This Sunday’s Gospel (14th Sunday in ordinary time, Year B) presents to us the return of Jesus to Nazareth, his hometown where he is rejected by his own people. There is a tiny reference to the identity of Jesus which, when understood well, could disturb our traditional understandings. Mark the evangelist, reports the incident with a question raised by the people who were listening to Jesus in the synagogue. “They said, ‘Where did this man get all this? What kind of wisdom has been given him? What mighty deeds are wrought by his hands! Is he not the carpenter, the son of Mary, and the brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?’”
Renowned Italian scripture scholar, Father Fernando Armellini, explains this as an insult to Jesus. The Jews were a patriarchal community, where sons were always identified as son of the father and never as the son of the mother. The name of the mother was seldom used to identify the children. “The son of Mary.” This is an offense. Even if the father is deceased, it is always with the father. When they mention the mother, it is a way of saying that the paternity is doubtful, uncertain; therefore, it is offensive. The evangelist Matthew reported the incident by saying, “Is he not the carpenter’s son?” referring to the trade of St. Joseph.
Indeed, the life of Joseph was a tough one even while back in Nazareth after years of life as a refugee in his attempts to protect his family. He had to live with the ignominy of living with his wife who got pregnant before marriage and taking care of the child as his own. Except for those three people of the Holy Family, who else would have understood the mysterious plans of God? Saying “Yes” to that plan meant being subjected to public gaze, ridicule and gossip.
Perhaps this explanation clarifies the reasons for the absence of devotions to St. Joseph in the early history of the Church. Moreover, carpentry was not an appreciated trade in Israel.
“Is he not the carpenter?” Like it or not, he is a carpenter who changed the world. No one, least of all those in Nazareth, expected anything extraordinary from this peasant family.
They don’t call him by his name; they identify him with his profession, which is not an appreciated one. Because in Israel, middle class families had their fields and had their earnings from the fields. Only those who did not have enough land to live on, exercised these professions. But the Son did not disappoint the father! As the father so the son—accepted humiliation, betrayal and rejection, but with dignity!
His own villagers do not want to appreciate him for what his father is and the trade he practiced so far. He is not a rabbi. He is not a synagogue leader. He is not an elite. He is a carpenter… one worth little.
