On the Job with Jesus

Does Jesus understand what it's like in today's job market? After all, his computer never crashed. A traffic jam in Nazareth never made him late for work.

Sure, he hung around with fishermen, tax collectors, soldiers, farmers, and merchants. But his disciples paid no union dues, kept no expense accounts, received no health care benefits. When he sent them out to preach, they didn't have to buy a plane ticket or rent a car. When they were on the road, they didn't use a cell phone to touch base with the home office. They didn't worry about the price of gasoline or wonder if their paychecks would keep up with the cost of living.

People worked hard in biblical times; but can a 2,000-year-old Bible really help us deal with our 21st-century careers? Maybe it helps to think about some vocations the Lord himself experienced.

Carpenter

It was customary for Jewish men to teach their sons a trade. Since Jesus grew up in the home of a carpenter, no doubt he learned the carpenter's craft by working alongside Joseph.

He knew how to plan projects, solve problems, and work with his hands. He knew the sweat of manual labor and the sweetness of resting sore muscles at the day's end. He knew how to measure, cut, fasten, smooth, and finish wood. When he told a story about wise and foolish builders, he was speaking from experience, for it's likely he had built many houses on rock-solid foundations, never on sand.

Teacher

Jesus knew the stress of working with people day after day. He used a variety of methods to help them learn: lectures, object lessons, stories, small group discussions, hands-on experience. He answered their questions, and he asked quite a few of his own.

He handled discipline problems when his students got out of line. He was their authority figure, but he also was their counselor, their advisor, their friend. He rejoiced when his pupils succeeded and expressed frustration when they failed to grasp lessons he already had explained over and over.

He was the pastor teacher who led them like a good shepherd, and the master teacher who surpassed all others.

Physician

Jesus witnessed the panorama of human need first-hand. The diseased and the disabled, the distressed and the demon-possessed, the desperate and the dying all found their way to him. He handled "emergency room" situations (repairing a man's severed ear in the Garden of Gethsemane). He healed long-term illnesses (correcting a woman's chronic and crippling back problem) and reversed birth defects (restoring sight to the man born blind).

Were these medical miracles easy and tireless for the Great Physician? When a woman who had suffered bleeding for 12 years touched the hem of Jesus' garment, he perceived that "power had gone out" from him (Luke 8:43-48). Though lacking the miraculous power of Jesus, anyone in the helping professions can relate to that; because when you care for others, it's common to experience a power-drain. How exhausting it must have been for Jesus when so many sick people sought his help that "the whole town gathered at the door" (Mark 1:32-34)!

No, Jesus didn't face some of the hassles peculiar to modern life, but he did experience first-hand the blessings and burdens of an honest day's work. He can give the weary blue-collar worker and the lonely professional strength for the day, wisdom for the task, and rest from their labor. Aren't you glad the Lord is with you on the job?