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Show fr i ! hrist and His Work I That Jesus of Nazareth was a carpenter car-penter by trado boforo Ho began Ills ministry Is gcnorally nsBumcd. Painters Paint-ers and poets havo represented Him as working besldo Joseph nt tho car-ponter's car-ponter's bench. Tho assumption rests, however, upon n single sentenco In St. Mark's Gospel. In tho parallel pass ago in St. Matthew Ho Is spoken ot, not as a carpenter, but ns "tho carpenter's son." There Is no other mention In tho Gospols cjfipvhere in tho New Testament. That Jesus was a woodworker of somo kind was a tradition early current, cur-rent, and yet evidently received with somo doubt. Justin Murtyr, ouo of tho earliest Christians after tho apostles whoso writings havo como down to us, says that Jesus "was deemod a carpenter, car-penter, for Ho was In tho habit of making plows and yokes." As will bo shown lator, this probably means only that Jesus had enough knowldgo of woodworking to mako certain agricultural agricul-tural Implements. In fact, tho recorded re-corded sayings ot Jesus nccordlng to tho careful analysis of thorn In tho current Craftsman tend to show thnt His regular earthly vocation wns qulto other thnu tho carpenter's. Jesus In his sayings shows familiar ity with domestic, commercial, professional profes-sional and agricultural life. Tho grind- ing of grain, the making ot bread, tho mending of clothe3, tho washing .of dishes, nro used by Him as illustrations. illustra-tions. Ho knows tho ways of tho banker nnd tho monoy lender, of Judges, Inwyors, policemen, criminals and physIclniiB. Ho quotes tho current prlcos of articles of trado. Ho has obsorvod children at play and tho professedly devout nt prayer. Ho knows the details of feasts and weddings wed-dings even to tho order of tho guests at table nnd tho proper kind of garments. gar-ments. But tho references to these things nro rather thoso ot an observer from tho outsldo than ot nn oxpert from tho inside. Even If Ho did mnko plows and yokes, as Justin Martyr says, it would seem to havo been as a part of farm work rather than ns n carpenter. That a preacher and teacher should havo neglected to draw Illustrations from his own trade which Ho had seen Ills father practtco when Ho wns n boy, Is incredible. Tho only conclusion seems to bo that tho passago In St. Mark's Gospel Is based on n misunderstanding misun-derstanding of tho fact stated in St. Matthew's that Joseph had ceased to ply his trade before Jesus was old enough to he interested in It, and that Jesus himself was not n carpon-ter, carpon-ter, but a shepherd and farmer. Chicago Chi-cago Inter Ocean. |