5. When Jesus Left His Carpenter Shop

(Mark 1: 1-11)

When Jesus was the young carpenter in Nazareth he was the best carpenter of all the land. The children, passing by, liked to peep in at the open door of his shop and see him at work with his saw or hammer, making or repairing a stool, or a chest, a manger, a plow, or a yoke. He smiled sweetly at the children and spoke kind words to them, so that the children of Nazareth loved him in return. But one day as Jesus was standing beside his bench, with the shavings at his feet and his carpenter’s tools about him, he knew that very soon he must leave that shop and go into the towns and cities where there were other things for him to mend than stools and chests and mangers and plows and yokes. At last, one evening, when the shadows lengthened, he went into his carpenter’s shop and hung up his hammer, his saw, his adz, and each of his carpenter’s tools, shut the door of his shop, said “Good-bye” to his mother and his brothers and sisters and friends in Nazareth, and early next morning started on a long walk over the hills and valleys toward the river Jordan.

A strange preacher named John, the Baptizer, had come out of the wilderness to the banks of the river Jordan, preaching that everybody should repent of his sins and prepare for the coming of God’s Son by being baptized in the river, confessing his sins. John was dressed in a rough coat made of camel’s hair, and had lived in the desert eating nothing but honey and an insect, something like a grasshopper, called a locust. But thousands of people came to listen to this strange preacher of the desert and to be baptized.

One afternoon, as a great crowd was around him, John suddenly stopped in his preaching, and looking at a man coming near, he cried, “Look, there is God’s Son!” All eyes were turned toward the quiet and gentle form of Jesus, who walked forward and said to John, “I would like to be baptized.” John drew back, and said, “Oh, no, no! You should baptize me, rather than that I should baptize you.” But when Jesus said, “It is God’s will,” John took hold of his hand and together John and Jesus slowly stepped out on the pebbly shore, and walked into the river, with every eye upon them. Standing out in the water, Jesus prayed. Then John baptized Jesus. And as Jesus came up out of the water, suddenly the sky seemed to open, and a beautiful snow-white dove flew down and rested upon the head of Jesus. Then a Voice from heaven was heard that said, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.”

This was the announcement that Jesus was the Son of God and the Saviour of the world. It meant that Jesus would return to the carpenter shop no more. No more would the farmer bring his plow for Jesus to repair. No more would the housemother bring her stool to Jesus to mend. In vain would the children passing by his shop look in at the open door to see his pleasant smile or hear his kind voice. The saw and the hammer and the adz were for other hands now. Jesus had entered upon his great task of mending and healing human hearts and lives, of bringing “Peace on earth, good will to men,” a task in which every one who loves him and is like him may still share a part.