Mga Bungang Isip ni Christopher Zoloan

About Jesus Being a "Carpenter"

About Jesus Being a "Carpenter"

05/02/2013

    We all agree (collectively as Christians, though with few arguments) to Jesus' divinity, no matter what Christian denomination we may hail from; but what do we know about His being human aside of His being a "carpenter"?

    We all think of the carpenter as a modern equivalent of a lowly job, yet, that is not so!

    The idea came to me as I was reading a passage from the gospel of John (for the nth time), where there was a woman caught 'in the act(?)' of adultery & Jesus bent down & wrote on the ground. For so many years, there's no explanation for that action of His writing on the ground! Most people dismiss it as just an ordinary action that people do at times, i.e., when bored. No theologian has expounded it, as far as I'm concerned.

    But now, here's what I thought & researched a bit about the matter. The Bible is fond of general terms, especially during the advent of Bible translations & functional equivalence for easier understanding. This also goes for groupings of jobs, among other things, so that we understood "carpenter" as how we understand it today. Yet, the Jewish language is so rich in nuances, and in the ancient Jewish community the word "carpenter" has shades and extensions of meaning. Take note for instance, a common builder would be equivalent to other related jobs as estibadors or ship carriers. So why did He have difficulty in carrying a cross when in fact a carpenter focused on heavy jobs? Shouldn't He be as strong as Joseph of Arimathea? Even if He was scourged several times He should have been able to carry heavy crosses without stumbling, or more specifically, falling three times.

    Next is his expertise in interpreting & reading the Law. Yeah, He is Christ, but a mere workman in those days cannot read scrolls! Scrolls were a thing for the learned- for Pharisees & Jewish authorities (equivalent to Lawyers &  Doctors of Divinities of today), with Saul (who became Apostle Paul) being one of them according to the Bible; an exception from here would be the disciple Nathanael Bartholomew, who was, recognized as a genius, could read & interpret scrolls & expound its deeper meanings. Next is He is being asked, in one instance, to pay taxes. It should be noted that common workers (equivalent to modern day carpenters of today) are not required to pay taxes in the early Jewish Roman provinces! Those that pay taxes were those equivalent to professionals, or middle class backgrounds.

    Consider then that He traveled around Israelite regions. In those days, if you are a common workman, you cannot travel around; you would have to be in the middle class to travel; even if you have disciples, that is barely impossible; you could travel a bit, but not all the time. There should always be a means, & as people treat Him a different sort of Rabbi beyond the Jewish tradition (He's not a Pharisee nor a Jewish authority, that is, not a lawyer nor a divine doctor), it indicated that He clearly hold enough influence.

    Now, "carpenter", in Jewish tradition, could mean a simple workman, or range to a "master builder", or a "shipbuilder" or a "building planner". Equivalence of that to modern day would be engineers, architects, & men of philanthropy who build structures. So when He referred to tearing down the temple, although He referred to His Body, people thought He was so bold to build a temple in 3 days (He was an Engineer-Architect!). When a man said, "He is the son of Joseph, the carpenter, isn't he?" It's just to say that "how can this Engineer & Teacher say these things, he's not a Lawyer!" Yet, as Teacher-Engineer, & as He is divine, He is well-versed, well-studied, & well-read.

    Now, the writings on the ground. People are just talking trivial things & trying to trap him, so He wouldn't pay attention until they understand it themselves; He continued to write on the ground the sketch of the next thing He's going to build, or perhaps a mathematical computation or formulae (?). But as the commotion continued, He stood up to say "Those of you who have no sin should cast the first stone", then He stooped down towards the ground again to continue speculating about the thing He's going to build, as TEACHER & ENGINEER.