This is the first sermon of the summer sermon series, "Dancing with Jesus." It is based on a book by Sam Stall, which has different dances based on different biblical stories. Each week, the dance will be taught during Time with Young Disciples and the story will be introduced to them. The sermon will be based on the same story.
This week was the Carpenter's Clog, which grew out of the fact that Jesus was a carpenter. As I discovered, not much is made of Jesus being a carpenter, at least not in the biblical story or in commentaries on the two instances in which is it mentioned. I had some fun imagining how being a carpenter impacted Jesus and his approach to ministry.
“Dancing with Jesus: the Carpenter’s Clog” June 11, 2023; Matthew 13: 54-58 SAPC, Denton; Dr. Richard B. Culp;
Matthew 13: 54-58: He came to his hometown and began to teach the people in their synagogue so that they were astounded and said, ‘Where did this man get this wisdom and these deeds of power? Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all this?’ And they took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ‘Prophets are not without honor except in their own country and in their own house.’ And he did not do many deeds of power there, because of their unbelief.
Introduction: We are going to dance this summer!
That’s what happens when your minister goes on vacation and ends us with friends in a little gift shop with crazy socks, bumper stickers, and a book called “Dancing with Jesus.”
It’s been sitting on my desk for over a year.
inviting me to dance.
I have ignored its invitation for too long, so this summer we are going to dance.
Each week, a different dance will be taught during the Time with YOung disciples.
Feel free to join us.
we will also have some surprises along the way - guest instructors; different music;
most importantly, each dance will tie to a biblical text that will be the foundation for the sermon.
so be ready for a summer of toe-tapping, dancing, and wonderful biblical stories.
We begin this week with the carpenter’s clog.
Move 1: Which begs the question - was Jesus really a carpenter?
a. You may have noticed that the passage we read from Matthew does not call Jesus a carpenter but notes that he is the carpenter’s son.
1. for many biblical scholars, this is enough evidence since sons very often engaged in the same work as their fathers.
2. If we were to read the parallel passage in the Gospel of Mark, we would hear Mark explicitly call Jesus a carpenter, or literally, a craftsman with his hands.
b. Not much is made of Jesus being a carpenter.
1. Rightfully so, the gospels are more concerned with Jesus being the Son of God;
how he engaged people
what he said and taught
the miracles he performed.
his crucifixion
his resurrection
his ascension.
2. But, he was a carpenter first.
Move 2: thinking of Jesus as a carpenter reminds us of his humanity.
a. God sent into the real world as evidenced by Jesus having a job.
1. If Jesus had just been God wearing a mask and pretending to be human, I doubt he would have been a carpenter.
sweating as he labored.
A job where he used his hands.
2. Carpentry has a long tradition in the biblical text
carpenters build the ark;
carpenters built the temple;
carpenter built the cross
b. Having a job means Jesus knew what it was like to be an employee or part of the family business.
1. Jesus had to learn how to be a carpenter.
Probably following his father to work, holding the tools as a young boy helping out his father.
Maybe acted as an apprentice along the way.
2. By the time Jesus left carpentry to engage in his ministry, I suspect Jesus knew what it was like to have a job
get behind at work
having the pressure of completing the task on time
or coming up with a reason to not get the job done on time
or facing the consequences.
5. He knew what it was like to work at a craft
hammer with authority
measure with precision
cut at exactly the right place and angle.
Jesus had a skill set.
6. he may not have been hammering away, literally, when he turned to ministry full-time, but I imagine the skills necessary to be a carpenter and work at a job helped him in his ministry.
6. to call Jesus a carpenter ties him to his humanity, in part, because he experienced similar challenges.
to call Jesus a carpenter reminds us that his life was grounded in the reality of the world just like we are.
b. We are found to Christ in our humanity that connects with his humanity.
1. Like Jesus, we have skill sets and places in life.
2. think about your own context in which you live.
3. some of us are students still in school - we have the tools like laptops, pens, and paper….
4. some of us work in our professions with the tools and skills necessary to do the work.
5. Others of us are retired or not working in paid jobs at the moment, but have acquired and continue to acquire different skills and tools.
c. How we live out our discipleship, in part, is shaped by the skills that we have
the opportunities that come our way as we live out our lives.
1. The church I served in KY had bought a post office next door at a government auction before I arrived.
2. Part of the expressed call for their next minister, me, was to help them figure out what to do with a Post office.
3. One day, I was having lunch with a member at a little diner right across the street from what we by then called the Presbyterian Post.
4. I was trying to talk the member into joining us for a Habitat workday putting a roof on the house being built.
5. I told him how great it might be for him to learn how to roof. Since he was a doctor, I figured he had not done much roofing.
6. we talked for a bit, and then he said, “You know, I’m a doctor, right?”
7. I did know that. He was my internist after all.
8. “Why do you want me to learn roofing instead of using the skills I have as a doctor?”
9. As I was pondering that thought, he pointed out the window and across the street at the Presbyterian Post.
“Maybe we could figure out how to use my medical skills t at the Presbyterian Post.”
thus, began a process of developing the Presbyterian Post clinic - a place where the uninsured could come for medical attention and receive medications.
10. I saw a photo posted just this last month of the new building being built to house the expanded ministry of the Presbyterian Post clinic.
25+ yrs later the clinic is still growing, all because a doctor said I want to use my skills in ministry.
11. Part of being human means developing skills, which can give us opportunities for engaging in ministry.
Move 3: thinking of Jesus as a carpenter also reminds me of the importance of relationships in ministry.
a. I say that because of a story I heard while on the Israel trip with the St. Andrew group a few years ago.
1. We were looking at an old boat that had been found.
it might not have been a boat they could prove Jesus had been on, but it was from the same time frame as Jesus engaged in ministry and it was found at the bottom of the Sea of Galilee.
2. As our guide told us about the boat, he mentioned that Jesus had been a carpenter.
Some people believed that Jesus was a carpenter who worked on repairing boats.
Maybe Jesus had worked on the boats of the fishermen he would call to follow him.
No concrete evidence, but it could explain why when Jesus walks by the boats and calls Peter and Andrew and then James and John to follow him, they were willing to go.
not some magical moment when they follow a stranger, but responding to the person they had come to know as we worked in their midst.
3. think of all the powerful stories of Jesus’ ministry among us - at the heart of all of them is Jesus connecting and relating to real people.
4. he meets the people,
hears their cries for help and hope
Jesus connects with them and leads them to new life.
b. Ministry is like that - reaching out in the name of Jesus and developing relationships.
1. whether we are engaging people who come to worship with us and extending ourselves to others to share the good news.
or working with the chosen family on their Habitat house
or engaging in mission work
relationships matter.
2. Philip Gulley grows up as a Catholic and becomes a Quaker. He may have doctrinal reasons, but in the stories of his childhood, he tells about Miss Mildred, the Quaker widow who hired him to do yard work and with whom he developed a relationship. He also talks about going to the Quaker church youth group that was led by the neighbors and attended by lots of girls. I Love You, Miss Huddleston: and other inappropriate longings of my Indiana childhood, Philip Gulley
3. Admittedly, sometimes our ministry does not allow us to engage the people being benefitted personally, but even then the ministry works best when we develop a relationship with the group leading the ministry.
3. Consider some of our ministry projects St. Andrew supports.
we have a mission mixer every year so we can connect with the groups in Denton with whom we partner in mission.
to hear their stories
to develop strong relationships
4. We have Keri Caruthers in worship this morning to share about Interfaith Ministries’ Appletree program not just because there are 7,000 students who need backpacks.
You could learn all that by reading the article in the paper.
But It is also an invitation to engage with Interfaith Ministries - to create relationships.
5. If I ask you to share the most meaningful moment of ministry in which you have ever engaged, I bet as you told the story there would be something in it about relationships.
a person you met on a mission trip
the story of someone who was impacted by the ministry
6. Relationships are the foundation out of which ministry grows.
Jesus knew that.
Jesus did that.
conclusion: A carpenter’s clog
did Jesus dance - who knows!
Was Jesus a carpenter - probably.
Did Jesus join us in our humanity and develop relationships as he ministered among us. Absolutely.
Go and do likewise.
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