Imagining Sunday’s Gospel

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This week, Jesus heads home where he teaches in the synagogue on the Sabboth. The crowd was amazed. Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary as Mark describes him? In Matthew’s account, he is the carpenter’s son and in Luke , he identifies him as the son of Joseph.

What would a carpenter in Jesus’s time have made? From Jewish records of that time, a carpenter would have spent his days at home in a corner of his small house creating the wooden items of the day. Jesus’ work would include, squaring off beams that support roofs and terraces of houses. He made doors, window and door frames. He probably made wooden plows, winnowing forks, harrows, harnesses for plowing-animals. He made bed frames, bins, wooden chests, chairs and tables. 

A noble work life is the key to a thriving community. Jesus most likely had an apprentice who he would have turned over the work to when he began his public ministry just like he was, no doubt, the apprentice to his father Joseph. 

Pray for meaningful employment for those who seek it.

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