When God sent His Son into the world He chose a carpenter to be His foster father and Christ worked as a carpenter. What is regarded as humble and what is regarded as great in the eyes of Man, so very often is quite different in the Eyes of God. A good thought for Labor Day and every day.
And Alfred, bowing heavily,
Sat down the fire to stir,
And even as the woman pitied him
So did he pity her.
Saying, “O great heart in the night,
O best cast forth for worst,
Twilight shall melt and morning stir,
And no kind thing shall come to her,
Till God shall turn the world over
And all the last are first.
“And well may God with the serving-folk
Cast in His dreadful lot;
Is not He too a servant,
And is not He forgot ?
“For was not God my gardener
And silent like a slave;
That opened oaks on the uplands
Or thicket in graveyard gave?
“And was not God my armourer,
All patient and unpaid,
That sealed my skull as a helmet,
And ribs for hauberk made?
“Did not a great grey servant
Of all my sires and me,
Build this pavilion of the pines,
And herd the fowls and fill the vines,
And labour and pass and leave no signs
Save mercy and mystery?
“For God is a great servant,
And rose before the day,
From some primordial slumber torn;
But all we living later born
Sleep on, and rise after the morn,
And the Lord has gone away.
“On things half sprung from sleeping,
All sleepy suns have shone,
They stretch stiff arms, the yawning trees,
The beasts blink upon hands and knees,
Man is awake and does and sees–
But Heaven has done and gone.
For who shall guess the good riddle
Or speak of the Holiest,
Save in faint figures and failing words,
Who loves, yet laughs among the swords,
Labours, and is at rest?
“But some see God like Guthrum,
Crowned, with a great beard curled,
But I see God like a good giant,
That, labouring, lifts the world.
“Wherefore was God in Golgotha,
Slain as a serf is slain;
And hate He had of prince and peer,
And love He had and made good cheer,
Of them that, like this woman here,
Go powerfully in pain.
GK Chesterton, Ballad of the White Horse
I love the fact that Christ was a worker. It’s such an important aspect of Our Lord. And that St Joseph taught Him His trade. It’s so simple and beautiful.
Christ spared no expense to gather what had been given to Him by Our Father. Gather and save.
Look. I make all things new.
To become a slave who is the supreme King is astonishing and humbling. The building of His Kingdom is by far the work of a Master craftsman. The milling of wood, of measuring, honing, trimming and fastening.
Fastening the prepared piece to His Sacred Heart consists in a wood that allows itself to be shaped, cut, milled, drilled and fastened. A new identity. Making something new to expand His Kingdom. Making a Temple worthy of His presence.
His work. Our cooperation.
English translations of Matthew 13:55 and Mark 6:3 describe Jesus as the carpenter’s son and the carpenter respectively, but the actual Greek word used is τέκτων which goes into our English word technician. It means an artificer or builder in wood and stone. Think about that. Jesus built the Church in the wood of the Cross on the foundation of the Rock or stone of faith, hence Simon having been renamed Πέτρος. It’s important to go back to the original Greek in order to understand the nuances of what’s being alluded to.
BTW, as a worker in wood and stone building houses for people, Jesus was very likely quite muscular, NOT effeminate and weak as many paintings depict Him. He was a manly man, a he-man.
Something else that I had forgotten to mention is this: people used that word τέκτων derisively of Jesus to denote a common manual laborer without any formal schooling or training. How dare He instruct them! So think about this: people (some of whom were Pharisees and Scribes of great learning) were condemning a manual laborer who, unlike them, had actually built things of wood and stone worth living in. What an indictment of credentialism!
I have, since I was nine years old, had a deep respect for the building trades of all kinds. Little boys are naturally attracted to large mechanisms such as dump trucks, trains, earth moving equipment.
Wheyer they build houses, apartments, hotels, office buildings, factories or even cars, trucks and locomotives, builders have always fascinated me.
My son Charlie is going to the vocational school in western Allegheny County in the construction cluster. He wants to be an electrician and I’m so proud of him I can’t stand it.
I wanted to do this work for a living but my dad was dead set against it. I ended up an accountant. I recommend this line of work to no one.
LQC:
And yet devout Jews (of whatever social strata) were supposed to teach their sons a trade (as Paul learned tent-making), so it would seem a further stain on those Pharisees that they were condemning a sort of mastery that the Law demanded.
For My early career after college, I worked in a bank, then in finance & management with a couple of companies, then when I was about 33, I got sick of the corporate “intrigues”, and went out initially as a roofing contractor for 3 years, then once I got my building qualifications, spent the next 35 years as a building contractor.
Aside from the very physical nature of the trade, thus gaining a very strong & fit body, the satisfaction of going to a bare piece of ground, and within several months having a new home built on the site – a real sense of achievement. In my building career, both in NZ – & in Australia for 10 years – I built around 80 homes – either as a full contract, or labor only – I usually employed from 2 to 5 men, depending on workload.
It was so humbling & fulfilling to be a humble carpenter in the mold of Joseph & Jesus.. 🙂
Excellent point, Tom Byrne.
The freedom of running your own business Don is worth a high price, or so I have found in 41 years of self employment.