Jesus remains one of the most captivating and influential figures of the past two thousand years. He performed miracles and had a significant following, with his sermons still being heard by millions across the world today. With that being said, why do we know so little about his working life, and why is it not commonly spoken about in the scriptures? Have you ever wondered what Jesus did outside of Religion? During his time, it was common to start an occupation or apprenticeship at a young age. Many historians have come to two conclusions about what Jesus did as an occupation. Looking at the New Testament we can see that Jesus being a carpenter, was mentioned a handful of times. Even looking between different translations, the typically selected word was translated to “Carpenter” in a majority of Gospels. In the gospel of Mark, we can begin to get a closer look at what Jesus may have been doing; Mark 6:3 touches on this, along with a few of the other gospels. They roughly state, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon?” Following that line in Mark 6:4, it is further confirmed that they are indeed talking directly about Jesus because it is mentioned that he responds, “And Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor, except in his hometown and among his relatives and in his own household.” This confirms that Jesus does understand that they are indeed talking about him and is confirming of his occupation. This statement on a concrete level seems to be very clear as to what Jesus’s job was. However, once we dig a bit deeper we start to uncover more nuance within this argument.
First, let us define what it meant to hold an occupation at the time of Jesus’ physical existence. Alice Camille, who is a religious educator with nine years of experience in parish RCIA programs reports on this topic in the U.S. Catholic. She summarizes Jesus’s occupation proficiently and uses standard terms to break it down to a digestible level of understanding. It was widespread for sons to start practicing their father’s trade at a young age Camille states, “Young women fetched water from wells and learned how to harvest food, cook, and sew as soon as they were physically able. Young men were inducted into their father’s trade on a similar schedule. If Joseph were a carpenter, we can be sure Jesus started learning the trade as soon as he could pick up a tool”. This statement is critical to the story of Jesus’s life; if this were the typical way of life, then we would be safe to assume Jesus picked up on whatever his father did. While this explanation of Jesus being a carpenter is logical at initial review, there have been some critics. An example of this is Donahue, J. R., & Harrington, D. J. (2005) commentary from the Sacra pagina: The gospel of Mark, which discusses the use of “Tektōn”. They go on to state, “Craftsman translates tektōn, which though most frequently rendered “carpenter,” can also be anyone who works with his hands in hard material (e.g., a builder or stoneworker)”. This commentary is parallel with points that will be discussed later on in this blog but primes the idea of a miss translation or miss attribution to the word “tektōn”. Circling back to Camille (2022), she touches upon that in the Hebrew scriptures, the word Carpetner was used 11 times. Although this was also similar to the use of the word “Masons” and or “Stonecutters”. So again, it primes the question of whether Jesus was indeed just a Carpenter. An article written by Robby Galatty (2018), a senior Pastor of Long Hollow Baptist Church in Hendersonville, takes a deeper look into the meaning behind the words similar to Camille. Using the title “The Forgotten Jesus Part 2: Was Jesus a Carpenter or a Stonemason?” he goes on to explain many relevant ideas to this discussion. He first addresses the idea as a whole and looks at how we have attributed Jesus’s father, Joseph to Carpentry. Galatty states, “For centuries, Western Christians have associated Joseph, Jesus’s earthly father, with carpentry. For many of us, we read children’s Bibles that show him teaching young Jesus how to saw, hammer nails, and create wooden joints”. Galatty is inferring here that the ideology of Joseph being a Carpenter is something that has been pushed throughout Religion for long periods of time. I have encountered this firsthand, including my own experience in CCD; personally I was taught many times that Jesus was a Carpenter, with little hesitation. We can even see this in pop culture references like Jay-Z’s billboard song “No Church in The Wild” where he states “Jesus was a Carpenter, Yeezy lay beats…” Although this is being spread to the public through readings and assumptions, an alternative meaning of the bible can be attributed to a mistranslation of the word for carpentry. Going back to Mark 6:3, he states “the carpenter” but if we investigate the word in Greek, which is being translated to English, we find a slightly different meaning. In Greek, the word used is actually “Tektōn”. The word Tektōn can be operationally defined as “Craftsman” or “Master Builder.” While there is no clear concrete definition, a popular biblical website Bible Study Tools will refer to it as “a worker in wood, a carpenter, joiner, builder” they refer to Thayer’s and Smith’s Bible Dictionary for reference. To support this notion further, there again is a reference to Jesus being a Carpenter when in Matthew 13:55, he similarly states, “Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?” Interestingly enough, they both use the same word reference for Jesus, which again can lead back to the word Tektōn being used in the Greek text. One abstract point that we can take away from this text is, what is the meaning of Jesus being a Carpenter? Carpentry as an occupation is to help, craft, build, and restore items. Seeing Jesus in this light is interesting as it is incredibly parallel to the miracles he performed during his time. In addition to this Donahue, J. R., & Harrington, D. J. (2005) brings up an interesting supporting role as in some versions of Matthew 13:55 it reads, “Is this not the son of the craftsman?” again in some versions, it does actually read as “Craftsman” which throws a wrench into a carpenter ideology.
Was Jesus a Carpenter? or was he a Mason? or better worded, a Carver of stones? Coming back to reality, Nazareth most likely at the time had a mixture of materials for someone to be a carpenter and or stone mason; it had an abundance of stones, which is why it is expected to see buildings constructed of stone that was from the surrounding natural resources (Camille, 2022). Another significant critique of this idea is that the gospels were not written standing right next to Jesus. This idea that they could come to the conclusion that Jesus was a carpenter may not have been grounded on the best factual and historical understanding. We know that the gospels were most likely written sometime between 70 and 110 CE, well after Jesus’s physical time on earth. In addition to this, they were written somewhere in the Roman Empire, making it even harder to believe that the disciples really knew the ins and outs of Nazareth. Of course, the accounts from the four canonical gospels were biographies written about Jesus in order to display his miracles and influence. However, they may not have been contextually accurate about everything. It is agreed upon by historical critics of the gospels that they likely were not eyewitness accounts, leading to the passing down of stories by word of mouth. Given that they were written in the Roman Empire years later, it makes the reader wonder how accurate the description you were getting of Jesus’s upbringing was. If these stories were passed down by word of mouth, how much credibility can we see in fine details like Jesus’s occupation? Another issue with coming to this conclusion is that Jesus’s dad, Joseph, was not a significant figure in the New Testament. We knew very little about his life, and the community wrote them off as non-canonical for obvious reasons when the gaps were attempted to be filled. Echoing a recent point, the Gospels were not eyewitness accounts. The writer most likely did not see Jesus crafting wood or building chairs, but there still is significance in his ability to create; given the plot of Jesus’s life, it would make sense for the writers to assume that he was indeed a carpenter or builder if there was any debate. He created things and helped people in his occupation, which ties nicely to the miracles and roles he played as a religious figure.
Finally, by looking at all of the evidence that is presented in the New Testament, there are two roads you can choose: Jesus the Carpenter or Jesus the Stone Mason. Again, each has its justification and critics. To conclude this blog post, I will review the overall sides of the arguments and bring a bit of my own inference into a conclusion, which has no right or wrong answer. Let us circle back to the main points of reference for the story of Jesus the Carpenter; multiple times in the New Testament across different Gospels, Jesus is referred to as the son of Joseph, in which it is concluded that Joseph was a Carpenter. In addition to this, we are seeing reliability in this story because not only does Mark make these clear statements, but Matthew follows a similar suit in most versions; this may be attributed to Matthew’s strong link to Mark in terms of information. Further, evidence supports that Matthew and Luke’s source strongly relates to the Gospel of Mark. The other side of this argument will bring up the point that if Mark misattributed Jesus’s occupation, the gospels that were using his info will follow suit and also produce this same error. While the argument of Jesus being a carpenter has been praised for the past hundreds of years, it lacks evidence to support its relevance. The word Tektōn was only mentioned two times in the New Testament during (Matthew 13:55) and in reference to Jesus in (Mark 6:3). While this argument has been the most widespread understanding of Jesus, there is really little historical and contextural evidence to back it up, basing an argument off of two citations can lead to apparent flaws. Looking at the other side of this debate, we can find the idea of Jesus the Stone Mason. While this is still a new idea that is currently underdeveloped, there is relevant evidence for its justification. Looking at the landscape of Nazareth is a significant determining factor for this argument. Nazareth was a smaller town in northern Galilee, in which its houses were mostly built of rough stone and mud foundations (Mater Christi College).
The houses historically lacked the use of wood within the town of Galilee. In addition to this, wood was also deemed expensive compared to stone. The abundance of stone was evident in the structures that were built around Galilee. People in Galilee were also not of high standing, so it again makes using the cheaper materials more relevant (Mater Christi College). Along with this, another relevant point of the Stone Mason story is the idea of a “Tektōn”. The word is usually associated with Carpenter but also can be seen along with “Craftsman” or “Master Builder”. Again, these are very broad and do not directly link to woodworking. If this were to be changed in our English translation, the meaning behind the occupation very well could change. The broad term “Master builder” can refer to many different occupations, which can be interpreted with context to the location and surrounding area. This, in fact supports the notion that Jesus could have been a Stone Mason. While both arguments hold evidence, looking at the historical and geographical contexts helps us, as the reader to better understand the situation. By looking strictly at the scripture of the gospels, there is a lack of contextual understanding. At the same time, most people believe that Jesus was a carpenter. There just is not enough historical background to draw a conclusion. I personally would lean towards the side of Stone Mason strictly based on the geographical standing; based on the arguments presented, you can finally decide for yourself. Was Jesus really a carpenter?