I love the meme above! So much so, that it inspired me to write this blog. This will be different from my usual posts that tend to focus on theology, technology and science. Instead, I offer here a personal reflection. It is not inspired in a biblical passage per se but on the idea suggested above. Namely, that Jesus was a mediocre carpenter. Judging by the chair and Joseph’s thoughts, Jesus decision to go to ministry had more to it than simply being the son of God.
An enduring claim of Christian tradition is that Jesus is fully human and fully divine. Why is that? The Church fathers did not arrive at that overnight. It was borne out of a long process that included disputes, prayer, endless councils and a few heretics that helped steer Christian theology towards truth. What is unclear, however, is how this dual nature worked together in Jesus’ time on earth. On that question, the only issue the church was concerned with was to state that Jesus could have sinned but did not.
Furthermore, the Gospel writers don’t help on this question either. In all four gospels we get very little about Jesus’ life prior to his ministry. Apart from birth narratives and few childhood anecdotes, we really get nothing from that formative time of Jesus life. This leaves us today to sheer speculation. That is what I proceed to next.
What does it mean to be divine-human?
Setting the question of sinfulness aside, I would like to speculate precisely about that period when Jesus was , between the age of 12 and 30 years of age, not fully into his calling but maturing as a person. I want to take the suggestion from the meme above, namely that Jesus was a mediocre carpenter, while still holding faithful to the church confession that he was both divine and human. Does a mediocre carpenter fit into this picture? I think that depends a lot about how we think of humanity and divinity.
My first impulse for many years was simply to reject this possibility. In my mind, sinless humanity meant perfection. That is, it wasn’t just that Jesus resisted temptations for cardinal sins but that he was literally perfect. Hence, I would have rejected such suggestion and instead would have speculated that the son of God was an excellent carpenter. Probably, the best of his kind who ran a successful business only to leave it all for ministry when the time came. He knew all along carpentry was not his “calling” but because of his perfect nature, he could not help himself but do an excellent job.
Because we have no way of knowing, this could very well be true. Yet, now I wonder if my previous assumptions were actually undermining Jesus’ humanity. Does a divine-human nature really mean perfection not just in doing what is right but also in ability, talent and competence? Could God be well represented by a lousy carpenter? Could the very idea of perfection be a false assumption of God’s nature?
The Mediocre Carpenter
Surprisingly, now the thought of a mediocre carpenter actually draws me closer to Jesus. Let me explain. First, for full disclosure, I am terribly challenged with manual labor. No, this is not an excuse to get out of hard work. I really suck at it. I am grateful to live in an age where one can make a living with their brain rather than their hands. Also, it goes without saying that I admire all those enlightened human beings who have a gift of crafting things with their hands. In an age of computers and automation, their gift is being undermined which is a sad development.
Yet, the thought of Jesus as a mediocre carpenter is not just appealing because I can relate to sucking at carpentry. To me it has a deeper meaning. It means that the human-divine being was truly subject to limitations. This was not just a statement of basic human needs. It included limitations in ability, talent and competence. It means that God was comfortable inhabiting a less than perfect body and mind.
Furthermore, it could suggest that Jesus did not always know his calling in ministry. Maybe, he too had to struggle through the arduous road of maturity that we all go through. Maybe he started off thinking he would be a good carpenter like his dad only to see God call him through his failure to be a good one. This also sounds a lot like my own journey towards calling. One where failure was more clarifying than success, pain more profitable than joy.
Human Frailty is not a Sin
My point here is not to paint a Jesus that looked like me, sharing my own experiences. While that could have its value, it undermines the deeper truth of this reflection. The mediocre carpenter is not simply an image to make us feel good about ourselves. It is a step towards de-coupling divinity from perfection. It is a step further in taking seriously God’s act of incarnation. It was not just in the humble manger but also in the limited human being that God chose to dwell.
To me this amplifies the message of God’s salvation through Jesus. The point of the cross was not simply to show our dependency on God to fix us and this world even as both are part of salvation. It was also to include an affirmation that human frailty is good enough for God. Frailty, limitation, imperfections are not sin. They are part of nature that we learn to accept and learn from. They are the very conduits for growth and even revelation of who God is.
This week, as you are working from home or homeschooling your kids (or doing both at the same time), remember the mediocre carpenter. In the times where you mess up, lose our cool, grow discouraged or simply gets gripped with anxiety – know that the mediocre carpenter is also the divine healer. He likes to meet us in our worse, is comfortable with our frailty and sanctifies it with his divinity.
He also says that it is ok to mess up every now and then.
