Jesus the tekton
Everybody knows Jesus was a “carpenter”, the Bible says so!
The word that is translated “carpenter” appears only twice in the Bible:
Matt. 13:55 - Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Mark 6:3 - 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?”
The Greek word from which the word is translated is: tekton
The word CAN mean carpenter, but equally can it mean: artisan, craftsman, builder – mostly associated with CONSTRUCTION.
Architect = arch (chief) tekton (builder)
Historical data tells us several relevant things:
Less than 4 miles NW of Nazareth - Sepphoris, the largest city in Judea apart from Jerusalem, and which was only an hour's walk from Nazareth. When Jesus was about nine years old, Herod Antipas initiated a large scale building program in Sepphoris that lasted for twenty years - all these buildings were made of stone and it was very possible that Jesus would have helped to build these stone buildings. Buildings were constructed of stone, not wood. There was NOT an abundance of wood in Jesus’ day in Nazareth.
More background: Jewish males generally were made to learn a trade – even rabbis! Jesus is most often referred to as rabbi/teacher, but would have had a trade (like Paul being a tentmaker, even though he was educated in the school of the great rabbi, etc.)
WHY should we consider thinking about Jesus as “Builder”, rather than “just a lowly carpenter”?
CONSIDER:
A carpenter typically makes things like furniture to go into a house/structure that SOMEONE ELSE has built, whereas a builder builds the house itself. This is exactly what we see happen with organized religion: Jesus is typically viewed only as a carpenter - someone who just makes the "furniture" that goes into a structure that man builds. Jesus is often seen as simply adding something we need and we then use this "furniture" for our own convenience whether beds, chairs or tables (in spiritual terms those things might be salvation, spiritual gifts and fruits) and the view is selfishly on MAN and his comfort, satisfaction and glory. But if God is viewed as the Master Builder, then the view is considerably different and expanded: it is HIS work and He isn't just making bits of furniture to be placed into a structure built by man, He is building HIS Temple/Body –
Before He became an incarnate tektōn, John tells us that it was through the eternal Son of God that “All things came into being” (John 1:3, NASB), and the apostle Paul says that we are Christ’s “workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10). So Jesus has been an artisan/builder since eternity past, fearfully and wonderfully crafting every atom in the universe, even knitting us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).
Regarding Abraham we read: “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb 11:9-10).
Jesus used so many word pictures and parables of things that both He and others were familiar with, and yet He never once gave a parable based on wood and making something from wood. Now that strikes me as rather odd for a carpenter! Instead we see in the Bible that Jesus used building with stones as examples and images:
Matt 7:24-26 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Matt. 21:33-44 Parable of the Landowner...
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone;
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
Luke 14:28-30 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’."
"It was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, “the Most High does not dwell in houses and temples made with hands; as the prophet says, Heaven is My throne, and earth the footstool for My feet. What house can you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place in which I can rest? Was it not My hand that made all these things?" (Acts 7:47-50).
"As Jesus was coming out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, Look, Teacher! Notice the sort and quality of these stones and buildings!" (Mark 13:1). If Jesus was a builder and had worked with stones, then this comment makes a lot of sense; the disciples would have thought that He would be interested in the architecture and material of the temple because of His occupation! And the reply Jesus gave is so typical of Him, instead of admiring the architecture and the work of man's hands He instead says "You see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be torn down"! He CAME OUT of the temple made with hands and was not impressed by what was made with human hands.
We typically look at large numbers of people and admire buildings that are large and impressive because those things appeal to our senses and to our image of what we think is worthy of God. But if we learn anything at all from the Scriptures, it is that God does not think the way we do - His ways and thoughts are not our ways! He isn't interested in many things being seen and taken notice of, He is interested in only One Thing: Christ being seen and taken account of, "On THIS Rock I will build My Ekklesia, and death itself will not have any power over it." (Matt. 16:18)
We know that Jesus said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again." (John 2:19) and Mark records His accusers as stating that He'd said: "I will destroy this temple which is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands." (Mark 14:58).
"Jesus has been considered worthy of much greater honor and glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built and furnished by someone, but the Builder of all things is God." (Heb 3:3,4).
Paul “builds” on the building analogy:
1 Cor 3:9-17 "For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."
Eph. 2:19-22 - "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
In 1 Peter 2:4-5 we read: "And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
Jesus is the Master Builder, building individual lives, incorporating those lives into the building of His Church.
He will be building the "new Jerusalem" (Rev. 3:12; Rev. 21:2,10) and the "new heavens and new earth" (Rev. 21:1).
Everybody knows Jesus was a “carpenter”, the Bible says so!
The word that is translated “carpenter” appears only twice in the Bible:
Matt. 13:55 - Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?
Mark 6:3 - 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?”
The Greek word from which the word is translated is: tekton
The word CAN mean carpenter, but equally can it mean: artisan, craftsman, builder – mostly associated with CONSTRUCTION.
Architect = arch (chief) tekton (builder)
Historical data tells us several relevant things:
Less than 4 miles NW of Nazareth - Sepphoris, the largest city in Judea apart from Jerusalem, and which was only an hour's walk from Nazareth. When Jesus was about nine years old, Herod Antipas initiated a large scale building program in Sepphoris that lasted for twenty years - all these buildings were made of stone and it was very possible that Jesus would have helped to build these stone buildings. Buildings were constructed of stone, not wood. There was NOT an abundance of wood in Jesus’ day in Nazareth.
More background: Jewish males generally were made to learn a trade – even rabbis! Jesus is most often referred to as rabbi/teacher, but would have had a trade (like Paul being a tentmaker, even though he was educated in the school of the great rabbi, etc.)
WHY should we consider thinking about Jesus as “Builder”, rather than “just a lowly carpenter”?
CONSIDER:
A carpenter typically makes things like furniture to go into a house/structure that SOMEONE ELSE has built, whereas a builder builds the house itself. This is exactly what we see happen with organized religion: Jesus is typically viewed only as a carpenter - someone who just makes the "furniture" that goes into a structure that man builds. Jesus is often seen as simply adding something we need and we then use this "furniture" for our own convenience whether beds, chairs or tables (in spiritual terms those things might be salvation, spiritual gifts and fruits) and the view is selfishly on MAN and his comfort, satisfaction and glory. But if God is viewed as the Master Builder, then the view is considerably different and expanded: it is HIS work and He isn't just making bits of furniture to be placed into a structure built by man, He is building HIS Temple/Body –
Before He became an incarnate tektōn, John tells us that it was through the eternal Son of God that “All things came into being” (John 1:3, NASB), and the apostle Paul says that we are Christ’s “workmanship” (Ephesians 2:10). So Jesus has been an artisan/builder since eternity past, fearfully and wonderfully crafting every atom in the universe, even knitting us together in our mother’s womb (Psalm 139:13).
Regarding Abraham we read: “By faith he lived as an alien in the land of promise, as in a foreign land, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, fellow heirs of the same promise; for he was looking for the city which has foundations, whose architect and builder is God" (Heb 11:9-10).
Jesus used so many word pictures and parables of things that both He and others were familiar with, and yet He never once gave a parable based on wood and making something from wood. Now that strikes me as rather odd for a carpenter! Instead we see in the Bible that Jesus used building with stones as examples and images:
Matt 7:24-26 “Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”
Matt. 21:33-44 Parable of the Landowner...
“Listen to another parable. There was a landowner who planted a vineyard and put a wall around it and dug a wine press in it, and built a tower, and rented it out to vine-growers and went on a journey. When the harvest time approached, he sent his slaves to the vine-growers to receive his produce. The vine-growers took his slaves and beat one, and killed another, and stoned a third. Again he sent another group of slaves larger than the first; and they did the same thing to them. But afterward he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.’ But when the vine-growers saw the son, they said among themselves, ‘This is the heir; come, let us kill him and seize his inheritance.’ They took him, and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him. Therefore when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to those vine-growers?” They said to Him, “He will bring those wretches to a wretched end, and will rent out the vineyard to other vine-growers who will pay him the proceeds at the proper seasons.” Jesus said to them, “Did you never read in the Scriptures,
‘The stone which the builders rejected,
This became the chief corner stone;
This came about from the Lord,
And it is marvelous in our eyes’?
Therefore I say to you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people, producing the fruit of it. And he who falls on this stone will be broken to pieces; but on whomever it falls, it will scatter him like dust.”
Luke 14:28-30 "Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish’."
"It was Solomon who built a house for Him. However, “the Most High does not dwell in houses and temples made with hands; as the prophet says, Heaven is My throne, and earth the footstool for My feet. What house can you build for Me, says the Lord, or what is the place in which I can rest? Was it not My hand that made all these things?" (Acts 7:47-50).
"As Jesus was coming out of the temple, one of His disciples said to Him, Look, Teacher! Notice the sort and quality of these stones and buildings!" (Mark 13:1). If Jesus was a builder and had worked with stones, then this comment makes a lot of sense; the disciples would have thought that He would be interested in the architecture and material of the temple because of His occupation! And the reply Jesus gave is so typical of Him, instead of admiring the architecture and the work of man's hands He instead says "You see these great buildings? There will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be torn down"! He CAME OUT of the temple made with hands and was not impressed by what was made with human hands.
We typically look at large numbers of people and admire buildings that are large and impressive because those things appeal to our senses and to our image of what we think is worthy of God. But if we learn anything at all from the Scriptures, it is that God does not think the way we do - His ways and thoughts are not our ways! He isn't interested in many things being seen and taken notice of, He is interested in only One Thing: Christ being seen and taken account of, "On THIS Rock I will build My Ekklesia, and death itself will not have any power over it." (Matt. 16:18)
We know that Jesus said: "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again." (John 2:19) and Mark records His accusers as stating that He'd said: "I will destroy this temple which is made with hands, and in three days I will build another, made without hands." (Mark 14:58).
"Jesus has been considered worthy of much greater honor and glory than Moses, just as the builder of a house has more honor than the house itself. For every house is built and furnished by someone, but the Builder of all things is God." (Heb 3:3,4).
Paul “builds” on the building analogy:
1 Cor 3:9-17 "For we are God’s fellow workers; you are God’s field, God’s building. According to the grace of God which was given to me, like a wise master builder I laid a foundation, and another is building on it. But each man must be careful how he builds on it. For no man can lay a foundation other than the one which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw, each man’s work will become evident; for the day will show it because it is to be revealed with fire, and the fire itself will test the quality of each man’s work. If any man’s work which he has built on it remains, he will receive a reward. If any man’s work is burned up, he will suffer loss; but he himself will be saved, yet so as through fire. Do you not know that you are a temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? If any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy, and that is what you are."
Eph. 2:19-22 - "So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow citizens with the saints, and are of God’s household, having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus Himself being the corner stone, in whom the whole building, being fitted together, is growing into a holy temple in the Lord, in whom you also are being built together into a dwelling of God in the Spirit."
In 1 Peter 2:4-5 we read: "And coming to Him as to a living stone which has been rejected by men, but is choice and precious in the sight of God, you also, as living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house for a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ."
Jesus is the Master Builder, building individual lives, incorporating those lives into the building of His Church.
He will be building the "new Jerusalem" (Rev. 3:12; Rev. 21:2,10) and the "new heavens and new earth" (Rev. 21:1).