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Carpenter’s Son

Matthew 13:54–58

Scripture: “[Jesus] came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? 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?’” (Matt 13:54–55)

Reflection: Matthew’s account of Jesus’ rejection in Nazareth comes from Mark’s Gospel (6:1–6). Matthew, as he often does, shortens and alters material he borrows from Mark. For example, in Mark’s Gospel those who hear Jesus in the synagogue ask, “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary . . . ?” (6:3) To refer to a man as the son of his mother is a slur; in Judaism a man is known as the son of his father. Matthew rewrites the account he finds in Mark’s Gospel to remove the slur. Jesus is referred to as the “carpenter’s son,” whose “mother [is] called Mary” (13:55).

Thus, Matthew transfers Mark’s description of Jesus as a carpenter to Joseph. The Greek word used by both Mark and Matthew means “artisan” and might better be translated as “craftsman” or “builder.” It is broader in meaning that our usual understanding of carpenter as one who works with wood.

In modifying Mark’s story, Matthew declares that Jesus is much more than a craftsman. However, his father, Joseph, was a carpenter, according to Matthew. Thus, we are given today’s optional memorial of St. Joseph the Worker and an opportunity to reflect on work in a culture that seems to despise it or find any way possible to avoid it.

Work is the way we make a living, no matter if it is manual labor as a stone mason, a carpenter, a construction employee or office labor as a receptionist, a secretary, or an accountant. According to the U.S. Bishops’ pastoral letter, “Economic Justice for All: Catholic Social Teaching and the U.S. Economy,” “. . . [I]t is primarily through their daily labor that people make their most important contributions to economic justice” (96).