Perhaps you saw the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ. It was all about last twenty-four hours of Jesus’ life. During one flashback scene, Jesus was in his carpentry shop making a table with his mother standing by playfully observing. It was a beautiful scene that reminded me that Jesus was a carpenter for most of his life. In fact, in the eyes of the people, Jesus was more qualified to be a carpenter than the Son of God. Jesus had a history of which they all knew. He was a young working class man from Nazareth.
I recently read Os Hillman as he comments on the public life of Jesus:
Consider that in the New Testament of Jesus’ 132 public appearances, 122 were in the marketplace. Of 52 parables Jesus told, 45 had a workplace context. Of 40 miracles in the book of Acts, 39 were in the marketplace. Jesus spent his adult life as a carpenter until age 30 before he went into a preaching ministry in the workplace. And, 54% of Jesus’ reported teaching ministry arose out of issues posed by others in the scope of daily life experience. Saint Bonaventure said, “His doing nothing ‘wonderful’ (his first 30-years) was in itself a kind of wonder.”
Work, in its different forms, is mentioned a lot in the Bible; more than all the words used to express worship, music, praise, and singing combined. God created work and He is a worker Himself (Gen 2:1-2). Adam is given a task way before the fall; he is to work the garden (Gen 2:15). Jesus tells us about the work of the Father, and that He, too, is to be at work (John 5:17).
My point is that the next time you are tempted to minimize your daily work as anything less than a holy calling, remember that Jesus was a minister in the workplace; a carpenter in his community. He has called you and me to reflect His glory in our everyday work.
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