Many who heard Jesus were astounded. They said, “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands!” Mark 6:2

In chapter 6 of Mark, Jesus and his disciples are at the synagogue in Nazareth (Jesus’ hometown). While there, Jesus begins to teach the crowd and perform a few miracles. The people who are present can’t seem to reconcile that this is the carpenter who they all are familiar with, who they watched grow up. How could Jesus, Mary’s son, be teaching and performing miracles?

The Greek word used to describe Jesus ability as a carpenter is “tekton,” A good definition for that would be a woodworking handyman. His skill would make him just as comfortable making plows and yokes for farming as he would be making furniture or building a home.

Jesus grew up learning this trade at a time when the batteries for cordless drills were terrible and he had to do much of this carpentry by hand. Think about the number of hours Jesus would have worked by hand learning this craft. The number of times he’d swung a hammer, sawed through wood, carved small details, lifted and carried heavy beams, raised the wall of a home.

While there was generally high regard for manual labor and craftmanship at this time, many felt there was a big difference between a tradesman who worked with his hands and a scribe who spent his life studying God’s Law. So, unsurprisingly, when people witnessed Jesus’ calloused hands performing miracles and heard him teaching with authority as if he’d devoted his life to study rather than trade, they struggled with making sense of it. So in one breath they speak the verse above naming that Jesus is doing amazing and impressive things, and in the next, shift their focus to explain why Jesus can’t be more than a carpenter (see Luke 6:3).

We see that time and time again in the Old and New Testament God upends the expectations of those who encounter Him, and if you’ve been following Jesus for a while, I’m sure you’ve experienced that in your own life. Recognizing this, I invite you to pray the prayer below and throughout your day today. Look with expectation for the place (or places) God might be challenging your understanding of who God is and what God is asking of you.  

I confess, Father, that I look without seeing, listen without hearing, and consider your wonders without comprehending. Open my blind eyes and awaken my sleeping heart to respond to the glories that surround me on every side. Help me learn from Jesus how to love you and all you have created. Amen.

And this is his commandment, that we should believe in the name of his Son Jesus Christ and love one another. -1 John 3:23

What is your purpose? 

For many of us, this is a life-long, or at least a recurring, question. Starting in childhood, we’re asked what we want to be when we grow up, and we’re encouraged to dream about our professions, our family structures, the communities we’ll join, and how we’ll contribute. Sometimes we feel confident that we’re fulfilling our purpose and at other times we feel purposeless, drifting in uncertainty. Our purpose may change as seasons of life change. Perhaps your purpose in one season was to learn, and in another to parent, and now with grown children, to serve in a new way. Living purposefully looks a little different for each of us. As Christians, we know that God shaped each of us with unique gifts, traits, experiences, and personalities to fulfill God’s purposes. Depending on where you find yourself in life, this question about your purpose can be inspiring or daunting…or a bit of both.

Even as we seek God’s unique plans for us, it’s important to remember that, as members of the body of Christ, we each have a purpose that isn’t unique at all. A purpose that applies to all of us without ambiguity or exception is Jesus’ command to love God and love people. Jesus said, “Love the Lord your God with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength…Love your neighbor as yourself” (Mark 12:30-31), and in today’s reading, John reminds us that this command has been given to all Christians in all times and places. There’s no question about whether it applies to you. It does. This is your purpose. This is our purpose.

If you’re feeling overwhelmed by uncertainty about where God is leading you, keep seeking, but also find rest in the certainty that Jesus has already given you this commandment. If you’re doubtful that you have a purpose at all, listen up: you do! No one is exempt from this. Loving God and loving people is always in line with God’s plans. 

But how do we do it? Well, that’s where our uniqueness can come into play, because there are infinite ways we might bring Jesus’ love into the world. But even as there’s room for variety, 1 John 3:16-18 gives us straightforward instructions: “This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers. If anyone has material possessions and sees his brother in need but has no pity on him, how can the love of God be in him? Dear children, let us not love with words or tongue but with actions and in truth.” We love God and love people through our actions. We listen, we give, we serve, we encourage, we pray, we protect, we invest, we advocate, we defend, we share, we sacrifice. Jesus told us how to do it, and Jesus showed us how to do it. 

Imagine what our world would look like if we all lived with an undivided commitment to this common purpose. May you find satisfaction and joy in acting upon God’s universal call to love God and neighbor. And may you gain specific insight about how you can follow Jesus’ command to love.