Day 1:Mark 6:3
The word used to describe Jesus here is the Greek word tekton. It is usually translated “carpenter” and yes, it was used of woodworkers primarily, but it has other definitions as well. It could mean a craftsman or artisan. It could mean a handyman, someone you would call in to do repairs or small jobs. It could also mean builder, which in a rocky land like Palestine, means Jesus could have been a stonemason.
I rather like to think of Jesus as a handyman, a Mr. Fix-it. Partly because Nazareth was a small town, with a population of about 500, about 1/10th of the population of Big Pine Key. So how much business could he do in such a small market? But there would always be a need for someone to make and repair things like tables and plows and fences.
On the other hand, just 4 miles northwest of Nazareth was the city of Sepphoris. Herod the Great conquered it and made it his northern base. When he died, the city rebelled. The Roman governor destroyed it. Herod's kingdom was divided up and Herod Antipas, the son who got Galilee decided to rebuild it into the most opulent city in his territory. This happened during the lifetimes of Joseph and Jesus so it would be natural for them to go there looking for work.
Any way you define it—carpenter, craftsman, handyman or builder—a tekton makes things. He either makes them from scratch or he makes broken things new again. There are those who destroy without any notions of rebuilding and there are those who create and repair. As followers of Jesus, we are called to do the latter. But that doesn't mean we all need to take shop class or go into construction. What is mainly broken in this world is our relationships: our relationship with God and our relationship with each other. And they are connected. When asked for the greatest commandment, Jesus gave two: love of God and love of other people. As it says in 1st John, “If anyone says, 'I love God,' yet hates his brother or sister, he is a liar. For anyone who does not love his brother or sister, whom he has seen, cannot love God, whom he has not seen.” (1 John 4:20) If you truly love God, you should also love those made in his image. And that's everyone, including people we would classify as unlovable. Jesus never said following him was easy. So repairing broken relationships with others and building bridges to people with whom we don't yet have a relationship are part of our work as followers of Jesus.
As it says in Isaiah 58, “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your bones. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.” (Isaiah 58:9-12) Like Jesus, we are to be tektons, crafting better lives and relationships.
Let us pray: Lord God, King of the Universe, Heavenly Father, we live in a broken world. You sent your Son not as a rich ruler but as a man who worked with his hands, making and repairing things. You sent him to make us new creations in Christ and repair what is broken in our lives. Help us to live like Jesus and repair the breaches between people and restore what has been ruined. We ask these things in the name of your Son, our Savior Jesus Christ and through the power of your Holy Spirit, who live as reign with you, Father, one God forever and ever. Amen.
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