JESUS THE CARPENTER

Copyright © 2008 kore.uk.com

In the Scriptures, there are several kinds of jobs or positions that have been associated to the nature of God or are representative of a spiritual calling. There are kings, shepherds, physicians, teachers, and fishermen, to name some.

But in one prayer time, I was reminded of the profession chosen for Jesus when He was here on earth. I desired to know what it meant that Jesus was called to be a carpenter prior to His ministry.

As I sought the Lord on this, several things were prompted to me that I believe can help us understand Jesus better as well as know what He desires to do in our lives.

First, scholars say that during Jesus' time, the fathers taught their trade to their sons. Perhaps this is also why when Jesus called John and James the sons of Zebedee who were fishermen they were with their father on the boat. Joseph was a carpenter according to the book of Matthew and Jesus too became a carpenter according to the book of Mark.

"Is this not the carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary? And His brothers James, Joses, Simon, and Judas?" (Matthew 13:55)

So in a sense, it appeared that sons did not determine their trade. Their fathers' trade did. However, while the fact that Joseph was a carpenter may help explain why Jesus was a carpenter, ultimately we know that it was God the Father who chose this trade for His Son. That Jesus did what His earthly foster father did is a beautiful illustration of something that Jesus said when He was already in the ministry.

Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner. (John 5:19)

Jesus’ life was about following the Father. It was not about having personal ambitions and personal plans but about mirroring the Father. He had no dreams or ambitions apart from the Father’s plans for Him. Jesus really overcame self-will. Self-driven plans had no place in Jesus’ life. In the end, the Lord Jesus was able to say:

I have glorified You on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do. (John 17:4) 

This statement reveals to us that the key to glorifying God is doing what He tells us to do and finishing it. And this is very contrary to the standards of the world. Glory is normally associated with success and fortune, with making it big both in the secular and in the ministry. To the world it is foolish that a man can be successful by being a carpenter and eventually even dying a criminal’s death. But to the Lord, obedience is better than sacrifice. Instant and complete obedience lead to glory. We must also remember that we are not called to be successful but to be obedient.

For you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty; and the base things of the world and the things which are despised God has chosen, and the things which are not, to bring to nothing the things that are, that no flesh should glory in His presence. But of Him you are in Christ Jesus, who became for us wisdom from God — and righteousness and sanctification and redemption — that, as it is written, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 1:26-31)

Second, to be a carpenter, that meant that Jesus had to take a lowly place. Of all the professions He could have been in, Jesus took the humble work of a carpenter. He was the Son of God, the greatest teacher who ever lived, the miracle worker, the King of kings, yet He yielded to the will of the Father to be a humble carpenter. During the days of Jesus, it is said that carpenters were considered lower than farmers. We see the tremendous humility of Jesus in accepting such a humble work.

Is this not the carpenter, the Son of Mary, and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are not His sisters here with us?” So they were offended at Him. (Mark 6:3)

We see how He was looked down upon in Nazareth when He taught in the synagogue. In Mark 6:3, they asked, “Is this not the carpenter?” and they were offended of Him. They could not accept receiving teachings from a carpenter and so they were offended.

This teaches us a very valuable lesson. That scene in Nazareth demonstrated the humility of Christ as well as the arrogance of the people who did not receive Him. And the implication of their arrogance was that He could not do mighty works among them. Their pride hindered them from receiving from a humble Jesus. This tells us that it takes humility to follow a humble God. One of the characteristics of our God is that He is very lowly in heart. A proud person cannot worship a humble God. Pride will reject God. Humility will embrace Him.

At this point I would like to share a quote of Dr. Brian Bailey. “He took the lowly road...people sometimes are not willing to take the lower place. But the lower place is indeed the way for the fulfillment of God's purposes for our lives...the low place is the place that leads to promotion. And to accept the low place in life is the key to coming out on top...so many people complain. They do not want to go to the low place and they miss out on all the promotions and the glories God has for us. And that is true in secular life and it is true in the spiritual life too.”

Third, being a humble carpenter meant not aspiring for earthly treasures nor earthly power. Jesus was not after temporal rewards or positions. His food was to do the will of the Father. He found satisfaction not in the riches of this world but in being in the perfect will of the Father. Jesus was a simple man. In fact, by the time He ministered, there were days when He slept without a roof on His head. He was not given over to the things of this world.

Fourth, carpenters in Jesus' day referred to those who built structures and made objects using wood or stone. One of things that these brought me to is how the carpenter works with his hands to build or make something. And in a sense, we ourselves are made by the very hands of God. We were not created by speaking us forth. He fashioned us Himself.

Dr. Bailey once said that God speaks and angels are created to fulfill what God has for them to do. Not so with man. We are made. We are birthed and made to go through processes to become what God has destined us to be.

Your hands have made me and fashioned me; Give me understanding, that I may learn Your commandments. Psalm 119:73

For You formed my inward parts;
You covered me in my mother's womb.
I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
Marvelous are Your works,
And that my soul knows very well.
My frame was not hidden from You,
When I was made in secret,
And skillfully wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.
Your eyes saw my substance, being yet unformed.
And in Your book they all were written,
The days fashioned for me,
When as yet there were none of them.
(Psalm 139:13-16)

Just like wood, which speaks of humanity, in a carpenter’s hands, we too have to be worked at by God, subjected to dealings and workings. The work of the carpenter is not instant. It is a careful, thoughtful, and hard work. But praise God that He is the Builder building our lives.

The activities of a carpenter can speak of things that God does with His people.

A. He smoothens and chisels us. He removes the rough edges, the natural tendencies that are carnal in us.

B. He measures us. He sets us against the standard who is Christ that we may become aware of the areas of our lives that are not lining up with Him and that we may be changed.

Thus He showed me:
Behold, the Lord stood on a wall made with a plumb line, with a plumb line in His hand. And the Lord said to me, “ Amos, what do you see?”
And I said, “A plumb line.”
Then the Lord said:
“Behold, I am setting a plumb line
In the midst of My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore.
(Amos 7:7-8) 

C. He cuts. He cuts off what is unnecessary. He also cuts a man down to size. This is what the Lord did to King Nebuchadnezzar. When King Nebuchadnezzar was becoming very proud because of the increasing greatness of his kingdom, the Lord cut him down.

He cried aloud and said thus:
‘Chop down the tree and cut off its branches,
Strip off its leaves and scatter its fruit.
Let the beasts get out from under it,
And the birds from its branches.
Nevertheless leave the stump and roots in the earth,
Bound with a band of iron and bronze,
In the tender grass of the field.
Let it be wet with the dew of heaven,
And let him graze with the beasts
On the grass of the earth.
(Daniel 4:14-15)

The kingship was removed from him and he wandered in the wilderness for seven times. He became like beast eating grass and with his hair growing like feathers and his nails like claws. But it did not end there. At the end of time, Nebuchadnezzar finally looked up to heaven and his understanding came back to him and he blessed and praised God and the kingdom was restored to him. Like Nebuchadnezzar there are times when a saint has to be cut down that pride maybe removed from a man’s life and that he may gauge himself correctly and recognize his tremendous need for God.

D. The carpenter also hammers a nail into them to make them whole. The Lord will also lead those who will be faithful to the crucified life for the purpose of causing them to hit their mark and be complete in God.

All these workings of the Lord are for the purpose of making us what He has intended us to be. A piece of wood or stone will be of no profit unless they are turned to something of use. And each one of us is handcrafted by God, turning us from something of no use to something meaningful and purposeful, turning something valueless into something valuable.

He is also not only building us up individually. He is also building us corporately.

You also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (1 Peter 2:5) 

Each stone is being built that he maybe part of a greater body of stones that will make up the body of the Lord Jesus. But carpenters are able to work with wood and stone because they do not complain or move. They cooperate. What Jesus did in the natural foretold of what He desires to do among us.

Finally, what His trade spoke of was how Jesus Himself went through the same workings of the Master Craftsman.

Coming to Him as to a living stone, rejected indeed by men, but chosen by God and precious, (1 Peter 2:4)

He too became like wood and stone that was polished and eventually nailed. Instruments He used in His own craft were later used on Him. I can only imagine how He must have been working on his workshop and saw those nails and hammer and knew He was destined for them. His perfect yielding made Him the Chief Cornerstone upon which the house of God is being built today.