One of the first things we like to find out about people is what they do for a living. When we think about people, we think about them professionally or occupationally. We like to put people in boxes that we can understand. Jesus 01 carpenterwas a carpenter. Robert Morey writes, “Those who grew up with Jesus in Nazareth assumed that He was, like his ‘father’ Joseph, a carpenter. And, of course, for most of His life Jesus was a carpenter by trade.” In Mark 6:2-3, the religious leaders were astounded by Jesus teachings and miracles and they said, “Where did this man get these things, and what is this wisdom given to Him, and such miracles as these performed by His hands? Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, and brother of James, and Joses, and Judas, and Simon? Are not His sisters here with us?” Carpenters don’t teach like that or perform miracles.

Their assumption that Jesus was like his father was correct, except that they were speaking of the wrong father. He is of the same nature as God the Father. He is God the son. Morey continues his observations, “If, as some modern secularists assert, Jesus did not claim to be anything more than a carpenter, if He did not do any miracles, and if He did not speak those sermons attributed to Him in the Gospels, then why did people get so upset? Why all the opposition? Obviously, He was more than a mere carpenter.”

Peter and some of the other apostles were fishermen. They knew how to fish. Yet, one evening when they had fished all day they had caught nothing, Jesus instructed them to let down their nets to fish. Peter protested but did as he was told. They caught so many fish that the nets wouldn’t hold them all. Luke 5:8 tells us that Peter did a very strange thing, “But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.’” Jesus didn’t say anything about Peter’s sin. Jesus didn’t give any call for worship. I guess when a carpenter shows a fisherman how to fish, the fisherman recognizes there’s something different happening here. Ryken says, “Peter realized the vast distance that lay between him and Jesus. It was the distance between an unholy man and the holy God.”