Hey, I'm going to grab some questions from the Q&A section over here.
So one person asked me, you know, in Mark chapter 6 verse 3, why do I not believe that
Jesus was a carpenter because, you know, they say, is not this the carpenter or the son
of Mary?
And since they were right about the other things in the verse, why don't I believe that
Jesus was a carpenter?
What they're referring to is that, you know, I was offended by this bumper sticker that
people have that says my boss is a Jewish carpenter, because I just felt like that was
not respectful toward the Lord Jesus Christ, because I would never characterize him as
a Jewish carpenter.
I don't even like it when people say he was a Jewish rabbi.
He's not a rabbi, he's the rabbi.
He's the only one that could legitimately be called master or rabbi.
And so it's not that I believe that he was not a carpenter.
It's just that I'm saying that there's nothing in the Bible that tells us that he was for
sure a carpenter.
Just because these people call him, isn't this the carpenter, doesn't mean that it's
true.
Because if you look at the parallel passage over in Matthew chapter 13, they say, is not
this the carpenter's son?
And we know he's not the carpenter's son.
And so they're being derogatory.
And so even if he was a carpenter, because it's derogatory, I'm not interested in slapping
that on the back of my car.
And I'm not going to get up and preach sermons about Jesus being a carpenter, because I'd
rather preach things that are actually clearly stated in the Bible than just, hey, he was
probably a carpenter because Joseph was a carpenter, and these people call him, hey,
isn't this guy just a carpenter, isn't he the carpenter's son?
I don't know, do you guys see what I'm saying with that?
I'm not saying he wasn't, I even said my sermon he probably was, but I just don't think that
we should make a doctrine out of that.
I think that's a good point, just the fact that they're kind of using as a pejorative
term in the sense that they're trying to knock down who he is or something by claiming he's
just a carpenter.
I think it's similar to something you'd said before about, people say, isn't Mary the mother
of God?
And it's like, from a technical perspective, she was Jesus' mother and Jesus is God.
So yeah, in a way that's true, but it's just kind of like a weird thought.
It's like, why would you focus on something like that?
And let's say Jesus is a carpenter, which you could definitely believe that that was
true potentially, at least at some part of his life.
But what's the benefit of that understanding?
Well, he certainly wasn't a carpenter during his ministry because he's clearly only preaching
and doing the work of God the entire time.
So was there this period in his 20s when he's a carpenter?
The way I look at it is, if God wanted us to know that, we'd have some stories about
him making a chair or a table or something.
Why didn't we just focus on what the Bible says?
Pastor Burzins, you unmuted, what you got?
Yeah, I was just going to say, I think just about the only thing that I can glean from
even caring about what profession he may have done leading up to all his ministry is maybe
just to show that he was a normal, humble guy.
But it doesn't matter whether he was a carpenter or whether he was a plumber or whatever type
of profession he might have been doing, occupying his time as he was growing and learning.
It's not in scripture for a reason.
There's almost nothing of his early childhood recorded other than in Luke 2, where you see
him as a child questioning with the doctors and lawyers that he has great understanding
even at an early age.
But other than that, it's not like you're really getting any insight into his life.
So it's kind of like, what's the point of really even focusing much on that at all?
And you brought up the humble down-to-earth aspect, but you kind of just get that from
him growing up in the home of a carpenter.
He grew up-
Yeah.
There you go.
Yeah.
I think, too, a lot of preachers always want to preach on things that aren't explicitly
said, and they're preaching about things that aren't ... It's like, why don't you preach
what's actually there?
It reminds me of people that are like, I need to read the book of Enoch, and I need to read
the book of all these other books, and it's like you haven't even touched the surface
of what the Bible teaches and all the book, just everything that's in the Bible.
And so there's so much in there.
I'm constantly amazed.
I'm sure you guys would say the same as far as just how deep the Bible is, and every time
I go through a certain book, I'm like, I thought I knew it, thought I knew it well, and then
I just realized there's so much in there.
And so we'll spend our lifetimes figuring out everything that's in the Bible, and so
why not just focus on what's actually said, explicitly taught, instead of just going ... It's
kind of like, did Adam have a belly button, the navel gazing type things, things that
aren't-
I actually feel really strongly about that, Glenn.
You believe he has a belly button, right?
Because he-
Oh, absolutely.
I feel like that's really important, too, but not because of anything the Bible says.
I just think it's important philosophically.
Yeah.
No, I know why you say that, though.
You're talking about the apparent age.
Apparent age, and stuff.
Yeah.
Well-
I'm just using that as an example.
Yeah.
I'm just kidding.
But to the person asking the question, I have no problem with you believing that Jesus was
a carpenter.
Like I said, he probably was, but I don't like that bumper sticker.
I don't like that mentality, and I don't think we should preach things unless they're really
clear in Scripture.
But I have no issue with Jesus being a carpenter, because it sounds great to me, but I just
don't think it's clear in the Bible.