The Lord Jesus was a carpenter, a son of a carpenter (Mark 6:3; Matt. 13:55). Although the Lord was a descendant of the royal family of David, He was the son of a carpenter. This indicates that the royal family had gone down from a high rank to a low rank, to the rank of a carpenter. The Lord Jesus was the Son of Man, a despised Nazarene, and a carpenter, the son of a carpenter.
Only in the Gospel of Mark is the Lord Jesus called a carpenter. Those who rejected Him asked, “Is not this the carpenter?” They used the word “carpenter” in a despising manner. They were astounded by His teaching, by His wisdom, and by His works of power, but they regarded Him as a person of low status. In today’s terms, they might have wondered what qualifications He had or what kind of degree He had.
Mark 6:3 says that those who rejected the Lord Jesus, regarding Him merely as a carpenter, were “stumbled in Him.” Why were they stumbled in Him? They were stumbled in Him because, on the one hand, they heard wonderful things out of His mouth and saw some of His marvelous deeds, and yet, on the other hand, they considered that He did not have a high status or degree. They saw Him as one who was merely a carpenter. Therefore, they were stumbled in Him, and they despised Him.
In Mark 6 we see the Lord Jesus as a carpenter. He did not have a high social status. But He certainly had the riches of the Triune God, and He also knew the depths of the truth in the Scriptures. His hearers were greatly surprised at His knowledge of the Bible.
The record in Mark 6 should cause us to ask ourselves what we want and what we value. Do we want an advanced degree or a high social status? In the Lord’s recovery we want Jesus, and we want the riches of Christ. Instead of the mere superficial doctrines in the Bible, we want the depths of the divine truths in the Word of God. We would like to follow the Lord Jesus in ministering the riches of the Triune God to others and in presenting to them the depths of the divine truth in the Scriptures. However, we should not think that if we have the riches of Christ and the depths of the truth, we shall be welcomed. No, this is not the age when the Lord’s truth is welcomed on earth. On the contrary, this is an age when the Lord and His disciples are despised and rejected.
No one can compare with the Lord Jesus. He had the riches of the Triune God, and He had the depths of the truth. No matter how rich He was or how much He knew the truth in the Holy Scriptures, He was despised and rejected instead of welcomed.
In His human living Christ took the form of a slave, serving God and men (Phil. 2:7; Acts 3:13; Mark 10:45). He was a slave not only to God but also to man. In New Testament usage, the word “slave” refers to one who has sold himself and has lost all human rights. When the Lord Jesus was on earth as a man, He was such a person. He was a slave who had no rights.
Speaking of Christ, Philippians 2:7 says that He “emptied Himself, taking the form of a slave, becoming in the likeness of men.” The Greek word rendered “form” in this verse is the same word used for the form of God in Philippians 2:6. In His incarnation the Lord did not alter His divine nature but only His outward expression of the form of God to that of a slave. This was not a change of essence but of appearance.
The Gospel of Mark presents the Lord Jesus as the Slave of God. Because Mark presents Christ as a slave, he does not tell us His genealogy and status, for the ancestry of a slave is not worthy of note. Neither does Mark intend to impress us with the Slave’s wonderful words (as Matthew does with His marvelous teachings and parables concerning the heavenly kingdom, and John with his profound revelations of divine truths), but with His deeds in His gospel service. Concerning this, the Gospel of Mark provides more details than the other Gospels in order to portray Christ’s diligence, faithfulness, and other virtues in the saving service He rendered to sinners for God. In Mark’s Gospel is the fulfillment of the prophecy concerning Christ as the Slave of Jehovah in Isaiah 42:1-4, 6-7; 49:5-7; 50:4-7; 52:13—53:12 and the details of the teaching regarding Christ as the Slave of God in Philippians 2:5-11. Such a Slave served sinners as their Savior with His life as their ransom (Mark 10:45), for the fulfillment of the eternal purpose of God, whose Slave He was.
In Mark 10:45 the Lord Jesus says, “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.” This is a very strong expression stating that Christ, as the Son of Man in His humanity, is the Slave of God to serve sinners even with His life, His soul. Furthermore, the word “ransom” here indicates that even the Lord’s redemption was His service rendered to sinners for God’s plan.