I have always enjoyed the smell of fresh cut wood. My dad was a man of many skills and introduced me to carpentry early on. I learned the various textures and feels of the different types of lumber. I came to appreciate the beauty of its grain. Then there was the joy of working with my hands and the skill of shaping a piece of wood into a beautiful work of art. It is all the business of a carpenter.

By definition, a carpenter is a skilled craftsman who works with timber to construct, install, and maintain buildings, furniture, and any other number of objects. It is a manual labor, often a labor of love, and done both outdoors and indoors. From cabinets to closets, from picture frames to framing a house, carpenters are artists and craftsmen. I appreciate the craft.

Jesus as carpenter.

Jesus was a carpenter. Have you ever wondered, “What did Jesus make?” What was His specialty? I imagine that being the Son of God, He may have been a glorious carpenter. But that would only be speculation, of course.

Do you think He ever hit His thumb with a hammer? (And if He did, what do you think came out of His mouth?) Though we can’t know for sure, I’m guessing He had a niche for crafting beautiful objects. In fact, it seems His work had become well-known by some standards: “Is not this the carpenter?” (Mark 6:3).

Apparently, He made a name for Himself with His work. However, we find out it was not about His carpentry work. When Jesus began His ministry, we find many people had become indignant about the type of work He was doing.

Even in his hometown, Jesus made people uncomfortable. The people simply knew Him as a carpenter, nothing more. However, the work Jesus was now doing went beyond the craftsmanship of a carpenter. He crossed professions. Rather than sanding lumber or carving a cabinet, He had become a fisher of men, a physician of souls, and a masterful teacher.

Each of you have various professions of life. You might be a carpenter or a teacher, a pastor or a doctor. But your vocation is not limited to the job you work at and get paid for. It also includes the various stations of your life. Among them is your place in your family (a husband or wife, a son or daughter, a mother or father), as well as your place in your community (a neighbor or friend) and congregation (a fellow baptized believer).

Each of these vocations is important, God-pleasing, and good for you to fulfill. No one vocation is better or more holy than the other. When you serve your neighbor (e.g., your fellow humankind), you are doing a wonderful and God-pleasing act, regardless of the vocational role.

Jesus had multiple vocations, too. He was not only the Son of God, but he was the son of Mary and Joseph, who He called mother and father. He had neighbors and was a member of His church community (synagogue), in addition to learning His craft of carpentry.

Jesus as God.

It is interesting to think how Jesus is different from other craftsmen, and especially from religious leaders. Why don’t the names of Buddha, or Mohamed, or Confucius offend people like the name of Jesus? Many people like to say they are spiritual, but the moment you start bringing the name of Jesus into things, they start to squirm. Why is that?

These other religious leaders didn’t claim to be God.

But Jesus did.

The things He said and the things He did were far beyond what a simple carpenter does. Think about it. Telling people to repent; healing the sick; casting out demons. “Who did this simple carpenter think He was?” Of course, He was no simple carpenter.

It didn’t take long for the people to realize that Jesus was making some astounding claims. It became clear He was identifying Himself as more than just a carpenter. Jesus claimed to be God (John 10:38).

In fact, He was presenting Himself as the only way to a relationship with God: “[N]o one comes to the Father except by me” (John 14:6). He claimed that He was the only source for the forgiveness for sins and taught that “salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).

These exclusive claims did not sit well with people. Nor do they sit well with the politically correct and culturally woke times we are living in. The people of Jesus’ day sent Him to the cross for these claims. They wanted Him “cancelled.”

In a secular culture, the vocation of Christian is one that some would like to see cancelled. If your professional vocation has you in the secular workplace, it is not always easy to bear up under the pressure to conform to a secular worldview that is hostile toward the Christian worldview of morality. There is increasing pressure to cancel anyone, especially Christians, who does not embrace the new progressive way of life. The irony, of course, is that if you are not tolerant, you will not be tolerated. 

Jesus as sacrifice.

Jesus knows what this feels like. He was despised and rejected by many, especially those in the professional religious vocations of the day. He went from being accepted in His earthly-approved role—a carpenter—to being completely rejected in His heavenly role—the Messiah. Yet the religious leaders’ rejection of Jesus did not affect the outcome. Rather it fulfilled prophecy across all of His vocations:

• Psalm 118:22 “The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone.”

• Isaiah 53:3 “He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hid their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”

• Psalm 69:8 “I have become a stranger to my brothers, an alien to my mother’s sons.”

Perhaps it is a bit of divine irony that a carpenter who was so familiar with the texture and feel of wood would be nailed to it in order to bring forgiveness to you and me. Do you think He noticed what kind of wood it was? Had He worked with it before? Did it give splinters? Was it a particularly sturdy wood?

Jesus as redeemer and Messiah.

To be sure, Jesus is more than a mere carpenter. He is the Lord of all Lords. Crucified, dead, and buried for you, He is now risen and reigning to all eternity. He truly is our Messiah.

Jesus remains the Lord of our lives and the Lord of the church no matter the times we live, the government in control, the current culture, or the vocation you have. And just as He was opposed and persecuted, there will be those who oppose us as we follow Him. He tells us this in John 15:20, “. . . If they persecuted me, they will also persecute you. . .”

Yet we remain steadfast, chosen as His own, knowing that persecution grows our faith (James 1:2-4). Just as Jesus is anointed as Messiah, He has anointed us in the waters of Holy baptism, calling us by name as His own no matter the vocations of life we possess. Like a carpenter knows the feel of each type of wood, the grain that they show, and the character they have, so the Lord knows you intimately well. He knows your life. He knows your grains and stains of life, and yet has called you by name. And craftsman that He is, now makes you into His workmanship, redeemed, forgiven, beloved, and precious, now ready to do the work He has made for you to do in the daily stations of your life. He is more than a mere carpenter. Jesus is the Lord of your life.  

In the joy of Jesus,

Pastor Lucas

Rev. Dr. Lucas V. Woodford
President
Minnesota South District, LCMS
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