Jesus, Sweep the Carpenter Shop. A short story about Jesus as a child.

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Jesus, Sweep the Carpenter Shop

by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson

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Georges de al Tour, Christ in the Carpenter's Shop (1645)

Georges de la Tour (French painter, 1593-1652), Christ in the Carpenter's Shop (1645), Oil on canvas, Mus�e du Louvre, Paris. Larger image.

"Jesus-boy!" Joseph bellowed so half the village could hear. "When I tell you to sweep the shop, I mean sweep every corner, under every table, and pick up every shaving in the entire house!"

Joseph wasn't known for his temper, but every once in a while his five-year-old would frustrate him to his limit and he would snap. The boy scurried off to get the broom — for the fifth time today — and Joseph stepped outside the small house that doubled as the town carpenter shop. He sat down on a wooden bench outside to collect himself.

Mary had heard the outburst and came to sit beside him. She put her arms around him and gave him a squeeze.

"Last week, I was the one shouting," she said softly. "I know it's hard."

Joseph's voice was still full of emotion, but soft now so the neighbors — and Jesus — wouldn't hear. "I've asked him to sweep more times than I can count. I've showed him how to sweep. I've swept with the boy. And still he misses those large shaving curls that a donkey could see! I just don't understand."

"He's only five, Joseph. He's only five."

"I know. And he means well. He isn't lazy. But he misses things."

"When we signed on to be mother and father to God's Son, dear, we really didn't know what we were doing, did we?" said Mary with a soft chuckle. "Where do you learn to be parents?"

"From your own parents, I guess," sighed Joseph, pretty much calmed down by now. "Heaven knows, mine weren't perfect."

"I think you make a good dad," Mary reassured him. "I see you sitting by the fire at night with your arms around the boy telling him stories and laughing with him. He knows you love him, Joseph."

"I do love him, but how do you raise a child who never sins? He makes mistakes, he doesn't learn instantly, he struggles to do what I ask, but he never lies, never makes lame excuses like I did when I was a kid. I don't understand it! Well, I guess I sort of do, but it's hard to fathom. It's frustrating."

"Joseph, you're providing rules and discipline. You hold him to his tasks even when his mind wanders. You teach him how to hammer pegs and how to smooth a plank, and he's learning...."

"Gradually!" laughed Joseph. "I suppose that when I was his age I wasn't any better with tools than he is."

Mary smoothed his beard and picked some shavings that had been hiding in the dark curly recesses under his chin.

"I guess he'll make a good carpenter some day," mused Joseph, "but it takes time. It takes time."

"I think he'll be more than a carpenter," said Mary. "Remember when the angel told you, 'You are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins'?"

"I remember it just like it was last night."

"And the angel told me," she continued, "He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. And the Lord God will give him the throne of his father David."

"I wonder what all that will mean for him," said Joseph.

"Me too," said Mary, as she snuggled and gave Joseph a big squeeze. "I guess we'll see." She could feel Joseph's powerful arm pull her close.

"Pretty amazing," mused Joseph, "trying to be father to the Son of the God. Pretty amazing!" He paused and muttered, "Some of the things I got from my father, I hope Jesus never learns from me."

"You're doing fine, Joseph. You're doing fine."

He turned to her. "Jesus may be the Son of God, Mary, but he sure doesn't know how to sweep!"

"He's learning. He's learning."

Then Joseph was up, all the carpenter once more. "Jesus," he called, not so loudly this time. "Jesus, have you finished your sweeping yet?"

The story, of course, is fictional, but it explores what it might have been like to raise the God-Man. All that Scripture says about the subject is summed up in a couple of passages:

"And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them: but his mother kept all these sayings in her heart. And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man." (Luke 2:51-52)
"Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered...." (Hebrews 5:8)

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