-eyes;that curious light hair which one associateswith the sea. But
they wouldn’t do for my purpose. They were unimaginative. As a fact, they
knew the sea too well. They were familiar with it, as the little London clerk is
familiar with FleetStreetor ChanceryLane.… These children chuckedthe
sea under the chin.” He goes onto say how he searchedfor a child who was
unfamiliar with the sea. In the heart of a London slum he found what he
sought. He took the child home with him, told him of the voices that cry in the
sea, ofthe onward gallopof the white horses, of its unceasing motions, its calm
and its tempests; he played music to him in which the sound of waters could
be heard. And at lasthe was rewardedby beholding the wonder of the sea
itself dawn in the eyes of the London streetArab. The spirit of the oceanhad
entered into him, and he was all a-wonder.2 [Note:J. Steele.]
The Carpenter
STUDYLIGHT RESOURCES
Adam Clarke Commentary

Is not this the carpenter - Among the ancient Jews, everyfather was bound to
do four things for his son.
To circumcise him.
To redeem him.
To teach him the law.
To teach him a trade.
And this was founded on the following just maxim: "He who teaches not his
son to do some work, is as if he taught him robbery!" It is therefore likely that
Josephbrought up our Lord to his own trade.
Joses -SeveralgoodMSS. read Ιωσητος, Joset, andone, with severalversions,
reads Joseph.
Coffman's Commentaries on the Bible
Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, and brother of James, and Joses,
and Judas, and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us? And they were
offended in him.
The carpenter... From this it is clearthat our Lord was himself a carpenter,
as was Joseph;and we rejectthe allegationthat Matthew "softened" this by
recording "carpenter's son," as if the latter was in some manner more
complimentary to Jesus than the fact of his being a carpenter. The snobbery
of the critics in such a view shows.
As a matter of fact, Mark's words here contain elements which actually add to
the glory of Jesus'name. As Barclaynoted:

The word used for "carpenter" is [@tekton], meaning not a mere workerin
wood. It means "a craftsman", more than merely a joiner. In Homer the
[@tekton]is said to build ships and houses and temples.[3]
The English, word "technician" comes fromthe same root; thus the villagers'
slur unintentionally glorified Jesus as the MasterWorkman. Chrysostomsaid
that our Lord made plows and yokes, and certainly Jesus referredto both in
his teachings (Luke 9:62; Matthew 11:29).
As Barclaysaid, "TheydespisedJesus because he was a working man."[4] In
this attitude, the citizens of Nazarethwere guilty; but they were not any more
guilty than the scholars who suppose that Matthew tried to coverup the
scandalthat Jesus was a carpenter. The imputation of such an attitude to
Matthew is an anachronismin which the current prejudice againstpeople
who work with their hands is retrogressivelyattributed to the holy apostle of
Jesus Christ. Jesus was both a carpenter and the son of a carpenter, being, of
course, the legalsonof Joseph.
The true reasonfor Mark's reference to "carpenter," as distinguished from
Matthew's "sonof a carpenter," lies in the obvious factthat the villagers
freely gossipedabout the Lord, using both expressions;and Mark, writing in
65-70 A.D., at a time when Josephwas dead, and having omitted from his
narrative the recordof the virgin birth of our Lord, consciouslyselectedthe
particular form of the villagers' gossipwhich could not have been construed
as a denial of that essentialtenetof Christianity. Matthew, on the other hand,
writing at a much earlier date than Mark (44 A.D.), and having fully spelled
out the particulars of the virgin birth, and having also as his objective the
establishment of Jesus'right of kingship over Israel(a right that depended
upon his legalsonship of Joseph)found it more natural to record the common
gossipof Nazarethin its other form. There is no way to deny that the gossip
existed in both forms as recordedby Mark and Matthew.
The sonof Mary ... To solve the problem of this reference by supposing the
villagers thought Jesus was "illegitimate"[5]is ridiculous, there being no true
evidence that they ever made such a charge;they also calledhim "the

carpenter's son" on this very occasion(Matthew 13:55). Matthew recorded
the villagers'mention of BOTH his parents (as they supposed). Mark's record
of only this part of their gossipwas in all probability for the purpose of
stressing the virgin birth. Even if there had been some intended reflection on
the legitimacyof Jesus by the villagers, which we cannot see at all, then it
would only mean that the wrath of man was praising God; for Jesus WAS the
"Sonof Mary," the promised "seedofwoman" (Genesis 3:15). Likewise,
Cranfield saw this as "an important piece of evidence in support of the
historicity of the virgin birth."[6]
Brother of James, and Joses,etc. ... The natural way of understanding this is
as a reference to the actual brothers of Jesus, sons ofJosephand Mary after
Jesus was born. Devices suchas making these the sons of Josephby a previous
marriage, or the "cousins" ofJesus, are mistakenefforts to sustain the myth
regarding the "perpetual virginity of Mary," the latter being unscriptural and
even anti-Scriptural. Christ was the "first-born" sonof Mary (Luke 2:7) and
"the only begottenSon of God." Why "first-born" if she had no other
children? As Halley said, "There would never have been any other meaning
read into these passages, exceptfor the desire to exalt celibacyas a holier form
of life."[7]
His sisters ... Matthew recorded, "Are they not all with us?" And from this it
is clearthat there were at leastthree sisters ofJesus. The word "all" could not
have referred to just two.
And they were offended in him ... They rejectedJesus as being any more wise
or able than themselves, the judgment being a moral one rather than an
intellectual one. As is always true, it was their sins which blinded their eyes to
the Lord (John 3:17-19).
[3] William Barclay, The Gospelof Mark (Philadelphia: The Westminster
Press, 1956), p. 138.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Earle McMillan, The Gospelaccording to Mark (Austin: R. B. Sweet
Publishing Company, 1973), p 76.

[6] C. E. B. Cranfield, The Gospelaccording to Saint Mark (Cambridge:
University Press, 1966), p. 195.
[7] Henry H. Halley, Halley's Bible Handbook (Grand Rapids, Michigan:
Zondervan Publishing House, 1961), p. 383.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible
Is not this the carpenter?.... Some copies read, "the carpenter's son", as in
Matthew 13:55 and so the Arabic and Ethiopic versions;but all the ancient
copies, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions, read"the carpenter":such
may Christ be reasonablythought to be, since his father was;and which
business he might follow, partly through the meanness and poverty of his
parents; and partly that he might setan example of industry and diligence;
and chiefly to bear that part of the first Adam's curse, which was to eat his
bread with the sweatofhis brow: nor ought this to have been objectedto him
by the Jews, with whom it was usual for their greatestdoctors andRabbins to
be of some trade or secularemployment; so R. Jochananwas a shoemakerF26
R. Isaac was a blacksmithF1, R. Juda was a tailorF2, Abba Saul and R.
Jochanan, were undertakers for funeralsF3;R. Simeon was a sellerof
cottonF4, R. Nehemiahwas a ditcherF5, R. Jose bar Chelphetha was a
skinnerF6;and others of them were of other trades, and some exceeding
mean: the famous R. Hillell was a hewerof wood, and Carna, a judge in
Israel, was a drawerof waterF7;and so Maimonides says,
"the greatwise men of Israelwere some of them hewers of woodand drawers
of waterF8.'
They say,
"a man is obliged to learn his son an honest and easytradeF9:'
there are some businesses theyexcept againstF11, but this of a carpenteris
not one; yea, they say,
"if a man does not teachhis sona trade, it is all one as if he taught him
thieveryF12.'

Nor did they think it at all inconsistentwith learning; for they have a
sayingF13, that
"beautiful is the learning of the law, along with a trade.'
The Jews oughtnot to have flouted Christ with this trade of a carpenter,
since, according to them, it was necessarythat a carpenter, in some cases,
should be a regular priest; as in repairing of the temple, especiallythe holy of
holies. So says MaimonidesF14;
"there was a trap door, or an open place in the floor of the chamber, open to
the holy of holies, that workmenmight enter thereby into the holy of holies,
when there was a necessityof repairing any thing; and since we make mention
of workmen, it may be observedhere, when there is need of building in the
midst of the temple, greatcare should be taken, ‫היהיש‬ ‫ןמואה‬ ‫ןהכ‬ ‫,רשכ‬ "that the
workman, or carpenter, be a right priest".'
Yea, they expressly say, that the Messiahis one of the four carpenters in
Zechariah 1:20. "And the Lord showedme four carpenters";they askF15,
""who are the four carpenters?"Says R. Chana bar Bizna, says R. Simeon
the saint, Messiahthe son of David, Messiahthe son of Joseph, and Elijah,
and a priest of righteousness.'
This is with some variation elsewhere expressedthusF16,
""and the Lord showedme four carpenters";and these are they, Elijah, and
the king Messiah, andMelchizedek and the anointed for war.'
And one of their commentatorsF17onthe same text says,
"our Rabbins of blessedmemory, explain this verse of the days of the
Messiah;'
and then cites the above passageoutof the Talmud; and anotherF18 refers
unto it; See Gill on Matthew 13:55. The inhabitants of Nazareth go on, in
order to reproach Jesus, calling him
the sonof Mary; a poor woman of their town, and perhaps now a widow, since
no mention is made of Joseph:

the brother of James and Joses, and of Juda and Simon? who were all of them
the sons of Alphaeus or Cleophas, who was himself brother, or his wife sister,
to Josephor Mary; so that Christ was the near kinsman of these his sons:and
it was usual with the Jews to call such an one a brother, and even indeed a
more distant relation. The Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, insteadof
Joses,readJoseph:
and are not sisters here with us? And they were offended at him: either at the
manner he came by his wisdom, with which he delivered such doctrine he did;
and by his power, through which he wrought his mighty works, ormiracles;
they suspecting he came by them in an unlawful way, through familiarity with
the devil, which they sometimes chargedhim with having: or at the meanness
of his trade and employment; they could by no means think of him as the
Messiah, who made so contemptible a figure, and was brought up in such a
low way of life; and the rather, since one of their kings in common, was not be
a mechanic, or at leastof any mean occupation:of their canons runs thusF19;
"they do not appoint to be a king, or an high priest, one that has been a
butcher, or a barber, or a bath keeper, ora tanner; not because they were
unfit, but because their business was mean, and the people would always
despise them.'
Other trades are elsewhereF20mentioned, from among whom a king, or an
high priest, were never taken; as founders, combers, borers of handmills,
druggists, weavers, notaries, fullers, a letter of blood, or a surgeon, &c.
particularly such as related to women's business. Now, as it was not usual to
choose anyone to be a king that wrought at a trade, they could not bear that
the king Messiahshouldbe of one; and because Jesus was,they were offended
at him, and rejectedhim as the Messiah. Orthey were offended at the
meanness of his extraction and descent, his father, and mother, and brethren,
and sisters, being all persons in low circumstances oflife; whereas they
expectedthe Messiahwouldbe born and brought up as a temporal prince, in
greatgrandeur and splendour; See Gill on Matthew 13:55, Matthew 13:56,
Matthew 13:57.
Geneva Study Bible

Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,
and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his b sisters here with us? And they were
offended at him.
(b) This word is used after the manner of the Hebrews, who by brethren and
sisters understand all relatives.
John Lightfoot's Commentary on the Gospels
3. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,
and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were
offended at him.
[Is not this the carpenter?]Among other things to be performed by the father
for his son this was one, to bring him up in some art or trade. "It is incumbent
on the father to circumcise his son, to redeem him, to teachhim the law, and
to teachhim some occupation. R. Judah saith, 'Whosoeverteachethnot his
son to do some work, is as if he taught him robbery.'" "R. Meir saith, 'Let a
man always endeavourto teachhis son an honest art,'" &c. Josephinstructs
and brings up Christ in his carpenter's trade.
People's New Testament
Is not this the carpenter? Matthew reads "The carpenter's son." This shows
that Jesus also had worked at the trade. It was the customfor every Jew to be
taught some trade by his parents.
Robertson's WordPictures in the New Testament
Is not this the carpenter? (Ουχ ουτος εστιν ο τεκτων — Ouch houtos estin ho
tektōṉ). Matthew 13:55 calls him “the carpenter‘s son” (ο του τεκτονος υιος

— ho tou tektonos huios). He was both. Evidently since Joseph‘s death he had
carried on the business and was “the carpenter” of Nazareth. The word
τεκτων— tektōncomes from τεκειντικτω — tekein τεχνη — tiktō to beget,
create, like τεκτων— technē (craft, art). It is a very old word, from Homer
down. It was originally applied to the workerin woodor builder with wood
like our carpenter. Then it was used of any artisanor craftsman in metal, or
in stone as well as in woodand even of sculpture. It is certainthat Jesus
workedin wood. Justin Martyr speaks ofploughs, yokes, etcetera, made by
Jesus. He may also have workedin stone and may even have helped build
some of the stone synagoguesin Galilee like that in Capernaum. But in
Nazareththe people knew him, his family (no mention of Joseph), and his
trade and discounted all that they now saw with their owneyes and heard
with their own ears. This word carpenter“throws the only flash which falls on
the continuous tenor of the first thirty years from infancy to manhood, of the
life of Christ” (Farrar). That is an exaggerationfor we have Luke 2:41-50 and
“as his custom was” (Luke 4:16), to go no further. But we are grateful for
Mark‘s realistic use of και εσκανδαλιζοντο εναυτωι — tektōn here.
And they were offended in him (σκανδαλον— kaieskandalizonto en autōi). So
exactly Matthew 13:56, were made to stumble in him, trapped like game by
the πετρα σκανδαλου — skandalonbecause they could not explain him,
having been so recently one of them. “The Nazarenes found their stumbling
block in the person or circumstances ofJesus. He became - προπητης — petra
skandalou(1 Peter2:7, 1 Peter2:8; Romans 9:33) to those who disbelieved”
(Swete). Both Mark and Matthew 13:57, which see, preserve the retort of
Jesus with the quotation of the current proverb about a prophet‘s lack of
honour in his owncountry. John 4:44 quoted it from Jesus onhis return to
Galilee long before this. It is to be noted that Jesus here makes a definite claim
to being a prophet (εν τηι οικιαι αυτου — prophētēs forspeakerforGod), a
seer. He was much more than this as he had already claimed to be Messiah
(John 4:26; Luke 4:21), the Son of man with powerof God (Mark 1:10;
Matthew 9:6; Luke 5:24), the Sonof God(John 5:22). They stumble at Jesus
today as the townspeople of Nazarethdid.

In his own house (en tēi oikiāiautou). Also in Matthew 13:57. This was the
saddestpart of it all, that his own brothers in his own home disbelieved his
Messianic claims (John7:5). This puzzle was the greatestofall.
Vincent's Word Studies
The carpenter
This word “throws the only flash which falls on the continuous tenor of the
first thirty years, from infancy to manhood, of the life of Christ” (Farrar,
“Messagesofthe Books”)Theywere offended
See on Matthew 5:29. Tynd., hurt.
Wesley's ExplanatoryNotes
offended at him.
Is not this the carpenter? — There canbe no doubt, but in his youth he
wrought with his supposedfather Joseph.
The Fourfold Gospel
Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary1, and brother of James, and Joses,
and Judas, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were
offended in him2.
Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, etc. They brought forth every item
of trade and relationship by which they could confirm themselves in their
conviction that he was simply a human being like themselves. The question as

to his identity, however, suggeststhat he may have been absent from Nazareth
some little time. As to Jesus'kindred, see .
And they were offended in him. His claims were too high for them to admit,
and too well accreditedfor them to despise, so they sought refuge from their
perplexity by getting angry at Jesus.
Abbott's Illustrated New Testament
The carpenter. Matthew (Matthew 13:55)says the carpenter's son. It would
seem, from Mark's expression, that Jesus had been accustomedto labor with
his father.--Brother,--sisters.These words are oftenused in the Scriptures to
express any nearrelative, as in Genesis 13:8, where Abraham and Lot are said
to be brethren. It would seemfrom Mark 15:40, that the mother of James and
Joses wasa Mary; and from John 19:25, that she was a nearrelative of the
virgin Mary, but not the same. She is calledin severalplaces the wife Cleopas.
The words sisterand son are used with the same latitude. Thus Christ is called
the sonof David.
John Trapp Complete Commentary
3 Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,
offended at him.
Ver. 3. Is not this the carpenter?] τεκτων. Not the smith, as Hilary and
Ambrose render it. Christ made yokes and ploughs, saith Justin Martyr. And

hence in his preaching he drew similitudes from the yoke, Matthew 11:29;
Luke 9:62, saith a Lapide. {See Trapp on "Matthew 13:55"}
Sermon Bible Commentary
Mark 6:3
The Holiness of Common Life.
I. The holiest of men may to all outward eyes appearexactly like other people.
For in what does holiness consistbut in a due fulfilment of the relative duties
of our state in life, and in spiritual fellowshipwith God. Now the relative
duties of life are universal. Every man has his own. That which makes one
man to differ from anotheris not so much what things he does, as his manner
of doing them. Two men, the most opposite in character, may dwell side by
side, and do the very same daily acts, but in the sight of Godbe as far apart as
light and darkness.
II. True holiness is not made up of extraordinary acts. Forthe greaterpart of
men, the most favourable description of holiness will be found exactlyto
coincide with the ordinary path of duty, and it will be most surely promoted
by repressing the wanderings of ambition, in which we frame to ourselves
states ofmind and habits of devotion remote from our actuallot, and by
spending all our strength in those things, greator small, pleasing or
unpalatable, which belong to our calling and position.
III. Any man, whateverbe his outward circumstances oflife, may reachto the
highest point of devotion. In all ages the saints of the Church have been
mingled in all the duties and toils of life, until age or the events of Providence
setthem free. There was nothing uncommon about most of them but their
holiness. Their very lot in life ministered to them occasions ofobedience and
humiliation. They soughtGod fervently in the turmoil of homes and armies
and camps and courts; and He revealedHimself to them in love, and became
the centre about which they moved, and the rest of all their affections. Letus
whose lot is castin these latter times, when the Church has once more become
almost hidden in the world, be of the holy fellowship of Him who to the eyes of

men was only the carpenter, but in the eyes of God was the very Christ. Let us
look well to our daily duties. The leastof them is a wholesome discipline of
humiliation; if, indeed, anything canbe little which may be done for God.
H. E. Manning, Sermons, vol. ii., p. 220.
References:Mark 6:3.—W. Dorling, Christian World Pulpit, vol. v., p. 232;J.
Johnston, Christian World Pulpit, vol. x., p. 85; Preacher's Monthly, vol. vi.,
p. 164.
Greek TestamentCriticalExegeticalCommentary
3. ὁ τέκτων]This expressiondoes not seemto be used at random, but to
signify that the Lord had actually workedat the trade of his reputed father.
Justin Martyr, Dial. § 88, p. 186, says ταῦτα γὰρτὰ τεκτονικὰ ἔργα εἰργάζετο
ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὤν, ἄροτρα καὶ ζυγά. Cf. the conflicting but apparently careless
assertionofOrig(19) in the var. readd. See also the anecdote told by
Theodoret, H. E. iii. c. 18, p. 940.
Johann Albrecht Bengel's Gnomonof the New Testament
Mark 6:3. ὁ τέκτων)Son of the carpenter, or even Himself a carpenter; for
they add, the Son of Mary, in antithesis to the Son of the carpenter. [He
Himself therefore toiled at that kind of labour, which was corresponding to
His spiritual work;Zechariah 6:12.—V. g.]
Matthew Poole's EnglishAnnotations on the Holy Bible
See Poole on"Mark 6:1"
Justin Edwards' Family Bible New Testament
The carpenter;Jesus, before he began his ministry, seems to have wrought at
the employment of a carpenter. Matthew 13:55.

Cambridge Greek Testamentfor Schools andColleges
3. ὁ τέκτων. See criticalnote. Mt. will not call Him “the carpenter,” but says
“the carpenter’s son,” and states the relationship to Mary separately. Justin
(Try. 88)preserves the tradition that He made ploughs and yokes. Cf. Orig.
Cels. vi. 4.
ὁ υἱὸς τῆς ΄αρίας. It is remarkable that Mk does not say“the son of Joseph
and Mary.” Josephwas probably dead, and hence Jesus is called“the
carpenter.” This is perhaps the reasonwhy Josephis not mentioned here; but
Mk may have purposely avoided saying that Jesus was Joseph’s sonin the
same sense that He was Mary’s son. Contrast Luke 4:22; John 6:42.
ἀδελφός. See on Mark 3:35. The names of His brothers are those of O.T.
patriarchs.
Ἰακώβον. The most famous of the brethren, president of the church of
Jerusalem(Acts 12:17;Acts 15:13; Acts 21:18;Galatians 2:9; Galatians 2:12).
Hort thinks that after James the brother of John was slain(Acts 12:2), James
the brother of the Lord was counted as one of the Twelve (Chris. Eccl. pp. 76
f.). He had the influence of an Apostle, and is the author of the Epistle of
James. Josephus (Ant. xx. ix. 1) mentions him, and Eusebius (H. E. ii. 23)gives
an extract from Hegesippus describing his martyrdom.
Ἰωσῆτος. Notthe JosesofMark 15:40. The name is another form of Joseph.
Ἰούδα. The author of the Epistle of Jude. The brethren were married (1
Corinthians 9:5), and Jude’s humble grandsons were treatedwith
contemptuous clemencyby Domitian (Eus. H. E. iii. 20).
Σίμωνος. Nothing is known of him.
ἀδελφαί. Their existence is suggestedin Mark 3:35. Mt. here adds πᾶσαι,
which shows that there were severalsisters, but they are mentioned nowhere
else. The brothers, at first unbelievers (John 7:5), became missionaries after
the Resurrection(1 Corinthians 9:5). The sisters perhaps neither left Nazareth
nor became in any way notable. The wayin which the Nazarenes speakof

them indicates that these brothers and sisters had not much sympathy with
the Teacherwho is here criticized.
πρὸς ἡμᾶς. “In constantintercourse with us”;Mark 9:19, Mark 14:49. This
does not imply that the brothers are not πρὸς ἡμᾶς.
ἐσκανδαλίζοντο.Astonishment led on, not to reverence, but to repulsion. They
could not tolerate a fellow-villager’s fame and success. Jealousyis never
reasonable;the Nazarenes were offendedat the very thing which brought
them greathonour. How soonChrist became aware that He must suffer and
die is not revealed. The process was perhaps gradual. The conduct of His own
people towards Him would be some intimation of what must follow. The
contrastbetweenthe feeling at Nazareth and the feeling at Capernaum is
extraordinary, seeing that the places were only about 20 miles apart. But
there is mountainous country between, and there would be little intercourse.
Schaff's Popular Commentary on the New Testament
Mark 6:3. The carpenter. Matthew: ‘the carpenter’s son.’Our Lord had
probably wrought at the trade of Joseph;though the Nazarenes wouldin any
case naturally identify Him with the occupationof His reported father. All
Jewishyoung men learned a trade. The legends and fancies about the infancy
of Christ are very foolish; but the Son of man would doubtless share in the
primal curse (Genesis 3:19).—Onthe brethren of our Lord, see Matthew, pp.
127, 128.
The Expositor's Greek Testament
Mark 6:3. ὁ τέκτων:avoided by Mt., who says the carpenter’s son:one of
Mk.’s realisms. The ploughs and yokes of Justin M. (c. Trypho., 88) and the
apocryphal Gospels pass beyond realisminto vulgarity.— ἐσκανδαλίζοντο:
what they had heard awakenedadmiration, but the external facts of the
speaker’s connections andearly history stifled incipient faith; vide notes on
Mt.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary
. Matthew relates that they asked:Is not this the sonof the carpenter? It is not
improbable that both questions were asked;it was certainly very natural to
take him for a carpenter, who was the sonof one. (St. Augustine) --- They
were scandalizedat his lowly birth and humble parentage. Hence Jesus Christ
take occasionto expose the malice and envy of the Jews, in refusing him, and
to shew that the Gentiles would more esteemhim. See Luke iv. 25, and John i.
E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes
not. Greek. ou. App-105. Not the same word as in verses:Mark 6:9, Mark
6:11, Mark 6:34.
the carpenter= the workman. Such terms used only by His rejecters. Occurs
only here and Matthew 13:35.
with. Greek. pros. App-104.
were offended = stumbled. Greek. scandalizo.
at = in. Greek en. App-104.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers
(3) Is not this the carpenter?—St. Mark’sis the only Gospelwhich gives this
name as applied to our Lord Himself. (See Note on Matthew 13:55.)
Treasuryof Scripture Knowledge
offended at him.

this
Matthew 13:55,56;Luke 4:22; John 6:42
carpenter
Isaiah49:7; 53:2,3;1 Peter2:4
James
15:40;Matthew 12:46;1 Corinthians 9:4; Galatians 1:19
Juda
John 14:22; Jude 1:1
Simon
3:18; Acts 1:13
offended
Matthew 11:6; 13:57; Luke 2:34; 4:23-29;7:23; John 6:60,61;1 Corinthians
1:23
BIBLEHUB RESOURCES
Pulpit Commentary Homiletics
"they Were Offended In Him."
Mark 6:3-5
A. Rowland

Whether the narratives of the three synoptic evangelists referto one visit to
Nazarethor to two visits, is a question which has been eagerlydiscussed. Give
suggestionsforthe settlement of the dispute. Possiblysuch discrepancies were
allowedto exist that we might care less for the material, and more for the
spiritual element in the Gospels;that we might concernourselves less with
external incidents in the life of Jesus, and more with the Christ who liveth for
evermore. Those who rejectedour Lord at Nazareth have their followers in
the presentday, who are influenced by similar motives. let us discoverthe
reasons and the results of their conduct.
I. INDIFFERENCE TO CHRIST SOMETIMES ARISES FROM
FAMILIARITY WITH HIS SURROUNDINGS. The inhabitants of an Alpine
village live for years under the shadow of a snow-cladmountain, or within
hearing of a splendid fall which comes foaming down its rocky bed; but they
do not turn aside for a moment to glance at that which we have come many
miles to see. This indifference, bred of familiarity, characterizedthe
Nazarenes. Theyhad known the great Teacheras a child, and had watchedhis
growth to manhood. He did not come upon them out of obscurity, as a
startling phenomenon demanding attention; but they knew the education he
had received, the teachers atwhose feethe had been sitting, the ordinary work
he had done, etc. Jesus himself acknowledgedthe influence of this, when he
said, "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his
own kin, and in his own house." We warn our hearers againstsimilar peril;
for there are many who have known their Bibles from childhood, who
remember the old pictures which at first arousedsome interest in it, who have
attended public worship for years, and yet their lives are prayerless, and it
may be said of them, "Godis not in all their thoughts." Beware ofthat
familiarity with sacredthings which will deaden spiritual sensibility. Mostof
all, let us who think and speak and work for Christ pray that our hearts may
ever be filled with light and love, and may be kept strong in spiritual power.
II. CONTEMPT FOR CHRIST SOMETIMESSPRINGS FROM
ASSOCIATION WITH HIS FRIENDS "Is not this... the brother of James,
and Joses, andof Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?"
Possiblythere was nothing known about them which was in antagonismto the
truth and purity Jesus proclaimed, but as there was nothing wonderful about

them, it was the more difficult to believe there was anything Divine about him.
Far more reasonably, however, does the world misjudge our Lord because of
what is seenin us. Earthly, ordinary, and spiritually feeble as we are, we
nevertheless representhim. He speaks oftruth, and is "the Truth," yet
sometimes the world asks concerning his disciples, "Where is their sincerity
and transparency?" We profess to uphold righteousness, yetin business, and
politics, and home-life we sometimes swerve from our integrity. let there be
but living witnesses in the world such as by God's grace we might become, and
through whom there should be the outgoings of spiritual power, and then
societywould be shakento its very foundations. When the rulers saw the
boldness of Peter and John - the moral change wrought in these Galilean
peasants - "they took knowledge ofthem, that they had been with Jesus;" and
"seeing the man who had been cured" standing beside them, as the result of
their work, "they could say nothing againstit."
III. THE REJECTIONOF CHRIST BRINGS ABOUT A WITHDRAWAL
OF HIS INFLUENCE. "He could there do no mighty work." He could not.
His powerwas omnipotent, but it conditioned itself, as infinite power always
does in this world; and by this limitation it was not lessened, but was glorified
as moral and spiritual power. In Nazareththere was an absence ofthe ethical
condition, on the existence ofwhich miracles depended - an absence, namely,
of that faith which has its root in sincerity. If we have that, all else is
simplified; if we have it not, we bind the hands of the Redeemer, who cannot
do his mighty work, of giving us pardon and peace, becauseofour unbelief.
Christ marvels at it. He does not wish to leave us, but he must; and old
impressions become feebler, the once sensitive heart becomes duller, and we
become "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." "To-day, if ye will hear
his voice, harden not your hearts." Nevertheless,he leaves not himself without
a witness. If he must quit Nazareth, he will go "round about the villages
teaching," encircling the town with the revelations of powerwhich it will not
receive into its midst. And though he "cando no mighty work" such as
Capernaum had seen, he will lovingly "layhis hands upon a few sick folk,"
who in an unbelieving city have faith to be healed. "Thou despisestnot the
sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful." - A.R.

Biblical Illustrator
Is not this the carpenter?
Mark 6:3, 4
Jesus Christ, the carpenter
W. F. Adeney, M. A.
I. HOW THE FACT THAT JESUS WAS A CARPENTER WAS A
HINDRANCE TO THE FAITH OF HIS FELLOW COUNTRYMEN.
1. The objection was natural. He had grown up among them. They had
become familiar with His ways.
2. Yet it was wrong and unreasonable. Their intimacy with Him ought to have
opened their eyes to His unique character.
3. The objection they raise againstHis claims tells really in His favour. They
find no fault in His character;they canonly complain of His trade. High,
unconscious tribute to His excellence.

II. HOW THIS FACT SHOULD BE A HELP TO OUR FAITH.
1. It is a sign of Christ's humility.
2. It is a proof that He went through the experience of practicallife. Christ
knows goodwork, for He looks at it with a workman's eye.
3. He found the schoolfor His spiritual training in His practicalwork.
4. This sheds a glory over the life of manual industry.
5. This should attract working men to Christ.
(W. F. Adeney, M. A.)
The dignity of honestlabour
R. Green.
If labour was first imposed as a curse, it is turned truly into a blessing by this
example of Him who thus wrought. The occupancyof a sphere of lowly
industry by Christ, henceforthconsecrates itas —
I. A SUITABLE OCCUPATION OF TIME.
1. Profitable
2. Healthful.
3. Saves from bad effects of indolence.
4. A source of pure and useful enjoyment.
II. AN HONOURABLE MEANS OF MAINTENANCE.
1. Nothing degrading in it.
2. Deservesand commands fair remuneration.
3. Preservesa man's independence.

III. A WORTHY SERVICE TO OTHERS. The products of industrial toil,
especiallyof handicraft, are serviceable in the highest degree. Without them
the comfortof large communities must be greatlyimpaired. He, therefore,
who works with his hands the thing that is good, is a useful and honourable
servant of his race.
1. In the lowliestspheres, the loftiest powers are not necessarilydegraded.
2. In those spheres the holiestsentiments may be cherished, and the holiest
characterremain untarnished.
3. Whilst in them the humblest labourer may know that his toil is honoured,
for it was sharedby his Lord.
(R. Green.)
Value of industrial employments
J. Morison, D. D.
The word carpenterwas given as an alternative translation by Wycliffe, and
has descendedinto all the succeeding Englishversions;Wycliffe's primary
translation was smith, the word that was used in the Anglo-Saxonversion. It
had in Anglo-Saxona generic meaning, equivalent to artificer. A workerin
iron was calledin Anglo-Saxon iren-smith. A smith is one who smites: a
carpenteris one who makes cars. The word carpenter, therefore, must be a
much later coinage than the word smith. The original Greek term (τέκτων)
means primarily a producer; the word wright very nearly corresponds to it, as
being closelyconnectedwith wrought or worked. It just means worker, and
occurs in Anglo-Saxonin the two forms wryhta and wyrhta. This is the only
passagein which it is statedthat our Lord workedat a handicraft. It is a
different expressionthat is found in Matthew 13:53, "Is not this the
carpenter's son?" There is no contradiction, however, betweenthe two
representations;both might be coincidently employed, and no doubt were,
when the Nazarenes were freelyand frettingly canvassing the merits of their
wonderful townsman. Our Lord would not be trained to idleness; it was

contrary to Jewishhabits, and to the teaching of the bestJewishrabbis. It
would have been inconsistent moreoverwith the principles of true civilization,
and with the ideal of normal human development. It is no evidence of high
civilization, either to lay an arreston full physical development on the one
hand, or on the other to encourageonly those modes of muscular and nervous
activity which are dissociatedfrom useful working and manufacturing skill.
Societywill never be right until all classesbe industrious and industrial: the
higher orders must return to take part in the employments of the lower;the
lowermust rise up to take part in the enjoyments of the higher.
(J. Morison, D. D.)
The village carpenter in our Lord's time held the position of the modern
village blacksmith
T. M. Lindsay, D. D.
Almost all agricultural instruments — ploughs, harrows, yokes, etc. — were
made of wood. His workshopwas the centre of the village life.
(T. M. Lindsay, D. D.)
Jesus came from amongst the labouring classes
Hausrath.
That Jesus did in fact spring from the labouring class ofthe population, is
confirmed by the language ofHis discourses andparables, which everywhere
refer to the antecedents and relations of the ordinary workman's life, and
betray a knowledge ofit which no one could have gained merely by
observation, He was at home in those poor, windowless,Syrian hovels in
which the housewife had to light a candle in the daytime to seek forher lost
piece of silver. He was acquaintedwith the secrets ofthe bake house, of the
gardener, and the builder, and with things which the upper classesneversee
— as "the goodmeasure presseddown and shakentogetherrunning over" of

the corn chandler; the rotten, leaking wine skin of the wine dealer; the
patchwork of the peasant woman;the brutal manners of the upper servants to
the lower, — these and a hundred other features of a similar kind are
interwoven by Him into His parables. Reminiscences evenof His more special
handicraft have been found, it is believed, in His sayings. The parable of the
splinter and the beam is saidto recallthe carpenter's shop, the uneven
foundations of the houses, the building yard, the cubit which is added, the
workshop, and the distinction in the appearance ofthe greenand dry wood,
the drying shed.
(Hausrath.)
Self-respectvital to religion
R. Glover.
They could not believe in any Divine inspiration reaching such as themselves,
and therefore resentedit in Christ as an unjustifiable pretension of
superiority. They had no proper faith in themselves, so had no proper faith in
God. Self-respectis vital to religion. They believed in a God in a kind of way,
but not in a Godwho touched their neighbourhood or entered into close
dealings with Nazarenes. Theywere not on the outlook for the beautiful and
the divine in the lives of men. No Nazarene Wordsworthhad shownthem the
glory of common life, the beauty and divinity that exist wherever human life
will welcome it.
(R. Glover.)
The model artisan
A. G. Churchill.
These words revealto us —
I. CHRIST'S SOCIAL POSITION.

1. That he sympathised with the humblest sons of men.
2. That socialrank is no criterion of personalworth.
3. That moral and spiritual excellence shouldbe honoured in whomsoever
found.
II. CHRIST'S MANUAL LABOUR.
1. That honourable industry and holy living may co-exist.
2. That mental development and physical toil may be
associated.CONCLUSION:Observe —
(a)That labour is essential, notonly to existence, but to happiness.
(b)That the greaterour industry the fewerour temptations.
(c)That Christ waits to sanctify the duties of life to our spiritual interest.
(A. G. Churchill.)
The Divine Carpenter
C. M. Jones.
The Divine Carpenter applies the language of His earthly trade to the
spiritual things He has created.
1. He has built a Church.
2. He has founded the resurrection — "Destroythis temple, and in three days
I will raise it up."
3. He has establishedHis divinity — "The stone which the builders rejected
has become the head of the corner."
4. He has prepared our eternalhome — "In My Father's house," etc.
5. He has urged earnestheed to our building.

(C. M. Jones.)
Jesus in the workshop
J. Johnston.
I. WE SEE HIM HERE BEARING THE CURSE OF THE FALL. — "In the
sweatofthy face shalt thou eatbread," etc.
II. WE SEE HIM HERE BRINGING HIMSELF NEAR TO ALL MEN.
III. HE ENTERS THE WORKSHOP THAT HE MAY UNITE MEN AS
BRETHREN.IV HE ENTERS THE WORKSHOP THAT HE MAY
SANCTIFYALL SECULAR LIFE.
(J. Johnston.)
Work the law of life
J. Johnston.
From that tiny fly thus at work all day over your head, to the huge
hippopotamus of the Nile, that seems to spend its lifetime half asleep, allhave
to work. But emphatically is this true of man. The wild Indian huntsman, as
he plunges over the prairie armed with tomahawk or rifle, in pursuit of the
thundering buffalo; the Bosjesman, in the impenetrable thickets of Africa, as
he digs with hardened, horny fingers for the roots on which he lives; the
amphibious South Sea Islander, as he wagesperilous warfare with the
monsters of the ocean;the fur-clad Esquimaux, as he tracks the bear or sealof
the icy north; as well as the semi-civilized myriads of Asia, or the more
advancedpeoples of Europe — all find this world is a workshop, and they
must toil to live. And the exceptions to this rule are fewerthan at first sight we
are apt to suppose. It is not only the artisan who has to work, but also the
merchant amongst his wares, the author amongsthis books, the statesman
with the affairs of the nation, and the sovereignupon his throne. Whether
impelled by the necessitiesofmere existence, orby the necessitiesofposition

and spirit, it may be said of all — "Menmust work." Our Lord, therefore,
came near unto us when He entered the workshop. Butas the greatmajority
must gain their daily bread by manual labour, He enteredeven into that
condition as the village carpenterof Nazareth. Had He been born in a palace
and to a throne, or even into the estate ofa wealthy merchant, He would have
been separated, not in His feeling, but in theirs, by a greatgulf from the great
majority of men.
(J. Johnston.)
Manual work redeemed
J. Johnston.
See how our whole life is redeemed, so that it may all be lived unto God and
for eternity, and none of it be lost. He entered the kingdom of toil and
subdued it to Himself for our salvation, so that toil is no more a curse to the
Christian workman. The builder, as he lays brick on brick, may be building a
heavenly temple; the carpenter, as he planes the wood, may thereby be
refining his own characterand that of others around him; the merchant, as he
buys and sells, may be buying the pearl of greatprice; the statesmanmay be
directing the affairs of an eternal kingdom; the householdermay be setting
her house in order for the coming of her Lord. As the blood of the sacrifice
was put not only upon the ear, but upon the toe, of Aaron and his sons, so our
Lord when, by entering it, He sanctifiedhuman life, sanctified its meanestand
most secularthings, spending His holy and Divine life mostly in the workshop.
Brethren, whateverour station, we may live a holy, god-like, useful life.
(J. Johnston.)
The royal shipwright
J. Johnston.

A strange workmantook his place one day amongst the shipwrights in a
building yard in Amsterdam. Fit only for the rudest work, he was content at
first to occupy himself with the caulking mallet, hewing of wood, or the
twisting of ropes, yet displayed the keenestdesire to understand and master
every part of the handicraft. But what was the astonishment of his fellow
workmento see persons ofthe highest rank come to pay their respects to him,
approaching him with every mark of regard, amid the dust and confusion of
the workshop, orclambering up the rigging to have an audience with him on
the maintop. For he was no less a personage than Peterthe Great, founder of
the RussianEmpire. He came afterwards to England, and lodged amongstthe
workshops in Deptford. Bishop Burnet, when he visited him, said he had gone
to see a mighty prince, but found a common shipwright. But the king who had
invited him to visit this country understood him better. He was the ruler of an
empire vasterin extent than any other in Europe, but as far behind the
poorestfinancially as it was before it territorially. It was, in fact, in a state of
absolute barbarism. Its largestship was a fishing boat, and it was as yet
destitute of almost all, even the rudest arts of civilization. The Czar,
determined to elevate his people, orderedthe youth of the nobility to travel in
lands distinguished by wealth and power, and become qualified to take part in
the regenerationoftheir own country, he himself showing them the example.
It was thus that wonderful spectacle was seenby the astonishedworkmen,
ambassadors waiting in state on a man in the dress and at the work of a
common shipwright.
(J. Johnston.)
Useful reflections on Christ's working as a carpenter
J. Orton.
I. TO ILLUSTRATE THIS OBSERVABLE CIRCUMSTANCE OF OUR
LORD'S LIFE. It was a maxim among the Jews, thatevery man should bring
up his son to some mechanic trade.

II. TO SUGGEST SOMEUSEFULREMARKS FROM THIS
OBSERVABLE CIRCUMSTANCE OF OUR LORD'S LIFE.
1. A person's original, his business and circumstances in life, often occasion
prejudices againsthim: againsthis most wise, useful, and instructive
observations.
2. Such prejudices are very absurd, unreasonable, and mischievous.
3. The condescensionofthe Son of God in submitting to such humiliation,
demands our admiration and praise.
4. The conduct of our Lord reflects an honour upon trade, and upon those
who are employed in useful arts.
5. This circumstance in Christ's life furnisheth all, especiallyyoung persons,
with an example of diligence and activity.
6. Persons mayserve God and follow their trades at the same time.
(J. Orton.)
Jesus an offence
J. Morison, D. D.
The word rendered offended is scandalizedin the original. It is a very graphic
word, but incapable of adequate translation. It presents to view a complex
picture. Christ was to His kinsmen and townsmen like a scandal, or catch
stick, in a trap. They did not see what He was. They hence heedlesslyran up
againstHim and struck on Him, to their own utter ensnarement; they were
spiritually caught;they became fixed in a position in which it was most
undesirable to be fixed; they were spiritually hurt, and in greatdanger of
being spiritually destroyed. Such are the chief elements of the picture. The
actualoutcome of the whole complex representationmay be given thus: They
spiritually stumbled on Jesus. To their loss they did not acceptHim for what
He really was:They rejectedHim as the Lord High Commissionerof heaven.
They came into collisionwith Him, and were ensnared, by suspecting that His

indisputable superiority to ordinary men in word and work was owing to
some other kind of influence than what was right and from above.
(J. Morison, D. D.)
Offended at the carpenter's son
People in high stationor of high birth are very often displeasedif one of
humbler position excels them in anything. The nobles of Scotland did not
work hand in hand with Wallace, because he had not such goodblood as they
gloried in.
Jealousyofgreatness in neighbours
J. Morison, D. D.
Our Lord specifies three concentric circles of persons to whom every prophet
is nearly related. There is
(1)the circle of his little fatherland, or district of country, or township;
(2)the circle of his relatives or "kin;"
(3)the circle of his nearestrelatives, the family to which he belongs.Ineachof
these circles there is in generalbut little readiness to recognize native or
nascentsuperiority. The principles of self-satisfaction, self-confidence, self-
complacency, come in to lay a presumptive interdict upon any adjoining self
rising up in eminence above the myself. The temporary advantage of age, and
thus of more protracted experience, assertsto itself for a seasona sort of
counter-superiority; and the mere fact of proximity makes it easyto open the
door for the influence of envy, an ignoble vice that takes effectchiefly in
reference to those on whom one can actually look (invidia, in-vides). In the
long run, indeed, realsuperiority, if time be granted it, will vindicate for itself
its own proper place in the midst of all its concentric circles. But, in general,
this will be only after victories achievedabroad have made it impossible for
the people at home to remain in doubt.

(J. Morison, D. D.)
PRECEPTAUSTIN RESOURCES
BARCLAY,
He went into the synagogue andhe taught. His teaching was greetednot with
wonder but with a kind of contempt. "Theytook offence at him." They were
scandalisedthat a man who came from a backgroundlike Jesus should say
and do things such as he. Familiarity had bred a mistakencontempt.
They refused to listen to what he had to say for two reasons.
(i) They said, "Is not this the carpenter?" The word used for carpenter is
tekton (Greek #5045). Now tekton(Greek #5045)does meana workerin
wood, but it means more than merely a joiner. It means a craftsman. In
Homer the tekton (Greek #5045)is said to build ships and houses and temples.
In the old days, and still to-day in many places, there could be found in little
towns and villages a craftsman who would build you anything from a chicken-
coopto a house; the kind of man who could build a wall, mend a roof, repair a
gate;the craftsman, the handy-man, who with few or no instruments and with
the simplest tools could turn his hand to any job. That is what Jesus was like.
But the point is that the people of NazarethdespisedJesus because he was a
working-man. He was a man of the people, a layman. a simple man--and
therefore they despisedhim.
One of the leaders of the Labour movement was that great soul Will Crooks.
He was born into a home where one of his earliestrecollectionswas seeing his
mother crying because she had no idea where the next meal was to come from.
He started work in a blacksmith's shop at five shillings a week. He became a
fine craftsmanand one of the bravestand straightestmen who ever lived. He
entered municipal politics and became the first Labour Mayor of any London
borough. There were people who were offended when Will Crooks became

Mayor of Poplar. In a crowd one day a lady said with greatdisgust, "They've
made that common fellow, Crooks, Mayor, and he's no better than a working
man." A man in the crowd--Will Crooks himself--turned round and raised his
hat. "Quite right, madam," he said. "I am not better than a working man."
The people of NazarethdespisedJesus becausehe was a working man. To us
that is his glory, because it means that God, when he came to earth, claimed
no exemptions. He took upon himself the common life with all its common
tasks.
The accidents ofbirth and fortune and pedigree have nothing to do with
manhood. As Pope had it,
"Worth makes the man, and want of it the fellow;
The rest is all but leatheror prunello."
As Burns had it,
"A prince can mak' a belted knight,
A marquis, duke, an' a'that!
But an honest man's aboon his might--
Guid faith, he mauna fa'that!
For a'that, an'a'that,
Their dignities an'a'that,
The pith o' sense an'pride o'worth
Are higher rank than a'that."
We must ever beware of the temptation to evaluate men by externals and
incidentals, and not by native worth.
(ii) They said, "Is not this Mary's son? Do we not know his brothers and his
sisters?"The fact that they called Jesus Mary's sontells us that Josephmust
have been dead. Therein we have the keyto one of the enigmas of Jesus'life.
Jesus was only thirty-three when he died; and yet he did not leave Nazareth

until he was thirty. (Luke 3:23.)Why this long delay? Why this lingering in
Nazarethwhile a world waitedto be saved? The reasonwas that Josephdied
young and Jesus took upon himself the support of his mother and of his
brothers and sisters;and only when they were old enough to fend for
themselves did he go forth. He was faithful in little, and therefore in the end
God gave him much to do.
But the people of Nazarethdespised him because they knew his family.
Thomas Campbell was a very considerable poet. His father had no sense of
poetry at all. When Thomas'first book emergedwith his name on it, he sent a
copy to his father. The old man took it up and lookedat it. It was really the
binding and not the contents at all that he was looking at. "Who would have
thought," he said in wonder, "that our Tom could have made a book like
that?" Sometimes when familiarity should breed a growing respectit breeds
an increasing and easy-going familiarity. Sometimes we are too near people to
see their greatness.
The result of all this was that Jesus could do no mighty works in Nazareth.
The atmosphere was wrong;and there are some things that cannot be done
unless the atmosphere is right.
(i) It is still true that no man can be healed if he refuses to be healed. Margot
Asquith tells of the death of Neville Chamberlain. Everyone knows how that
man's policy turned out in such a way that it broke his heart. MargotAsquith
met his doctor, Lord Horder. "You can't be much of a doctor," she said, "as
Neville Chamberlain was only a few years older than Winston Churchill, and
I should have saidhe was a strong man. Were you fond of him?" Lord Horder
replied, "I was very fond of him. I like all unlovable men. I have seentoo
many of the other kind. Chamberlain suffered from shyness. He did not want
to live; and when a man says that, no doctorcan save him." We may call it
faith; we may callit the will to live; but without it no man cansurvive.
(ii) There can be no preaching in the wrong atmosphere. Our churches would
be different places if congregations wouldonly remember that they preach far
more than half the sermon. In an atmosphere of expectancythe pooresteffort

can catchfire. In an atmosphere of critical coldness orbland indifference, the
most Spirit-packed utterance can fall lifeless to the earth.
(iii) There can be no peace-making in the wrong atmosphere. If men have
come togetherto hate, they will hate. If men have come togetherto refuse to
understand, they will misunderstand. If men have come togetherto see no
other point of view but their own, they will see no other. But if men have come
together, loving Christ and seeking to love eachother, even those who are
most widely separatedcancome togetherin him.
There is laid on us the tremendous responsibility that we caneither help or
hinder the work of Jesus Christ. We canopen the door wide to him--or we can
slam it in his face. "
THE CARPENTER’S SON
Dr. W. A. Criswell
Mark 6:1-6
10-21-79 7:30 p.m.
Now on radio and here in this greatauditorium, let us turn to Mark 6, Mark,
chapter 6. Our sermon this morning was entitled Exclamations of Wonder
Before Our Lord. And now, beginning at the next chapter, we shall read the
first six verses. And the title of messageis The Carpenter’s Son.
All of us reading out loud, together, Mark chapter 6, the first six verses;now,
together:

And He went out from thence, and came into His own country; and His
disciples follow Him.
And when the Sabbath day was come, He beganto teachin the synagogue:
and many hearing Him were astonished, saying, From whence hath this Man
these things? and what wisdom is this which is given unto Him, that even
such mighty works are wrought by His hands?
Is not this the carpenter, the Son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses,
and of Judah, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us? And they
were offended at Him.
But Jesus saidunto them, A prophet is not without honor, but in his own
country, and among his ownkin, and in his own house.
And He could there do no mighty work, save that He laid His hands upon a
few sick folk, and healedthem. And He marveled because of their unbelief.
And He went around the villages, teaching.
[Mark 6:1-6]
What do you think about that? Well, you can’t help, as I say, but think about
the reactionof the people to this Jesus ofNazareth. And they said, as He
spoke to them in the synagogue and as they heard of the marvelous things that
He did, "Is not this the carpenter? And hasn’t He lived all of His life in our
town? Is not His mother over there named Mary? And look at James and
Josephand Judah and Simon, his brothers. All five of them are right here.
And are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended in Him" [Mark
6:3].
Now, why is it that I would bow myself before a carpenterand say, "He is
God." That’s the message. Numberone: that carpenter in Nazarethhas the
testimony of all of the ages. There are no ages since GodAlmighty created
this earth, in which there has not been testimony to the Lord Jesus Christ.
Before His coming they said, "He is coming."

There are more than three hundred written prophecies in the Old Covenant.
He is coming. Here in this CriswellReference Bible, from pages 1504 to 1509,
in close print, there are prophetic Scriptures on one side, and the fulfillment
of those prophetic Scriptures in Christ, on the other side; thousands and
thousands of years, "He is coming, He is coming."
And now that He has come and returned to heaven, there are millions and
millions of voices raisedalongside those testimonies of the prophets and of the
apostles who say, "And He is coming again." In song, in sermon, in poetry, in
pageant, in every way the human heart can express itself, we who live in this
dispensationof the grace and glory of the Spirit of Jesus, we say, "He is
coming, He is coming." He has the testimony of the ages.
Number two: why do you believe the Carpenter is the Sonof God? Because of
the witness and testimony of the New TestamentScriptures. They say His
incarnation was in the womb of a virgin; that His Father was God in heaven,
and His mother, that He might have a body to offer as a sacrifice for us, was a
virgin girl named Mary [Matthew 1:20-23].
A keen, brilliant Japanese studentaskeda missionary, "Do you believe in the
virgin birth?" And the missionary said, "I do." And the brilliant Japanese
student askedthe missionary, "If an unwed girl were to come up to you and
say that her child had no earthly father, that her child had Godfor his Father,
would you believe her? Would you believe her?"
And the missionary replied, "Young man, if the birth of that Child had been
foretold for thousands and thousands of years [Genesis 3:15]and if, when the
day came for the Child to be born, His birth was announced by an angel
messenger, Gabriel, from heaven [Luke 1:26-31], and if the night He was
born, all the angels in the hosts of glory sang of His coming [Luke 2, 13-14],
and if that Child did as no other man ever did [Matthew 9:33], spake as no
other man ever spake [John 7:46]; if that Child, now grownto be a man,
dying on a cross [Matthew 27:32-50], wasraisedfrom the dead [Matthew
28:1-7]; if He ascendedback up into heaven and we look for His coming again
[Acts 1:9-11]; if that Child were the Son of that virgin mother [Isaiah 7:14;
Matthew 1:20-23], I’d believe it. I would believe it." And the resurrectionof

our Lord is of a piece [Matthew 28:1-7], it’s of a kind, with the incarnation of
our Lord. His whole story is the miracle of heaven.
A man came up to NapoleonBonaparte and said to the general, "Sir, I am
trying to start a new religion, but I can’t getanybody to believe me." And
Napoleonsaid, "Why, it’s simple. Justhave yourself crucified, and the third
day rise again from the dead." Ah, the glory of the life and the death, and the
birth and the resurrection, and the ascensionand the return of our living
Lord! The Carpenteris God. Again, He has the witness of human experience,
the testimony of human history.
Charles Darwin himself said, in that voyage around the world, he said, "If a
voyagerwere facing a shipwreck upon an unknown coast, lethim pray that
the missionaryhas been there before him." For in those South Sea Islands, to
be castupon one of those shores unknown was to fall in the hands of
cannibals, unless the missionary had been there. And now, clothedand
sanctifiedand hallowedand saved, they were worshipping God and singing
the hymns of Zion and preaching the gospelof the blessedJesus. He has the
witness and the testimony of human experience.
I have been thinking about the marvels that I have seenin the name of Christ
as I have traveled over this whole earth. Tomorrow, for the seventeenthtime,
I will be crossing the equator. And I was just thinking, Lord, Lord, I wish I
had about an hour or two or three or four or five, or a day, just to stand in
that pulpit and recite the marvelous things that I have seencome to pass in the
name of the Spirit of the Son of God, Jesus, the carpenter of Nazareth[Mark
6:3]. Out of a thousand, thousand of those marvelous things, I choose one,
just one. And it comes to my mind because I am going down there to South
America in the morning.
I read as you read, as the whole world read, of those five missionaries that
were slain by the Auca Indians, in the Amazon jungle. And as you who have
been in the church many years know, I announced that I was going to be a
guestof the Wycliffe missionaries. And I was going down there to that
Amazon jungle and see for myself, for my eyes to see, whathad happened. As
you know, five of those missionaries were slainby that Stone-Age tribe, the

Aucas, in that Amazon jungle. Two of them, the widow of one of the slain
missionaries, and the brother of another one of the slain missionaries, went
into the Auca jungle. And the report came that they had won those men to
Christ, and the whole tribe.
So I went down there and was flown into the little area by one of the JARS
pilots and was met by RachelSaint, who still lived among them, and did for
years. RachelSaintwas present here on the thirty-fifth anniversary of my
pastorate here, Sunday night, a week ago. And I stayedthere and lookedat
what God had done. These Stone-Age Indians, all of their lives, had dipped
their hands in human blood, intertribal warfare. And among their own clans
and families they had slain one another for generations, andhad killed those
five missionaries.
When I came, they gatheredall of the tribe together and said, "We are going
up to the house of the Lord, and we want you to preach the gospelto us."
And presiding over the service was the leaderof the clan that had killed those
five missionaries. And as I stood up to preach in the church they had made
with their own hands, they said, "First of all, would you sing us a song?
Would you sing us a song?"
And I said, "I would be glad to sing you a song."
So I stood up and we began the service with a song for the pastorto sing. Do
you know what it was? "Amazing Grace, How Sweetthe Sound." And as I
sang it and lookedat the intently responsive faces ofthe Auca Indians, it is a
wonder, it is a miracle. I had two of them here in the pulpit. What God is
able to do! What Christ hath wrought in the world. And it is universal. It’s
in every tribe and family and tongue under God’s sun. It’s everywhere, what
Jesus, that Carpenter, has done in human experience.
There came to our CBI a young fellow to go to school;he and his wife and his
two children. Mostof our students are older men who have been calledinto
the ministry without an education. And this young fellow came here to Dallas,
brought his wife and his two children, and he made his way through school,
working with his hands. He’s a carpenter, he’s a carpenter. And after he
finished our Bible Institute, there came a call from a town in Idaho saying,

"We don’t have a church of any kind here. Do you have a student who would
come and preach here in this town and seek and ask God to help him build a
church here? We don’t have a church of any kind." And that student
volunteered. He went up to that little town in Idaho. And walking through
the town, he saw an old, abandoned sawmill. He went to the ownerof the
sawmill and said, "I’m a preacherfrom this Bible Institute of the First Baptist
Church in Dallas, and I have come here to preach the gospel. And I wonder if
you would lend me the old sawmill for a place to preach?"
And the man said, "You’ve come to preach the gospel,"he said, "ou canhave
the thing. I give it to you." And that boy, with his hands, being a carpenter,
he made a place in the back part of that old sawmill for him and his wife and
his two children. And then the front part of that old sawmill he made into a
church. And then, visiting among the people, he announced revival services.
And when the meeting was done, he baptized eighteensouls and organized
them into a church. And last week, he sent word to us saying, "There are four
other towns here in Idaho that don’t have churches, and we want your
institute to send us four more preachers." Man, that’s great! That’s the
gospel. That’s the powerof Jesus. That’s the Carpenter of Nazareth. Human
experience gives witness to His grace, His deity, and His glory.
Our time is gone. MayI just summarize one other? Why do you believe that
Carpenter is the Son of God? Because ofthe witness of our own souls, ours.
When the Lord saw all of His disciples melt awayHe turned to the twelve and
said, "Will you also leave?" And they said, "Lord, to whom shall we go?"
[John 6:68]. That’s my heart exactly. Lord, Lord, if it’s not to Thee, to whom
shall we go? Shall I be a Muslim, or a Shintoist, or a Buddhist? Or shall I be
a Hindu, or shall I be an infidel, or an agnostic, ora materialist, or a
secularist? ShallI? If I turn aside from Christ, to what, to whom, to where
shall I go? In the hour of my death, at the greatjudgment day of Almighty
God, who can stand by me? Who will promise to save me? Why not Jesus?
If I can trust the feeling of my fingers, if I can trust the seeing of my eyes, if I
can trust the hearing of my ears, why can’t I trust the pull of my heart?
When they sing a beautiful song about Jesus, I feelit in my soul. When
somebody preaches a wonderful sermon about Jesus, the reverberation is in

my heart. When I look at a godly, regeneratedlife, I feelthanksgiving and
praise in my deepestbeing.
He is the Lord. Jesus is Lord. He is all my soul could ever ask. A friend, a
fellow pilgrim now, my Savior in the world to come. Lord, Lord, that I might
be able to serve Thee better and love Thee more. He is all in all. May we
stand together?
Dearprecious Lord, who looks downupon us from heaven, bless Thou this
attempt to witness and testify unto Thee tonight. Where the testimony has
been feeble, full of shortcomings, forgive. Where it has been true, sanctify and
hallow the message to our hearts. And our Lord, in the holiness of this
moment, speak to somebody by Thy Holy Spirit that they might in faith look
to Jesus as Savior. Oh, what He is able to do to recreate, and remake, and
regenerate ourlives! Give us hope, heart, heaven. Be our companion through
all the unfolding days. Stand by us forever. Take us to Himself in glory, O
Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, whatwondrous things You do for us!
In this moment of appeal, while our people wait before the Lord praying for
you, tonight accepting Him as your Savior; maybe putting your life with us in
this dear church, make the decisionnow in your heart. And in a moment
when we sing the appeal, take that first step. It will be the greatestdecision
and the greateststepyou have ever made in your life. Do it tonight. Down
one of these stairways, downone of these aisle, "Pastorwe are coming, the
whole family of us, we are on the way." A couple, or just one somebodyyou;
do it now. Make it now. Come now, while we wait, while we pray, and while
we sing.
JESUS, THE CARPENTER
Dr. W. A. Criswell
Mark 6:1-6
2-10-91 10:50 a.m.

This is the pastorbringing the messageentitled Jesus, the Carpenter. In our
preaching in the Book of Mark, we have come to chapter6, and it begins like
this:
When the Sabbath day was come, He beganto teachin the synagogue:and
many hearing Him were astonished, and they said. . .
Is not this the carpenter, the sonof Mary, the brother of James, and Joseph,
and Judah, and Simon? and are not His sisters here with us? And they were
offended at Him. . .
And Jesus coulddo no mighty work. . .
And He marveled because oftheir unbelief.
[Mark 6:2-6]
An exactresponse is here in the Bible, houtos, hutos estin ho tektōn. Houtos,
is a contemptuous word. You find it in Luke, chapter 15, verse1:houtos, "is
not this guy," talking about Jesus, is not this critter? "Look at Him," houtos,
"He accepts sinners, and He eats with them," houtos [Luke 15:1-2]. "Is not
this," houtos estin ho tektōn, "the carpenter? Is not His mother here with us?
Are not His brothers James, Joseph, Juda, Simon, aren’t they with us? And
are not His sisters with us? And, yet, they say He is the Son of God. And they
were offended in Him" [Mark 6:3].
One man standing, says, "He is the Son of God. I have lived around Him for
twenty-five years, and the only thing I have ever heard about Him is they call
Him ‘illegit.’ He is an illegitimate son. He was born out of wedlock. Thatis
all I know about Him." And anotherone says, "The plow I use in the field,
He made it. He is the Son of God?" And anothersays, "The yoke that I use
with my oxen, He made it. He is the Sonof God?" And another says, "The

chair that I sit in, He made it. He is the Sonof God?" Houtos estin ho tektōn,
"and they were offended in Him."
One of my friends in the university was speaking to a brilliant student in the
schoolwho had come here from Japan. And in witnessing to him about our
Lord, the brilliant scholarfrom Japan said, "You tell me, if a girl were to
come to you unmarried, unwed, no husband, no man, and she were to sayto
you, ‘This child born out of wedlock, this child is conceivedby God in heaven.
He is the Son of God.’ Would you believe it?"
And my dear friend answeredthat brilliant Japanese scholar, and answered,
"Yes, I would if the birth of that Child had been predicted thousands and
thousands of years [Genesis 3:15]. If, when the Child was born, a star stood
over where He laid [Matthew 2:1-2, 9]. And if, when the Child was born,
magi came from afar to bow down and worship [Matthew 2:11]. And if, when
that Child grew to manhood, His ministry was beyond compare. He opened
the eyes of the blind [John 9:1-7]. He cleansedthe leper [Mark 1:40-42]. He
healed the sick [Luke 4:38-40]. He raised the dead [John 11:43-44]. And if,
when His ministry was done and He was slain [Matthew 27:32-50], the third
day He was raisedfrom the dead [Matthew 28:1-7], and the angels of God
receivedHim back into heaven [Acts 1:9-11], if that Child were that, yes, I
would believe Him."
And I would like to add one other. As marvelous and as glorious as the
ministry of Jesus in Galilee and in Judea, it is nothing comparedto the
marvelous, incomparable ministry in the name of Christ in the world
yesterday, and today, and the promise of it tomorrow.
Why are you so affirmative? Witness the testimony of our world and of
human experience. Nobodythat I ever heard of accusedCharles Darwinof
being a protagonistof the faith, the evolutionist Charles Darwin. But Charles
Darwin, when he came back from his trip to the South Pacific, said, he said,
"If anyone is ever shipwreckedin the South Pacific, he ought to pray and to
hope that a missionary has preceded him into those islands, lestthey be
captured and boiled and their flesh eaten up by the cannibals." Charles
Darwin said that. Passing through to the South Pacific, Charles Darwin

Jesus the Carpenter - How His Humble Profession Reveals His Character

Jesus the Carpenter - How His Humble Profession Reveals His Character

Recommended

Recommended

More Related Content

What's hot

What's hot (20)

Similar to Jesus the Carpenter - How His Humble Profession Reveals His Character

Similar to Jesus the Carpenter - How His Humble Profession Reveals His Character (20)

More from GLENN PEASE

More from GLENN PEASE (20)

Recently uploaded

Recently uploaded (20)

Jesus the Carpenter - How His Humble Profession Reveals His Character