Mark 6:3

Mar_6:3-4

Is not this the carpenter?

Jesus Christ, the carpenter

I. How the fact that Jesus was a carpenter was a hindrance to the faith of His fellow countrymen.

1. The objection was natural. He had grown up among them. They had become familiar with His ways.

2. Yet it was wrong and unreasonable. Their intimacy with Him ought to have opened their eyes to His unique character.

3. The objection they raise against His claims tells really in His favour. They find no fault in His character; they can only complain of His trade. High, unconscious tribute to His excellence.

II. How this fact should be a help to our faith.

1. It is a sign of Christs humility.

2. It is a proof that He went through the experience of practical life. Christ knows good work, for He looks at it with a workmans eye.

3. He found the school for His spiritual training in His practical work.

4. This sheds a glory over the life of manual industry.

5. This should attract working men to Christ. (W. F. Adeney, M. A.)

The dignity of honest labour

If labour was first imposed as a curse, it is turned truly into a blessing by this example of Him who thus wrought. The occupancy of a sphere of lowly industry by Christ, henceforth consecrates it as-

I. A suitable occupation of time.

1. Profitable

2. Healthful.

3. Saves from bad effects of indolence.

4. A source of pure and useful enjoyment.

II. An honourable means of maintenance.

1. Nothing degrading in it.

2. Deserves and commands fair remuneration.

3. Preserves a mans independence.

III. A worthy service to others. The products of industrial toil, especially of handicraft, are serviceable in the highest degree. Without them the comfort of large communities must be greatly impaired. He, therefore, who works with his hands the thing that is good, is a useful and honourable servant of his race.

1. In the lowliest spheres, the loftiest powers are not necessarily degraded.

2. In those spheres the holiest sentiments may be cherished, and the holiest character remain untarnished.

3. Whilst in them the humblest labourer may know that his toil is honoured, for it was shared by his Lord. (R. Green.)

Value of industrial employments

The word carpenter was given as an alternative translation by Wycliffe, and has descended into all the succeeding English versions; Wycliffes primary translation was smith, the word that was used in the Anglo-Saxon version. It had in Anglo-Saxon a generic meaning, equivalent to artificer. A worker in iron was called in Anglo-Saxon iren-smith. A smith is one who smites: a carpenter is one who makes cars. The word carpenter, therefore, must be a much later coinage than the word smith. The original Greek term (τέκτων) means primarily a producer; the word wright very nearly corresponds to it, as being closely connected with wrought or worked. It just means worker, and occurs in Anglo-Saxon in the two forms wryhta and wyrhta. This is the only passage in which it is stated that our Lord worked at a handicraft. It is a different expression that is found in Mat_13:53, Is not this the carpenters son? There is no contradiction, however, between the two representations; both might be coincidently employed, and no doubt were, when the Nazarenes were freely and frettingly canvassing the merits of their wonderful townsman. Our Lord would not be trained to idleness; it was contrary to Jewish habits, and to the teaching of the best Jewish rabbis. It would have been inconsistent moreover with the principles of true civilization, and with the ideal of normal human development. It is no evidence of high civilization, either to lay an arrest on full physical development on the one hand, or on the other to encourage only those modes of muscular and nervous activity which are dissociated from useful working and manufacturing skill. Society will never be right until all classes be industrious and industrial: the higher orders must return to take part in the employments of the lower; the lower must rise up to take part in the enjoyments of the higher. (J. Morison, D. D.)

The village carpenter in our Lords time held the position of the modern village blacksmith

Almost all agricultural instruments-ploughs, harrows, yokes, etc.

were made of wood. His workshop was the centre of the village life. (T. M. Lindsay, D. D.)

Jesus came from amongst the labouring classes

That Jesus did in fact spring from the labouring class of the population, is confirmed by the language of His discourses and parables, which everywhere refer to the antecedents and relations of the ordinary workmans life, and betray a knowledge of it which no one could have gained merely by observation, He was at home in those poor, windowless, Syrian hovels in which the housewife had to light a candle in the daytime to seek for her lost piece of silver. He was acquainted with the secrets of the bake house, of the gardener, and the builder, and with things which the upper classes never see-as the good measure pressed down and shaken together running over of the corn chandler; the rotten, leaking wine skin of the wine dealer; the patchwork of the peasant woman; the brutal manners of the upper servants to the lower,-these and a hundred other features of a similar kind are interwoven by Him into His parables. Reminiscences even of His more special handicraft have been found, it is believed, in His sayings. The parable of the splinter and the beam is said to recall the carpenters shop, the uneven foundations of the houses, the building yard, the cubit which is added, the workshop, and the distinction in the appearance of the green and dry wood, the drying shed. (Hausrath.)

Self-respect vital to religion

They could not believe in any Divine inspiration reaching such as themselves, and therefore resented it in Christ as an unjustifiable pretension of superiority. They had no proper faith in themselves, so had no proper faith in God. Self-respect is vital to religion. They believed in a God in a kind of way, but not in a God who touched their neighbourhood or entered into close dealings with Nazarenes. They were not on the outlook for the beautiful and the divine in the lives of men. No Nazarene Wordsworth had shown them the glory of common life, the beauty and divinity that exist wherever human life will welcome it. (R. Glover.)

The model artisan

These words reveal to us-

I. Christs social position.

1. That he sympathised with the humblest sons of men.

2. That social rank is no criterion of personal worth.

3. That moral and spiritual excellence should be honoured in whomsoever found.

II. Christs manual labour.

1. That honourable industry and holy living may co-exist.

2. That mental development and physical toil may be associated.

Conclusion: Observe-

(a) That labour is essential, not only to existence, but to happiness.

(b) That the greater our industry the fewer our temptations.

(c) That Christ waits to sanctify the duties of life to our spiritual interest. (A. G. Churchill.)

The Divine Carpenter

The Divine Carpenter applies the language of His earthly trade to the spiritual things He has created.

1. He has built a Church.

2. He has founded the resurrection-Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.

3. He has established His divinity-The stone which the builders rejected has become the head of the corner.

4. He has prepared our eternal home-In My Fathers house, etc.

5. He has urged earnest heed to our building. (C. M. Jones.)

Jesus in the workshop

I. We see Him here bearing the curse of the fall.-In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, etc.

II. We see Him here bringing Himself near to all men.

III. He enters the workshop that He may unite men as brethren. IV He enters the workshop that He may sanctify all secular life. (J. Johnston.)

Work the law of life

From that tiny fly thus at work all day over your head, to the huge hippopotamus of the Nile, that seems to spend its lifetime half asleep, all have to work. But emphatically is this true of man. The wild Indian huntsman, as he plunges over the prairie armed with tomahawk or rifle, in pursuit of the thundering buffalo; the Bosjesman, in the impenetrable thickets of Africa, as he digs with hardened, horny fingers for the roots on which he lives; the amphibious South Sea Islander, as he wages perilous warfare with the monsters of the ocean; the fur-clad Esquimaux, as he tracks the bear or seal of the icy north; as well as the semi-civilized myriads of Asia, or the more advanced peoples of Europe-all find this world is a workshop, and they must toil to live. And the exceptions to this rule are fewer than at first sight we are apt to suppose. It is not only the artisan who has to work, but also the merchant amongst his wares, the author amongst his books, the statesman with the affairs of the nation, and the sovereign upon his throne. Whether impelled by the necessities of mere existence, or by the necessities of position and spirit, it may be said of all-Men must work. Our Lord, therefore, came near unto us when He entered the workshop. But as the great majority must gain their daily bread by manual labour, He entered even into that condition as the village carpenter of Nazareth. Had He been born in a palace and to a throne, or even into the estate of a wealthy merchant, He would have been separated, not in His feeling, but in theirs, by a great gulf from the great majority of men. (J. Johnston.)

Manual work redeemed

See how our whole life is redeemed, so that it may all be lived unto God and for eternity, and none of it be lost. He entered the kingdom of toil and subdued it to Himself for our salvation, so that toil is no more a curse to the Christian workman. The builder, as he lays brick on brick, may be building a heavenly temple; the carpenter, as he planes the wood, may thereby be refining his own character and that of others around him; the merchant, as he buys and sells, may be buying the pearl of great price; the statesman may be directing the affairs of an eternal kingdom; the householder may be setting her house in order for the coming of her Lord. As the blood of the sacrifice was put not only upon the ear, but upon the toe, of Aaron and his sons, so our Lord when, by entering it, He sanctified human life, sanctified its meanest and most secular things, spending His holy and Divine life mostly in the workshop. Brethren, whatever our station, we may live a holy, god-like, useful life. (J. Johnston.)

The royal shipwright

A strange workman took his place one day amongst the shipwrights in a building yard in Amsterdam. Fit only for the rudest work, he was content at first to occupy himself with the caulking mallet, hewing of wood, or the twisting of ropes, yet displayed the keenest desire to understand and master every part of the handicraft. But what was the astonishment of his fellow workmen to see persons of the highest rank come to pay their respects to him, approaching him with every mark of regard, amid the dust and confusion of the workshop, or clambering up the rigging to have an audience with him on the maintop. For he was no less a personage than Peter the Great, founder of the Russian Empire. He came afterwards to England, and lodged amongst the workshops in Deptford. Bishop Burnet, when he visited him, said he had gone to see a mighty prince, but found a common shipwright. But the king who had invited him to visit this country understood him better. He was the ruler of an empire vaster in extent than any other in Europe, but as far behind the poorest financially as it was before it territorially. It was, in fact, in a state of absolute barbarism. Its largest ship was a fishing boat, and it was as yet destitute of almost all, even the rudest arts of civilization. The Czar, determined to elevate his people, ordered the youth of the nobility to travel in lands distinguished by wealth and power, and become qualified to take part in the regeneration of their own country, he himself showing them the example. It was thus that wonderful spectacle was seen by the astonished workmen, ambassadors waiting in state on a man in the dress and at the work of a common shipwright. (J. Johnston.)

Useful reflections on Christs working as a carpenter

I. To illustrate this observable circumstance of our Lords life. It was a maxim among the Jews, that every man should bring up his son to some mechanic trade.

II. To suggest some useful remarks from this observable circumstance of our Lords life.

1. A persons original, his business and circumstances in life, often occasion prejudices against him: against his most wise, useful, and instructive observations.

2. Such prejudices are very absurd, unreasonable, and mischievous.

3. The condescension of the Son of God in submitting to such humiliation, demands our admiration and praise.

4. The conduct of our Lord reflects an honour upon trade, and upon those who are employed in useful arts.

5. This circumstance in Christs life furnisheth all, especially young persons, with an example of diligence and activity.

6. Persons may serve God and follow their trades at the same time. (J. Orton.)

Jesus an offence

The word rendered offended is scandalized in the original. It is a very graphic word, but incapable of adequate translation. It presents to view a complex picture. Christ was to His kinsmen and townsmen like a scandal, or catch stick, in a trap. They did not see what He was. They hence heedlessly ran up against Him and struck on Him, to their own utter ensnarement; they were spiritually caught; they became fixed in a position in which it was most undesirable to be fixed; they were spiritually hurt, and in great danger of being spiritually destroyed. Such are the chief elements of the picture. The actual outcome of the whole complex representation may be given thus: They spiritually stumbled on Jesus. To their loss they did not accept Him for what He really was: They rejected Him as the Lord High Commissioner of heaven. They came into collision with Him, and were ensnared, by suspecting that His indisputable superiority to ordinary men in word and work was owing to some other kind of influence than what was right and from above. (J. Morison, D. D.)

Offended at the carpenters son

People in high station or of high birth are very often displeased if one of humbler position excels them in anything. The nobles of Scotland did not work hand in hand with Wallace, because he had not such good blood as they gloried in.

Jealousy of greatness in neighbours

Our Lord specifies three concentric circles of persons to whom every prophet is nearly related. There is

(1) the circle of his little fatherland, or district of country, or township;

(2) the circle of his relatives or kin;

(3) the circle of his nearest relatives, the family to which he belongs.

In each of these circles there is in general but little readiness to recognize native or nascent superiority. The principles of self-satisfaction, self-confidence, self-complacency, come in to lay a presumptive interdict upon any adjoining self rising up in eminence above the myself. The temporary advantage of age, and thus of more protracted experience, asserts to itself for a season a sort of counter-superiority; and the mere fact of proximity makes it easy to open the door for the influence of envy, an ignoble vice that takes effect chiefly in reference to those on whom one can actually look (invidia, invides). In the long run, indeed, real superiority, if time be granted it, will vindicate for itself its own proper place in the midst of all its concentric circles. But, in general, this will be only after victories achieved abroad have made it impossible for the people at home to remain in doubt. (J. Morison, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

6:3-4 The residents of Nazareth thought of Jesus only as a carpenter (literally craftsman). • He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary: One expects “son of Joseph”; this phrasing probably indicates that Joseph had died by this time. • brother . . . his sisters: See study note on 3:31-35. • They were deeply offended: They thought Jesus was claiming to be someone he could not possibly be.

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Mar 6:3. Ὁ τέκτων) Son of the carpenter, or even Himself a carpenter; for they add, the Son of Mary, in antithesis to the Son of the carpenter. [He Himself therefore toiled at that kind of labour, which was corresponding to His spiritual work; Zec 6:12.—V. g.]

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mar 6:3 . ὁ τέκτων : avoided by Mt., who says the carpenter’s son : one of Mk.’s realisms. The ploughs and yokes of Justin M. (c. Trypho., 88) and the apocryphal Gospels pass beyond realism into vulgarity. ἐσκανδαλίζοντο : what they had heard awakened admiration, but the external facts of the speaker’s connections and early history stifled incipient faith; vide notes on Mt.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

After the manner of the Hebrews, who by brethren and sisters, understand all their kinfolks.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Verse 3. Is not this the carpenter] Among the ancient Jews, every father was bound to do four things for his son.

1. To circumcise him.

2. To redeem him.

3. To teach him the law.

4. To teach him a trade.

And this was founded on the following just maxim: "He who teaches not his son to do some work, is as if he taught him robbery!" It is therefore likely that Joseph brought up our Lord to his own trade.

Joses] Several good MSS. read ιωσητος, Joset, and one, with several versions, reads Joseph.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(3) Is not this the carpenter?—St. Mark’s is the only Gospel which gives this name as applied to our Lord Himself. (See Note on Mat_13:55.)

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. Is not this the carpenter?] Save in this one place, our Lord is nowhere Himself called “the Carpenter.” According to the custom of the Jews, even the Rabbis learnt some handicraft. One of their proverbs was that “he who taught not his son a trade, taught him to be a thief.” Hence St Paul learnt to “labour with his own hands” at the trade of a tent-maker (Act_18:3; 1Th_2:9; 1Co_4:12). “In the cities the carpenters would be Greeks, and skilled workmen; the carpenter of a provincial village could only have held a very humble position, and secured a very moderate competence.” Farrar’s Life of Christ, I. 81.

the brother of James, and Joses …] The four “brothers” here mentioned, and “the sisters,” whose names are nowhere recorded, were in all probability the children of Clopas and Mary, the sister and namesake of the blessed Virgin, and so the “cousins” of our Lord. (Compare Mat_27:56 with Mar_15:40 and Joh_19:25.) Joseph would seem to have died at some time between a. d. 8 and a. d. 26, and there is no reason for believing that Clopas was alive during our Lord’s ministry. It has been suggested, therefore, that the two widowed sisters may have lived together, the more so as one of them had but one son, and He was often taken from her by His ministerial duties. Three other hypotheses have been formed respecting them: (1) that they were the children of Joseph by a former marriage; (2) that they were the children of Joseph and Mary; (3) that Joseph and Clopas being brothers, and Clopas having died, Joseph raised up seed to his dead brother, according to the Levirate law.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is not this the carpenter?.... Some copies read, "the carpenter's son", as in Mat 13:55 and so the Arabic and Ethiopic versions; but all the ancient copies, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Persic versions, read "the carpenter": such may Christ be reasonably thought to be, since his father was; and which business he might follow, partly through the meanness and poverty of his parents; and partly that he might set an example of industry and diligence; and chiefly to bear that part of the first Adam's curse, which was to eat his bread with the sweat of his brow: nor ought this to have been objected to him by the Jews, with whom it was usual for their greatest doctors and Rabbins to be of some trade or secular employment; so R. Jochanan was a shoemaker (z) R. Isaac was a blacksmith (a), R. Juda was a tailor (b), Abba Saul and R. Jochanan, were undertakers for funerals (c); R. Simeon was a seller of cotton (d), R. Nehemiah was a ditcher (e), R. Jose bar Chelphetha was a skinner (f); and others of them were of other trades, and some exceeding mean: the famous R. Hillell was a hewer of wood, and Carna, a judge in Israel, was a drawer of water (g); and so Maimonides says,

"the great wise men of Israel were some of them hewers of wood and drawers of water (h).''

They say,

"a man is obliged to learn his son an honest and easy trade (i):''

there are some businesses they except against (k), but this of a carpenter is not one; yea, they say,

"if a man does not teach his son a trade, it is all one as if he taught him thievery (l).''

Nor did they think it at all inconsistent with learning; for they have a saying (m), that

"beautiful is the learning of the law, along with a trade.''

The Jews ought not to have flouted Christ with this trade of a carpenter, since, according to them, it was necessary that a carpenter, in some cases, should be a regular priest; as in repairing of the temple, especially the holy of holies. So says Maimonides (n);

"there was a trap door, or an open place in the floor of the chamber, open to the holy of holies, that workmen might enter thereby into the holy of holies, when there was a necessity of repairing any thing; and since we make mention of workmen, it may be observed here, when there is need of building in the midst of the temple, great care should be taken, , "that the workman, or carpenter, be a right priest".''

Yea, they expressly say, that the Messiah is one of the four carpenters in Zac 1:20. "And the Lord showed me four carpenters"; they ask (o),

""who are the four carpenters?" Says R. Chana bar Bizna, says R. Simeon the saint, Messiah the son of David, Messiah the son of Joseph, and Elijah, and a priest of righteousness.''

This is with some variation elsewhere expressed thus (p),

""and the Lord showed me four carpenters"; and these are they, Elijah, and the king Messiah, and Melchizedek and the anointed for war.''

And one of their commentators (q) on the same text says,

"our Rabbins of blessed memory, explain this verse of the days of the Messiah;''

and then cites the above passage out of the Talmud; and another (r) refers unto it; See Gill on Mat 13:55. The inhabitants of Nazareth go on, in order to reproach Jesus, calling him

the son of Mary; a poor woman of their town, and perhaps now a widow, since no mention is made of Joseph:

the brother of James and Joses, and of Juda and Simon? who were all of them the sons of Alphaeus or Cleophas, who was himself brother, or his wife sister, to Joseph or Mary; so that Christ was the near kinsman of these his sons: and it was usual with the Jews to call such an one a brother, and even indeed a more distant relation. The Vulgate Latin, and Ethiopic versions, instead of Joses, read Joseph:

and are not sisters here with us? And they were offended at him: either at the manner he came by his wisdom, with which he delivered such doctrine he did; and by his power, through which he wrought his mighty works, or miracles; they suspecting he came by them in an unlawful way, through familiarity with the devil, which they sometimes charged him with having: or at the meanness of his trade and employment; they could by no means think of him as the Messiah, who made so contemptible a figure, and was brought up in such a low way of life; and the rather, since one of their kings in common, was not be a mechanic, or at least of any mean occupation: of their canons runs thus (s);

"they do not appoint to be a king, or an high priest, one that has been a butcher, or a barber, or a bath keeper, or a tanner; not because they were unfit, but because their business was mean, and the people would always despise them.''

Other trades are elsewhere (t) mentioned, from among whom a king, or an high priest, were never taken; as founders, combers, borers of handmills, druggists, weavers, notaries, fullers, a letter of blood, or a surgeon, &c. particularly such as related to women's business. Now, as it was not usual to choose any one to be a king that wrought at a trade, they could not bear that the king Messiah should be of one; and because Jesus was, they were offended at him, and rejected him as the Messiah. Or they were offended at the meanness of his extraction and descent, his father, and mother, and brethren, and sisters, being all persons in low circumstances of life; whereas they expected the Messiah would be born and brought up as a temporal prince, in great grandeur and splendour; See Gill on Mat 13:55, Mat 13:56, Mat 13:57.

(z) Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 11. T. Bab. Yebamot, fol. 104. 2. Cetubot, fol. 34. 1. & 58. 2. Bava Kama, fol. 71. 1. (a) T. Bab. Avoda Zara, fol. 24. 1. Sanhedrin, fol. 96. 1. Bava Bathra, fol. 170. 1. (b) T. Bab. Bava Bathra, fol. 164. 2. (c) T. Bab. Nidda, fol. 24. 2. (d) T. Bab. Beracot, fol. 28. 2. Megilla, fol. 17. 1. & 18. 2. (e) Caphtor, fol. 75. 2. (f) Ganz Tzemach David, par. 1. fol. 30. 1. (g) Maimon. in Pirke Abot, c. 4. sect. 5. (h) Ib. Hilch. Talmud Tora, c. 1. sect. 9. (i) Misn. Kiddush. c. 4. sect. 14. T. Bab. Kiddush. fol. 82. 1. & Beracot, fol. 63. 1. (k) T. Kiddush. ib. (l) Ib. fol. 30. 2. (m) Pirke Abot, c. 2. sect. 9. (n) In Misn. Middot, c. 4. sect. 5. (o) T. Bab. Succa. (p) Shirhashirim Rabba, fol. 11. 4. (q) R. David Kimchi in Zech. i. 20. (r) R. Sol. Jarchi in ib. (s) Maimon. Hilch. Melachim, c. 1, sect. 6. (t) T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 82. 1.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.

Ver. 3. Is not this the carpenter?] τεκτων. Not the smith, as Hilary and Ambrose render it. Christ made yokes and ploughs, saith Justin Martyr. And hence in his preaching he drew similitudes from the yoke, Mat 11:29; Luk 9:62, saith a Lapide. {See Trapp on "Mat 13:55"}

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

St. Matthew relates that they asked: Is not this the son of the carpenter? It is not improbable that both questions were asked; it was certainly very natural to take him for a carpenter, who was the son of one. (St. Augustine) --- They were scandalized at his lowly birth and humble parentage. Hence Jesus Christ take occasion to expose the malice and envy of the Jews, in refusing him, and to shew that the Gentiles would more esteem him. See Luke iv. 25, and John i.

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Is not this the carpenter? St. Matthew (Mat_13:55) says, "the carpenter"s son." We infer from this that our Lord actually worked at the trade of a carpenter, and probably continued to do so until he entered upon his public ministry. We may also infer that Joseph was now no longer living, otherwise it would have been natural for his name to have been mentioned here. According to St. Chrysostom, our Lord made ploughs and yokes for oxen. Certain]y, he often drew his similitudes from these things. "No man putting his hand to the plough, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God". (Luk_9:62) "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me". (Mat_11:29) Christ was the son of a carpenter. Yes; but he was also the Son of him who made the world at his will. Yea, he himself made the world. "All things were made by him," the Eternal Word. And he made them for us, that we might judge of the Maker by the greatness of his work. He chose to be the son of a carpenter. If he had chosen to be the son of an emperor, then men might have ascribed his influence to the circumstances of his birth. But he chose a humble and obscure condition, for this, among other reasons, that it might be acknowledged that it was his divinity that transformed the world. Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Some have thought that these were literally brethren of our Lord, sons of Joseph and Mary. Others have considered that they were his legal half-brothers, sons of Joseph by a former marriage. This view is held by many of the Greek Fathers, and has something to recommend it. But, on the whole, the most probable opinion is that they were cousins of our Lord sons of a sister of the Virgin Mary, also called Mary, the wife of Cleophas, Clopas, or Alpheeus. There is evidence that there were four sons of Clopas and Mary, whose names were James, and Joses, and Simon (or Symeon), and Judas. Mary the wife of Clopas is mentioned by St. Matthew (27:56) as the mother of James the less and of Joses. Jude describes himself (Jud_1:5) as the brother of James; and Simon, or Symeon, is mentioned in Eusebius as the son of Clopas. It must be remembered also that the word adelfov , like the Hebrew word which it expresses, means not only "a brother," but generally "a near kinsman." In the same way the "sisters" would be cousins of our Lord. According to a tradition recorded by Nicephorus (2:3), the names of these sisters or cousins were Esther and Tamar. And they were offended in him . They took it ill that one brought up amongst them as a car penter should set himself up as a prophet and a teacher; just as there are those in every age who are apt to take it amiss if they see any one spring from a trade into the doctor"s chair. But these Nazarencs knew not that Jesus was the Son of God, who of his great love for man vouchsafed to take a low estate, that he might redeem us, and teach us humility by his example. And thus this humility and love of Christ, which ought to have excited their admiration and respect, was a stumbling-block to them, because they could not receive it, or believe that God was willing thus to humble himself.

Vers. 3-5. "They were offended in him.

Whether the narratives of the three synoptic evangelists refer to one visit to Nazareth or to two visits, is a question which has been eagerly discussed.

Give suggestions for the settlement of the dispute. Possibly such discrepancies were allowed to exist that we might care less for the material, and more for the spiritual element in the Gospels; that we might concern ourselves less with external incidents in the life of Jesus, and more with the Christ who liveth for evermore. Those who rejected our Lord at Nazareth have their followers in the present day, who are influenced by similar motives. let us discover the reasons and the results of their conduct.

I INDIFFERENCE TO CHRIST SOMETIMES ARISES FROM FAMILIARITY WITH HIS SURROUNDINGS. The inhabitants of an Alpine village live for years under the shadow of a snow-clad mountain, or within hearing of a splendid fall which comes foaming down its rocky bed; but they do not turn aside for a moment to glance at that which we have come many miles to see. This indifference, bred of familiarity, characterized the Nazarenes. They had known the great Teacher as a child, and had watched his growth to manhood. He did not come upon them out of obscurity, as a startling phenomenon demanding attention; but they knew the education he had received, the teachers at whose feet he had been sitting, the ordinary work he had done, etc. Jesus himself acknowledged the influence of this, when he said, "A prophet is not without honor, save in his own country, and among his own kin, and in his own house." We warn our hearers against similar peril; for there are many who have known their Bibles from childhood, who remember the old pictures which at first aroused some interest in it, who have attended public worship for years, and yet their lives are prayerless, and it may be said of them, "God is not in all their thoughts." Beware of that familiarity with sacred things which will deaden spiritual sensibility. Most of all, let us who think and speak and work for Christ pray that our hearts may ever be filled with light and love, and may be kept strong in spiritual power.

II CONTEMPT FOR CHRIST SOMETIMES SPRINGS FROM ASSOCIATION WITH HIS FRIENDS "Is not this... the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us?" Possibly there was nothing known about them which was in antagonism to the truth and purity Jesus proclaimed, but as there was nothing wonderful about them, it was the more difficult to believe there was anything Divine about him. Far more reasonably, however, does the world misjudge our Lord because of what is seen in us. Earthly, ordinary, and spiritually feeble as we are, we nevertheless represent him. He speaks of truth, and is "the Truth," yet sometimes the world asks concerning his disciples, "Where is their sincerity and transparency?" We profess to uphold righteousness, yet in business, and politics, and home-life we sometimes swerve from our integrity. let there be but living witnesses in the world such as by God"s grace we might become, and through whom there should be the outgoings of spiritual power, and then society would be shaken to its very foundations. When the rulers saw the boldness of Peter and John the moral change wrought in these Galilean peasants took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus;" and "seeing the man who had been cured" standing beside them, as the result of their work, "they could say nothing against it.

III THE REJECTION OF CHRIST BRINGS ABOUT A WITHDRAWAL OF HIS INFLUENCE. "He could there do no mighty work." He could not. His power was omnipotent, but it conditioned itself, as infinite power always does in this world; and by this limitation it was not lessened, but was glorified as moral and spiritual power. In Nazareth there was an absence of the ethical condition, on the existence of which miracles depended an absence, namely, of that faith which has its root in sincerity. If we have that, all else is simplified; if we have it not, we bind the hands of the Redeemer, who cannot do his mighty work, of giving us pardon and peace, because of our unbelief. Christ marvels at it. He does not wish to leave us, but he must; and old impressions become feebler, the once sensitive heart becomes duller, and we become "hardened through the deceitfulness of sin." "To-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts." Nevertheless, he leaves not himself without a witness. If he must quit Nazareth, he will go "round about the villages teaching," encircling the town with the revelations of power which it will not receive into its midst. And though he "can do no mighty work" such as Capernaum had seen, he will lovingly "lay his hands upon a few sick folk," who in an unbelieving city have faith to be healed. "Thou despisest not the sighing of a contrite heart, nor the desire of such as be sorrowful. A.R.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Is not this the carpenter? - There can be no doubt, but in his youth he wrought with his supposed father Joseph.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

3. Is not this the carpenter? Matthew reads “The carpenter's son.” This shows that Jesus also had worked at the trade. It was the custom for every Jew to be taught some trade by his parents.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

3. ὁ τέκτων ὁ υἱός ([1116][1117][1118][1119][1120][1121][1122][1123]) rather than ὁ τοῦ τέκτονος υἱός (33, Lat-Vet. Aeth.). καὶ ἀδελφός ([1124][1125][1126][1127][1128][1129]) rather than ἀδελφὸς δέ (see on Mar 1:14).

[1116] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[1117] Codex Alexandrinus. 5th cent. Brought by Cyril Lucar, Patriarch of Constantinople, from Alexandria, and afterwards presented by him to King Charles I. in 1628. In the British Museum. The whole Gospel. Photographic facsimile, 1879.

[1118] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1119] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[1120] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[1121] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[1122] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

[1123] Codex Petropolitanus. 9th cent. Gospels almost complete. Mar 16:18-20 is in a later hand.

[1124] Codex Sinaiticus. 4th cent. Discovered by Tischendorf in 1859 at the Monastery of St Katharine on Mount Sinai. Now at St Petersburg. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1911.

[1125] Codex Vaticanus. 4th cent., but perhaps a little later than א. In the Vatican Library almost since its foundation by Pope Nicolas V., and one of its greatest treasures. The whole Gospel, ending at Mar 16:8. Photographic facsimile, 1889.

[1126] Codex Ephraemi. 5th cent. A palimpsest: the original writing has been partially rubbed out, and the works of Ephraem the Syrian have been written over it; but a great deal of the original writing has been recovered; of Mark we have Mar 1:17 to Mar 6:31, Mar 8:5 to Mar 12:29, Mar 13:19 to Mar 16:20. In the National Library at Paris.

[1127] Codex Bezae. 6th cent. Has a Latin translation (d) side by side with the Greek text, and the two do not quite always agree. Presented by Beza to the University Library of Cambridge in 1581. Remarkable for its frequent divergences from other texts. Contains Mark, except Mar 16:15-20, which has been added by a later hand. Photographic facsimile, 1899.

[1128] Codex Regius. 8th cent. An important witness. At Paris. Contains Mar 1:1 to Mar 10:15; Mar 10:30 to Mar 15:1; Mar 15:20 to Mar 16:20, but the shorter ending is inserted between Mar 16:8 and Mar 16:9, showing that the scribe preferred it to the longer one.

[1129] Codex Sangallensis. 9th or 10th cent. Contains the Gospels nearly complete, with an interlinear Latin translation. The text of Mark is specially good, agreeing often with CL. At St Gall.

3. ὁ τέκτων. See critical note. Mt. will not call Him “the carpenter,” but says “the carpenter’s son,” and states the relationship to Mary separately. Justin (Try. 88) preserves the tradition that He made ploughs and yokes. Cf. Orig. Cels. vi. 4.

ὁ υἱὸς τῆς Μαρίας. It is remarkable that Mk does not say “the son of Joseph and Mary.” Joseph was probably dead, and hence Jesus is called “the carpenter.” This is perhaps the reason why Joseph is not mentioned here; but Mk may have purposely avoided saying that Jesus was Joseph’s son in the same sense that He was Mary’s son. Contrast Luk 4:22; Joh 6:42.

ἀδελφός. See on Mar 3:35. The names of His brothers are those of O.T. patriarchs.

Ἰακώβον. The most famous of the brethren, president of the church of Jerusalem (Act 12:17; Act 15:13; Act 21:18; Gal 2:9; Gal 2:12). Hort thinks that after James the brother of John was slain (Act 12:2), James the brother of the Lord was counted as one of the Twelve (Chris. Eccl. pp. 76 f.). He had the influence of an Apostle, and is the author of the Epistle of James. Josephus (Ant. xx. ix. 1) mentions him, and Eusebius (H. E. ii. 23) gives an extract from Hegesippus describing his martyrdom.

Ἰωσῆτος. Not the Joses of Mar 15:40. The name is another form of Joseph.

Ἰούδα. The author of the Epistle of Jude. The brethren were married (1Co 9:5), and Jude’s humble grandsons were treated with contemptuous clemency by Domitian (Eus. H. E. iii. 20).

Σίμωνος. Nothing is known of him.

ἀδελφαί. Their existence is suggested in Mar 3:35. Mt. here adds πᾶσαι, which shows that there were several sisters, but they are mentioned nowhere else. The brothers, at first unbelievers (Joh 7:5), became missionaries after the Resurrection (1Co 9:5). The sisters perhaps neither left Nazareth nor became in any way notable. The way in which the Nazarenes speak of them indicates that these brothers and sisters had not much sympathy with the Teacher who is here criticized.

πρὸς ἡμᾶς. “In constant intercourse with us”; Mar 9:19, Mar 14:49. This does not imply that the brothers are not πρὸς ἡμᾶς.

ἐσκανδαλίζοντο. Astonishment led on, not to reverence, but to repulsion. They could not tolerate a fellow-villager’s fame and success. Jealousy is never reasonable; the Nazarenes were offended at the very thing which brought them great honour. How soon Christ became aware that He must suffer and die is not revealed. The process was perhaps gradual. The conduct of His own people towards Him would be some intimation of what must follow. The contrast between the feeling at Nazareth and the feeling at Capernaum is extraordinary, seeing that the places were only about 20 miles apart. But there is mountainous country between, and there would be little intercourse.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. ὁ τέκτων] This expression does not seem to be used at random, but to signify that the Lord had actually worked at the trade of his reputed father. Justin Martyr, Dial. § 88, p. 186, says ταῦτα γὰρ τὰ τεκτονικὰ ἔργα εἰργάζετο ἐν ἀνθρώποις ὤν, ἄροτρα καὶ ζυγά. Cf. the conflicting but apparently careless assertion of in the var. readd. See also the anecdote told by Theodoret, H. E. iii. c. 18, p. 940.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

3. ὁ τέκτων—the wood-worker. Mt. says ὁ τοῦ τέκτονος υἱός,—the son of the carpenter, 13:55. The word τέκτων, which is found in the N.T. only in these two parallel passages, means any worker in wood, rarely in any other substance. ὁ υἱὸς τῆς Μαρίας—the son of Mary. The dropping out of Joseph in the gospel narrative probably indicates his death before this time of Jesus’ ministry. καὶ ἀδελφὸς—and brother. On the nature of this relation, see on 3:18. It should be added, in proof of the improbability that these ἀδελφοί were anything else than brothers of Jesus, that Luk 2:7 speaks of Jesus as the first-born son. There is no more baseless, nor for that matter, prejudiced theory, in the whole range of Biblical study, than that which makes Jesus the only child of Mary.

καὶ ἀδελφὸς, instead of ἀδελφὸς δὲ, Tisch. Treg. WH. RV. א BCDL Δ one ms. Lat. Vet. Memph. Pesh.

ἐσκανδαλίζοντο ἐν αὐτῷ—they were made to stumble in him, prevented from proper action by what they saw in him. On the meaning of the verb, see on 4:17. The prep. denotes the person in whom the stumbling block is found. But its use in such a connection is unusual in Greek. And the repetition of the exact language in Mat 13:57 furnishes another item in the linguistic proof of the interdependence of the Synoptical Gospels.

International Critical Commentary — older volumes (1896–1929), various authors — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

The carpenter. This word "throws the only flash which falls on the continuous tenor of the first thirty years, from infancy to manhood, of the life of Christ" (Farrar, " Messages of the Books ").

They were offended. See On Mt 5:29. Tynd., hurt.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.