“Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary, the brother of James, and Joses, and of Juda, and Simon? and are not his sisters here with us? And they were offended at him.”
My Notes
What Does Mark 6:3 Mean?
Jesus returns to His hometown of Nazareth and the locals can't believe what they're seeing. They know His résumé: carpenter. Son of Mary. Brother of James, Joses, Juda, and Simon. His sisters live there. And they're scandalized. The word "offended" (skandalizō) means they stumbled over Him. His familiarity was the obstacle.
The identification as "the carpenter" (ho tektōn) means Jesus worked with His hands — wood, stone, construction. This wasn't a metaphor. He built things. He had calluses. The locals knew Him as the guy who made their furniture, not as a rabbi or prophet.
"The son of Mary" is an unusual identification in a patriarchal culture where men were identified by their father. Some scholars see this as a subtle insult — a reference to the questions surrounding Jesus' birth. Either way, the point is: we know where He came from. We know His family. He's not special.
Reflection Questions
- 1.Has familiarity ever prevented you from seeing something extraordinary — a person, a truth, a calling you've been too close to?
- 2.How does the identification 'the carpenter' (a blue-collar worker) challenge your expectations of how God shows up?
- 3.Why were the people closest to Jesus the most resistant to His ministry?
- 4.What familiar aspect of your faith might you need to look at with fresh eyes?
Devotional
Is this not the carpenter? Don't we know His mom? Aren't His brothers and sisters right here?
The people who knew Jesus longest understood Him least. They'd watched Him grow up. They'd hired Him to build things. They knew His family by name. And that familiarity — that total, unremarkable ordinariness — was the thing they couldn't see past.
Familiarity breeds contempt. Not always through hostility, but through the inability to see something extraordinary in a package you've labeled ordinary. The carpenter can't be the Messiah. The kid from down the street can't be the Son of God. We know him. He's not special.
They were offended — skandalizō, stumbled. The very thing that should have been their advantage (they knew Him!) became their obstacle. The proximity that could have produced the deepest faith produced the strongest rejection.
This is a warning about what you do with the familiar. The people, the truths, the callings that you've been closest to for the longest — are you still seeing them? Or has familiarity convinced you there's nothing left to discover?
The carpenter was God. His sisters' neighbors couldn't see it. Proximity without perception is the most dangerous kind of blindness — because you're convinced you already know what you're looking at.
What familiar thing in your life might be more than you think it is?
Commentary
Trusted original commentary from respected historical Bible scholars and theologians.
Is not this the carpenter?.... Some copies read, "the carpenter's son", as in Mat 13:55 and so the Arabic and Ethiopic…
Is not this the carpenter - Among the ancient Jews, every father was bound to do four things for his son.
1. To…
Here, I. Christ makes a visit to his own country, the place not of his birth, but of his education; that was Nazareth;…
Is not this the carpenter? Save in this one place, our Lord is nowhere Himself called "the Carpenter." According to the…
Cross References
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