Mark 6:3, commentary and pictures

The townspeople of Nazareth heard Him teach with astonishing wisdom and power in their synagogue on the Sabbath, yet they fastened on His familiar identity as the working carpenter, the son of Mary with His brothers and sisters among them, and took offense at Him. Their unbelief limited what He did there to laying His hands on a few sick folk to heal them, fulfilling His word that a prophet is without honor in his own country and among his own kin. They stumbled because they knew His poor, lowly, unpretending life and expected a Redeemer of power and glory, so they judged a common workman could not be the promised Messiah. For about thirty years He had worked with His own hands at the carpenter's trade in Nazareth, sharing the burdens of His poor family without using divine power to lighten His toil. He did that ordinary work perfectly and faithfully, thereby ennobling useful labor as honorable and sacred and giving all workers and youth an example of diligence, helpfulness, and communion with God.

Nazareth Sabbath Rejection

Jesus came into His own country with His disciples following Him and taught in the synagogue on the Sabbath day, where many who heard Him were astonished at the wisdom given to Him and at such mighty works wrought by His hands, yet questioned who He was because He was the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Juda and Simon, with His sisters there among them, and they were offended at Him. In that place He could do no mighty work except lay His hands upon a few sick folk and heal them, which shows His power to stay disease even where unbelief prevailed and that His ministry faced rejection in some places where He could not work.

After they were offended at Him, He said a prophet is not without honor except in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house, and this rejection by His own people of Nazareth cast a shadow over His Galilean ministry. The speakers were townspeople who had known Him from infancy and had seen Him worship among them in their synagogue through childhood and youth, who knew His mother and His brothers and sisters. They were filled with interest and expectation when He returned after absence since the opening of His ministry and entered their synagogue on the Sabbath, yet they stumbled over His familiar lowly family and trade and rejected Him.

Their disbelief over His familiar life as the carpenter who had lived and worked among them opened the way for Satan to control their minds despite His deeds of love and mercy. That unbelief turned into wrath against Jesus and ended in an attempt to kill Him. His neighbors in His hometown focused on His familiar origins and rejected Him as the Messiah and as a prophet of God, and His brothers also did not believe He was the Son of God and were impatient that His life lacked worldly display and honor.

Lowly Family Identity

He is named as the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Juda and Simon, with His sisters living there among the people who knew them all. Their knowing His mother and His brothers and sisters made His family identity familiar to those around Him.

His home was in Nazareth, a despised village proverbial for wickedness, where He came from and dwelt in a peasant's home among the hills. He lived there in a simple way with no extravagance or display, wearing the simple garb of a common laborer and going to and returning from humble work over mountain steeps. He lived with His parents in Nazareth and worked with Joseph as a carpenter before beginning His public ministry, honoring labor by His humble place and trade.

He belonged to a humble human family that was poor and lowly without distinction in learning, wealth, or social position. The home of Joseph and Mary had few luxuries on its table, and His parents depended on daily toil, so He lived in poverty, self-denial, and privation. Once He was old enough to handle tools He shared the work of caring for the family, contributing His share toward its sustenance and support.

Outwardly He was only a carpenter's son, a poor Galilean without earthly rank or power and with a humble outward appearance and humble manner. He was the son of a carpenter who worked years at the trade with His father Joseph. His ordinary life and humble manner were known to those who expected a conquering king.

Though outwardly only a poor Galilean, at the cleansing of the temple the priests and rulers fled at His command because He spoke with the authority of a king, and in His appearance and tones there was irresistible power they could not resist. When divinity flashed through humanity they saw indignation on His countenance, realized their true position as hypocrites and robbers, understood His words, and felt as before the throne of the eternal Judge with sentence passed for time and eternity.

Offense Through Familiarity

Their closeness to His family and His everyday work as a carpenter's son, rather than as the Messiah, caused them to stumble and take offense at Him. They had known His humble, unpretending life among the poor and lowly, in which as one who had worked years at the trade with His father Joseph He made no claim to distinction or greatness. At first authority and power held them spellbound and His words stirred their hearts with joy, but doubt and unbelief turned them back to His lowly origin, and envy and criticism hardened them so that they demanded He prove Himself with miracles despite the words that had stirred their hearts.

Because they looked for a Redeemer with power, honor, and glory, a conquering king and militarily powerful deliverer, they judged that a common workman with mother and brethren among them could not be the promised one, and their false idea of how the Messiah would appear, formed around a peasant and carpenter of obscure origin, blinded them to the evidence that He was their Redeemer. His ordinary life and humble manner in undistinguished circumstances thus offended and disappointed those who expected a conquering king, though His humility should have led them to trust His mission. Familiarity joined with national expectations could in this way lead people to treat Him as merely ordinary, to reject Him, and to take offense at Him.

Years of Humble Labor

He learned the carpenter's, or builder's, trade as a child and youth and practiced it with His own hands, working with His father Joseph in the little shop at Nazareth in keeping with Jewish custom. At the bench He was more an educator than a learner, and this work and ministry belong to His real human life on earth before His ascension. His labor honored labor and encourages people in the ordinary duties of life.

He spent many years in humble employment, about thirty years working for wages for His daily bread, subject to His parents. Though poor in earthly riches, for thirty years He was not ashamed of honest poverty. With His hands He helped sustain His family and willingly carried His share of its burdens from an early age, contributing to its support. He helped His mother in the home, and faithfully and cheerfully bore household burdens as a willing servant and a loving, obedient son.

Though He had divine power and could command the entire angel host, He did not use it to make daily work easier or to lessen His burdens or lighten His toil. He called no attention to Himself as a marked personage, and worked with patient hands in humble employment. Wearing the simple garb of a common laborer, He walked the streets of the little town going to and returning from humble work over mountain steeps, living and laboring in humble circumstances.

He lived humbly as an obedient son who waited for God's time to begin His appointed work. His years at home before and beyond public ministry revealed His Father's character while He remained free from sin. He also lived on earth as a helpless human child though He was the Prince of life and Saviour of all who believe, willingly humbled from equality with God to become a servant and share the stages of human life. From His earliest years He lived poverty and spent childhood days in toil at the bench until often weary. His ordinary work as a child was obedient and worthwhile service done faithfully and cheerfully.

Perfect and Sympathetic Workmanship

Is not this the carpenter points to real bench work done to the same standard of perfection He brought to the characters He transformed. Every kind of task was taken up carefully and thoroughly and pressed as near to perfection as possible, with each stroke true and each piece joined exactly so that parts fitted precisely and the whole could bear testing. He would not settle for defective work even in the handling of tools, and when others called Him too slow He made no retaliation but sang psalms until His companions joined Him. His trade mattered because He came to build character, and He was a perfect builder of character. The heavenly architect who planned sacred buildings spent earthly life in an ordinary trade in faithful service to His Father.

The workshop at Nazareth where the holy Nazarene labored was marked by purity. The business life of the Christian is to be marked by that same purity.

Though He had been the Commander of heaven, the Prince of heaven and King of glory, He laid aside His kingly crown and position and clothed divinity with humanity to live a life of toil and hardship. He became like one of us to be acquainted with toil and sorrow and fatigue and privation, that He might understand the poor and those who toil and enter into full sympathy with humanity. It was a mystery to angels that He should condescend to take humanity and assume its heaviest burdens and most humble occupations.

That lowly trade was as faithful a fulfilling of His mission as healing the sick or walking on the storm-tossed waves of Galilee, for His craft was linked with the highest ministry both human and divine. His ordinary work consecrated the labor of craftsmen earning their daily bread and gave working people an example and inspiration, so that though neglected and despised He held His authority from heaven. The carpenter was also the King of glory, tempted as humanity is tempted and able to impart His divinity to help people resist temptation.

Dignity of Useful Labor

That He is called the carpenter shows that useful labor is honorable and dignified, ennobled and made sacred, with Heaven's sanction and blessing upon it. No honest, humble, useful work is degrading or a cause for shame or contempt, and none of it should be despised. He spent about thirty years in Nazareth working for wages for His daily bread in Joseph's humble shop, wearing the simple garb of a common laborer, living in a peasant's home among the hills and sharing the daily toil of the lowly going to and returning from humble work. Though He had divine power and could command the entire angel host, He worked patiently at the bench, contributed to His family's support, was subject to His parents and was not ashamed of honest poverty, never using that power to make daily work easier, lessen burdens or lighten toil, and calling no attention to Himself as a marked personage.

His example teaches industriousness and diligence, for God appointed work as a blessing, industry is man's duty, and only the diligent worker finds the true glory and joy of life. Youth are given in Him an example of useful industry rather than idleness, indolence and selfish indulgence. By His own life He taught that work should be done with exactness and thoroughness, that exercise teaching the hands to be useful and training the young to bear their share of life's burdens gives physical strength and develops every faculty, and that all should find something to do beneficial to themselves and helpful to others.

His lowly trade was as faithful a fulfilling of His mission as healing the sick or walking on the storm-tossed waves, and it stands as a lesson to copy to the end of time. It encourages the poor and lowly to be contented with their lot, reproves divorcing religion from worldly business and the idea that the wealthy are superior to the poor, and proves that men and women in the humblest positions may hold closest communion with God. He stands with working people and His work honored all honest workers whether high or low, rich or poor, which welcomes those who do ordinary work and takes the poor's side. It was a mystery to angels that He should condescend to take humanity and assume its heaviest burdens and most humble occupations, but He did so to become like one of us, to be acquainted with toil, sorrows, fatigue and privations and thus to understand and sympathize with trials.

Ordinary household duties and manual work at the bench and in the home, helping His mother, were part of His divinely given work and fulfillment of His commission just as truly as His later public ministry. His craft was linked with the highest ministry both human and divine, so ordinary skilled labor is worthy of honor and commonplace duties deserve faithful effort, and He labored to provide for His own needs. His example in this teaches children and youth to drink in the gladness of His life by following Him, remaining in the Christian home to help parents and share its burdens when study hours are ended.

However lowly His task He did it with the utmost exactitude, and His working life exemplifies principles for work requiring plain buildings with not one dollar invested in needless display, so that every part bears witness to the great unworked missionary field and actions speak louder than words.

Example for Daily Life

The Son of God labored with His hands at the carpenter's trade with His father, and thereby gave an example to all youth to engage in physical labor and take up the common duties of life instead of scorning them and living in indolence and selfish indulgence. He was subject to His parents and contributed His share toward the sustenance and support of the family. The home of Joseph and Mary was poor and lowly with few luxuries on its table, and He lived simply among the poor and lowly content with simple wholesome food, teaching patient industry, family responsibility, and contentment.

He is an obedient, helpful example to all the human family, who learned a trade and with His own hands worked in the carpenter's shop with Joseph, walking the streets of the little town in the simple garb of a common laborer going to and returning from His humble work. Though He had been the Commander of heaven whom angels delighted to obey, He became a willing servant and a loving, obedient son, faithfully and cheerfully bearing His part of the household burdens and helping His mother in the home, and He did not use His divine power to lessen His burdens or lighten His toil. His example teaches children to bear their share of responsibility promptly and cheerfully without waiting to be told, to be faithful in little things so they can be faithful in larger things, to do everyday duties like washing dishes and sweeping floors not as a burden but as a pleasure done for Jesus, and to drink in the gladness of His life by following Him in helpfulness at home. That work in the home fulfilled His commission just as truly as His public ministry did, and His example teaches children and youth to remain in the Christian home to help their parents and share its burdens when study hours are ended. The approval of God rests with loving assurance upon children and youth who cheerfully take their part in household duties sharing the burdens of father and mother, and such children will go out from the home to be useful members of society.

As He worked in childhood and youth His mind and body were developed, and He did not use His physical powers recklessly but kept them in health with healthful exercise to do the best work in every line. He was unwilling to be defective even in the handling of tools, perfect as a workman as He was perfect in character, a diligent skillful workman who studied Scripture and nature and lived in harmony with God's Word. By His own example and precept He taught that it is duty to be industrious, that work should be done with exactness and thoroughness, that such labor is honorable and dignified, and that exercise that teaches the hands to be useful and trains the young to bear their share of life's burdens gives physical strength and develops every faculty. All should find something to do that is beneficial to themselves and helpful to others, for God appointed work as a blessing and only the diligent worker finds the true glory and joy of life.

His faithful work for about thirty years sharing in carrying the burdens of His family is an example for husbands and fathers, and He gives His followers strength to share the burdens of home life faithfully. His working with His hands gives ministers an example of physical labor to follow, for a minister does not lose dignity by waiting on himself when he is able and by working with his hands when he is not pressed with other duties, but acts in harmony with Christ. This labor encourages industry by example and helps health by drawing blood from the brain to relieve mental strain, equalizing circulation, and promoting digestion.

His life teaches diligence in labor and providing for those entrusted to one's care, for He worked with His hands to do His part in sustaining His family and remained subject to His parents for thirty years. His divine origin did not exempt Him from ordinary work or the care of temporal responsibilities, and He did not use His divine character to exalt Himself, but lived obedient through childhood, youth, and adulthood. His ordinary labor shows such work is honorable and should be done carefully and well, with upright principle, strength, and skill, and His example makes honest manual labor honorable and shows practical work belongs alongside mental and spiritual effort. Physical strength is His property to be employed in His service in useful service to God and not left idle, and practical work belongs in balanced education.

In the garb of a common laborer He walked the streets of the little town going to and returning from His humble work, presenting a marked contrast to an age that estimated value by outward show and to educators who sought respect by display and ostentation. His lowly working life stood against religion measured by outward show and pomp and demonstrates the worthlessness of what men regard as life's great essentials. His mother was His first human teacher, and from her lips and from the scrolls of the prophets He learned heavenly things, showing true education is gained from Heaven-appointed sources — useful work, study of the Scriptures, nature, and the experiences of life.

From His earliest years He lived a life of poverty and spent His childhood days in toil, working at the carpenter's bench and bearing the burdens that came to Him as a member of the family until He often became weary. Though He lived in a corrupt age He was uncorrupted by the evil surrounding Him and uninfluenced by artificial and wicked characters. In the open fields and amid the scenes of nature He found rest from toil and food for spiritual life, gathering knowledge from beneath the surface of the mysteries of nature that filled Him with peace and joy. In all His habits of life He gave an example of what God designs His church on earth to be, without spot or blemish.

His humble work and lowly circumstances show that poverty and an ordinary position in life do not prevent someone from serving God or becoming an effective worker for Christ. His years at home, before and beyond His public ministry, revealed His Father's character; He lived humbly, obeyed His earthly parents, and remained free from sin, and His example in word and deed is one believers can follow with God's sufficient grace. Manual workers can look constantly to Him for strength, encouragement, and guidance, for He laid aside His kingly crown as Prince of heaven and exalted commander to live a life of toil and hardship in full sympathy with the human race, and by receiving Him they are given power to become the sons of God.

He came into His own country with His disciples following Him, and on the Sabbath day taught in the synagogue, where many hearing Him were astonished at the wisdom given unto Him and that even such mighty works were wrought by His hands, yet they stumbled over His lowly identity as the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James and Joses and Juda and Simon, with His sisters there with them, and were offended at Him, so that He said a prophet is not without honor but in his own country and among his own kin and in his own house. Even there He laid His hands upon a few sick folk and healed them, which proves His compassionate power to forgive and to heal and His power to stay disease. It calls the sick to be pointed to Him as Saviour and advocate in the heavenly courts with simple fervent prayer united with treatment, with repentance and ceasing to transgress the laws of God and confession of sin to receive pardon, through whose gracious providence they may be restored, revealing Himself to save those in sanitariums and elsewhere who will submit themselves to Him, and it invites suffering ones today to have faith in Him, for man's necessity is God's opportunity.