Carpenter's Son

Carpenter’s Son
By James Reid

“‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers? Is this not the carpenter’s son?’”
Matthew 13:54-55

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Long before He preached on hillsides or walked on water, Jesus worked with His hands. The Gospels refer to Him as a “tekton”—traditionally translated as a carpenter, but more broadly meaning a craftsman or builder. Not surprisingly, many of His most memorable teachings reflect this background: “why do you look at the splinter in your brother’s eye, and pay no attention to the beam that is in your own eye?”, “take my yoke upon you,” “a wise man built his house upon a rock,” “the stone which the builders rejected,” “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” And, although his Nazarene audience was incredulous that a “carpenter’s son” could be a man of such wisdom and power, Jesus’s calling as a tekton is eternally fitting. Carpenters do two basic things: they build, and they repair. Carpenters make what is needed and restore what is broken.

A century after the Apostle Paul taught the Hebrews that, “All things were made by him,” John Chrysostom marveled, “He who framed the heavens is not ashamed to be called a tekton.” Just as a carpenter shapes and transforms raw materials into useful and beautiful objects, so too did Jesus come to reshape and transform all of God’s children. This metaphor of spiritual craftsmanship is echoed in Paul’s words in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works.” The third century theologian Origen suggested that only a master craftsman could perform such an eternally significant work, “the divine craftsmanship of all creation.” Christ works with the raw material of our hearts, fashioning us into vessels fit for God’s use.

Carpentry also involves the work of repairing and restoring. In His trade, the Savior would have mastered taking broken or damaged items and making them whole and useful again. This skill beautifully parallels His spiritual ministry of restoration, lovingly and patiently mending broken hearts, broken lives and broken relationships, and restoring people to a right relationship with God. In the hands of the Divine Craftsman holding a beloved piece of work, whatever things are broken can be restored and made new. Indeed, He has promised, “Behold, I am making all things new” (Revelation 21:5).

As His disciples, we are called to join Christ in His workshop. We, too, are to be builders—of families and testimonies and churches—and repairers—of relationships and hearts and communities. As Paul taught the Ephesians, by this work we are being “fitly framed together” into a holy temple, with Christ Himself as the cornerstone.

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