J  AND  J 

CARPENTER AND SON

GOSPEL Matthew 13:54-58 New International Version (NIV)

⁵⁴ Coming to his hometown, he began teaching the people in their synagogue, and they were amazed. “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?” they asked.⁵⁵  “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother’s name Mary, and aren’t his brothers James, Joseph, Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ Aren’t all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own town and in his own home.” ⁵⁸ And he did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith.

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily is, “J & J: Carpenter and Son.”

We find in the New Testament scriptures the words, “Jesus of Nazareth” 17 times.

From archaeological digs and burial sites in Nazareth  from way back in Jesus’ time,  it’s estimated that there were 200 to 400 people in that town. But that’s a guesstimate. Yet the town or village was large enough to have a synagogue.

CARPENTERS

We have only a few references to Jesus as a carpenter.

The key text for my comments this morning is Matthew 13:54-55:  “He 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? Are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?”

Or Mark 6: 3: “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary…?

Last night I looked up different sources to see what they would say about carpenters in the time of Jesus.

They would build tables and stools - window and door frames - homes and roofs - plows and yokes.

They would have hammers and saws, chisels and nails. I don’t know about glue and drills.

We find references in the gospels to some of these items: plows and yokes, building your house on rock not sand, strong doors and windows.

Did Jesus ever get a tiny piece of wood in his eye and Joseph said, “Good thing it wasn’t a log?”

Did they have a sign above their shop: “J & J: Carpenter and Son.”

MORE ABOUT JOSEPH

We don’t know how old Joseph was when he died and was Jesus there at the time.

We don’t know how old Joseph was compared to Mary.

We don’t know how much Jesus learned from the wisdom of Joseph.

The Catholic teaching is the virginity of Mary - which is strange to some people. My thought is that when it comes to Jesus, it’s tricky because he is both human and divine. It took a couple of centuries and various heresies to come up with words and formulas for all this. Scripture scholars say that in Jesus’ time people called close cousins and clans people brother and sister.  I’d assume that teachers and theologians had to come up with Jesus being an only child  - because what would these other brothers and sisters be - since Jesus is both human and divine.

OUR OWN DADS

On this feast of Joseph, May 1^st, the theme is Joseph the Worker. It’s often stated that this feast was to counter the Communist theme of May 1^st: Workers of the World Unite.

Or let’s honor the worker and work today.

This feast I would like to honor my dad and I ask you to do the same.

An American question is: What do you do for a living?  In other words, what’s your job title.

Jesus and Joseph were carpenters.  Notice in the scriptures there is more interest in fishing - more referrals about catching fish than working with wood. The Lake of Galilee was only 12 miles from Nazareth.

What did your dad do for a living?

My dad  was very quiet. He worked here in America for the National Biscuit Company - as a lifter - a common worker. I remember hearing more from him about fellow workers than about lifting bags of flour or sugar.

And in these last 10 years I have learned from my sister Mary, mainly, some things I never knew about him. 

He was handy with wood - building our back fence. He built a near wooden chair - which my sister has on her front porch. The wood was gathered from the waters down by the narrows - that stretch of water between Brooklyn and Staten Island and New Jersey. The wood he went after was mostly from wooden pallets he found down in the water.

What did I learn from my dad? What did you learn from your dad? How are we like our dad?  What did Jesus learn from Joseph?

I learned hard work. I learned to read books - something I often saw my dad doing - including poetry. I saw and learned the value of walking and going to the park - to be with family and to watch each other enjoy and appreciate the great outdoors.

What did you learn from your Joseph? What did you learn from your dad?