Q1. Son of a Carpenter
#2
Posted 08 December 2007 - 12:35 PM
As the son of a carpenter, Jesus would grow up observing the value of work and of using talents which God has given us to live as a good citizen in the world. He would have observed Joseph carrying out honest transactions of business with those who needed the services of a carpenter. He may have helped Joseph around the carpenter shop and thus knew the satisfaction of contributing.
#3
Posted 08 December 2007 - 04:41 PM
Growing up in His earthly father's carpentry shoppe, Jesus would have been exposed to being taught the skill of carpentry, working with wood, a solid work ethic, getting things just right, not leaving a job until it's done, and perhaps working on a deadline, fulfilling orders and working to specificiations. Jesus would also have been exposed to Joseph's business dealings with other's and his way of dealing and handling people. Children pick up more than we realize, most often than not, and so much more would it concievable have been for Jesus. Jesus would also have seen first hand what it was like to have to budget time and resources, to care for tools, and inventory.
#4
Posted 08 December 2007 - 04:43 PM
As the son of a carpenter, Jesus would have learned many different life skills. First and foremost, He would have learned how to build things using his hands and the tools of carpentry. Jesus would have learned patience as it takes patience to fashion wood into something that is useable, such as furniture, and of good enough quality that others would want to buy it.
Also, He would have been exposed to the experience of how to deal with different kinds of people as He watched His earthly father Joseph deal with his many different customers. Undoubtedly some were satisfied & kind customers, while others may have been unsatisfied & not so kind customers.
#5
Posted 08 December 2007 - 06:18 PM
Carpentry is a learned skill, developed through hard work, with the results seen in the work of ones own hand. Hard work does not always bring wealth as seen by the worlds standards, but when a person uses the strength that God gives to better the world and those around him, money can't buy that kind of wealth, for it is the inner joy that comes with using what gifts God as given to us to be used. God is often symbolically portrayed as a master builder, He built the throne of David (Ps. 89:4) Jesus is our chief cornerstone.
What experiences would this have exposed him to?
Under Joseph's leadership as a righteous man, Jesus learned many important things pertaining to life as a human, one of them being, things don't just come about on its own, it takes a leader, one who is not afraid of hard work, one who is thankful for the gifts they have been given by God, and uses them. Joseph set a good example to his family, living a life of trusting in God, Joseph set an example seen in the way he provided for and loved his family, as a righteous man he taught his family the Torah, and the importance of having faith and obedience to God. Jesus, our chief cornerstone, set the example, set the foundation for us on how to love one another, build on this, love one another.
#6
Posted 09 December 2007 - 02:52 AM
#7
Posted 09 December 2007 - 11:23 AM
#8
Posted 09 December 2007 - 11:45 AM
experiences would this have exposed him to?
Jesus could have learnt more from Joseph, His legal and earthly father. Joseph was a man of integrity. He trained his Son Jesus in the trade of carpentry, and am sure Joseph also made sure that Jesus had good spiritual training in Nazareth. This is because he took the whole family on the yearly trip to Jerusalem for the Passover, which Jesus continued to observe during His adult years.
#9
Posted 09 December 2007 - 01:48 PM
Jesus would have learned from Joseph personal and trade skills in contracting carpentry work in the community. They would include: patience; attention to detail; the abililty to see and solve problems; effective communication with others; general carpentry skills and techique; assessing the cost of material and labor as well determining the time to complete a project.
No doubt Joseph shared the Scripture and his spiritual values with Jesus on a daily basis.
In living the carpenter's life, Jesus would have been exposed to the community as a whole on a regular basis, i.e. he would have interacted with all social/economic levels in the community. He would have experienced the pressures of meeting dead lines for projects; working with different personalities in contracting and completing jobs; experienced the joy and pride in workmanship/craftsmanship; the joy of completing jobs and meeting the satisfaction of customers. He would have been exposed to local economic cycles that impacted the carpentry trade for good and bad during his time.
He would have been exposed to tradtional Jewish religious life in family and community and all that goes with that.
#10
Posted 09 December 2007 - 02:42 PM
This experience would show Him that not all wood is alike. Hardwood, difficult and time consuming to work with, requires patience. Other wood is soft and when handled harshly it could break and be destroyed. Still there is wood that is exactly what He needed, to be exactly what He expected it to be.
#11
Posted 09 December 2007 - 03:52 PM
Jesus was willing to do what his parents wanted, even when it didn't seem directly related to his purpose on earth. He was patient with the apparent mundane tasks of this life, realizing life experiences have value. While he never intended to be a carpenter, he would have had exposure just by the fact he was Joseph's son. Since the Bible says so little about Joseph, we are not sure how long he was alive and involved in Jesus life. So, it's hard to guess how much experience /exposure Jesus had to the trade of carpentery. But, he probably did have some experience just by living with Joseph and spending time with him. As belivers we can take comfort in knowing Jesus was doing the will of God and God was pleased even though every minute of his life wasn't directly related to ministry (especially in his growing up years). There are many things we do in our day to day life that do not relate to eternity directly, yet we can have peace and joy if we know we are in the will of the Father. God sees behind the scenes and is using tasks and jobs that seem of no eternal value to shape us and teach us.
The Mark 6:3 passage points to Jesus being a carpenter, I think the significance here is in Jesus being ordinary, from an ordinary family. Obviously Jesus was a teacher/Rabbi as his main purpose here on earth. The people who were having trouble with this were the people from his home town who remembered Jesus as "a carpenter" or ordinary. I think this applies to us, who have a past this is not impressive. While we may be a changed person now, it is often the people who remember us from years ago who have a hard time seeing us for who we are now.
#12
Posted 09 December 2007 - 09:22 PM
#13
Posted 09 December 2007 - 09:37 PM
#14
Posted 09 December 2007 - 09:49 PM
#15
Posted 09 December 2007 - 09:57 PM
#16
Posted 09 December 2007 - 11:46 PM
Jesus might have learned how having a skill/talent can contribute to the overall sustainability of a community, were each part is vital. He probably appreciated Joseph's work ethic, his delivering a service... Maybe he learned to appreciate the creative process of taking something flat and formless and making soeting functional and purposeful from it. He expect he developed a love and appreciation for his earthly father, Joseph also had soething to teach his son! Jesus would have respected his father's ability and witnessed how to work with focus and commitment, stick-to-itness to see the project through...
Also the satisfaction of a job well done...
#17
Posted 10 December 2007 - 12:59 AM
#18
Posted 10 December 2007 - 01:32 AM
When he grew up, he benefited from this background.
#20
Posted 10 December 2007 - 12:08 PM
As the Son of a builder Jesus would have learned: discipline, accurateness, team work and patience. He would have had to rub shoulders with all kinds of people.

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