The Hebrew Bible contains hints, types, allusions and prophecies relating to Jesus, but the New Testament is filled with references to Jesus, stories told by Jesus, wonders performed by him, and summaries of his teaching. The New Testament identifies Jesus as a carpenter and a teacher. He was raised in a poor Jewish home and, like most children of his time, learned his father Joseph’s trade.
Joseph was a tektōn, usually translated “carpenter” in English, but the term refers to one skilled in building with wood, stone or metal. Perhaps Jesus had in mind his earthly father’s trade when he spoke of building a house on rock or sand (Mt 7:24-27). Later, those who knew the family in Nazareth referred to Jesus as “the carpenter’s son” (Mt 13:55; Mk 6:3). According to the Jewish historian Josephus, there was “no lack of carpenters” in Galilee.[1]
We know little of the life of Jesus from his infancy, living with his family in Egypt due to persecution, to about the age of 30 when he was baptised by John in the Jordan River. Jesus probably learned his father’s trade by observation and imitation as a boy and young man. How his teaching vocation developed is more of a mystery, but two texts are instructive.
First, Luke alone records a story of Jesus at the age of 12, visiting Jerusalem with his family and friends for a religious festival. His parents start the return journey to Nazareth and discover that Jesus is missing. They retrace their steps and, after three days of searching, find their son in the temple, seated among the Jewish leaders who are astonished at his wisdom. Jesus’s response to his parents suggests a growing self-awareness, at 12 years of age, of his vocation as a teacher engaged in the mission of God (Lk 2:40-52).
Second, following his baptism and time of testing in the desert, Jesus set aside a life of stable manual work and became an itinerant religious teacher (e.g., Mk 1:16-20; 2:13f). In Luke 4:16-30, Jesus stands in the Nazareth synagogue, reads from the scroll of Isaiah, and announces the start of his public ministry. Jesus self-identifies as one sent by the Spirit of God to preach good news to the poor, proclaim release to captives, restore sight to the blind, set free the oppressed, and announce God’s jubilee year.
Those present initially speak well of him and are amazed by his “gracious words,” but further comments prompt them to drive him out of town and attempt to hurl him over a cliff. So begin three years of intensive teaching and preaching, during which Jesus faces increasing apathy and opposition, leading to his arrest and death as a disturber of the peace.
The New Testament writers also portray Jesus as an evangelist, apologist, miracle-worker, healer, counsellor, exorcist, and trainer of protégés. Jesus is seen as the fulfilment of many biblical prophecies couched in vocational terms. For example, Micah 5:2-6 speaks of one from Bethlehem who will embody kingship, pastoral leadership, and peacemaking.
The four Gospels emphasise distinctive aspects of Jesus’s identity and vocation. For example, Matthew begins his account of Jesus’s life by tracing his royal lineage. Mark starts by identifying Jesus with John the Baptist, the last and greatest of the Jewish prophets. Luke commences his narrative by showing Jesus’s continuity with the priestly family of Zechariah and Elizabeth. This triad is called the munus triplex. In the Fourth Gospel, Jesus is portrayed as the God-man, the divine Logos in a human body, imparting light and life to those he encounters.
Jesus considered his work to involve the inauguration of the kingdom of God (Mk 1:14f; Lk 17:20f; cf Mt 6:10). He considered his sufferings, death and resurrection to be integral to this work (e.g., Mk 8:31-33; 9:31; 10:33f). New Testament scholar N. T. Wright speaks of Jesus’s self-understanding as an eschatological prophet, Davidic messiah, and the embodiment of God’s presence in the world.[2]
The vocation of Jesus as a carpenter and teacher was uniquely his own. His followers today are not called to imitate his vocation but his godly character. Yet we are called to extend the kingdom inaugurated by Jesus, pointing to the light and life he offers, embodying the love and justice that were central to his teaching and actions.
Further, as New Testament scholar David Bryant observes, reflection on the life of Jesus “discloses that our own call constitutes a form of service to the ends of love and justice and that the reality of opposition to these ends does not contravene the need to remain committed to them.”[3]
Dr Rod Benson is Research Support Officer at Moore Theological College, Sydney. He previously pastored four Baptist churches in Queensland and NSW, and served for 12 years as an ethicist with the Tinsley Institute at Morling College.
References
[1] Josephus, The Jewish War, 3.505.
[2] N. T. Wright, Jesus and the Victory of God (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), 162-168.
[3] David J. Bryant, “Imago Dei, imagination, and ecological responsibility,” Theology Today 57 (1), 2000, 41.
Image source: Gerrit van Honthorst, public domain.
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