Some people get turned off by the phrase. I don’t apologize for it. Jesus knew what it was like to have callouses, dirty hands, a sweaty shirt and to be despised by the pretty people in fancy clothes. Before he was a teacher, before He was called King or Messiah, Jesus was a Carpenter; first an apprentice, then a carpenter, then a master carpenter. A laborer. A roughneck.
He knew what it was like to work so hard that his hands hurt, his body was exhausted, his clothes were stinking with sweat and his fingers were bleeding. He wasn’t a university student in a library when he studied his Bible. He read it by candlelight, long after his tools were cleaned, the shop was swept, the fires were lit and the evening meal was cold. He started his day working outdoors in the cold of dawn, pushed himself through the heat of Judean summers, stayed at his tasks even when his hands ached from dryness, cuts and scrapes. As a youth, Jesus would have apprenticed under Joseph and been required to do the hard, boring & repetitive tasks. This was the way all poor youths of Nazareth grew up: as apprentices to their fathers, learning a trade in one of the poorest and roughest towns in Galilee, using tools until their hands were hardened and cramped from a long day’s work.
Not only did He work as a child, Jesus had to encounter other laborers at the supply markets. He would have had to learn how to barter, buy tools and supplies, sell products, negotiate work rates. The people he was dealing with were not the posh people of Jerusalem. No, Nazareth was a transfer station for traders, travelers, Romans, nomadic Bedouins and the like. Jesus had to negotiate deals with rough people, in rough places. He spoke with liars, swindlers, and foul mouthed jerks.
We can only imagine how that made him feel. Yet when His time came to lead, the people he chose for His inner circle were fishermen, prostitutes, tax collectors, revolutionaries. Roughnecks. Men of salt, sweat, dirt and blood. Men and women from corrupt and violent backgrounds. Even Paul, the great theologian, was a laborer who made tents; But to be truly ready to follow Jesus Paul had to learn how to handle danger and grit to live out his calling. Although Paul was a man of high education, he had to become a roughneck. He had to endure abuse and punishment everywhere he went. He had to be tough to keep going.
I’m convinced that Jesus loves doers; he loves hands-on workers who take on hard tasks. Jesus loves people who get grease under their fingernails, sweat on their collar, who work tirelessly in tough situations. He relates to people who don’t melt in the heat of a harsh sun. Clearly, as you read the 4 accounts of his life, He was less interested in soft-handed guys with religious theories and critical attitudes. He rarely had nice things to say to them. Jesus was kind, but he was tough. He had muscle and bone, sinews and fiber that were formed by hardship.
Today, people tend to think that you have to be trendy, popular, prosperous and have a successful happy life to follow Jesus and do His work. But, i think Jesus likes people who are a little messy. I think He still hangs out with people who know they are imperfect. I think that Jesus connects with people who trust Him, but are still trying to work life out, more than people who know a lot of verses but are too successful and too important to get their hands dirty for Him.
Yeah, i think Jesus likes roughnecks, oddballs, outcasts, and doers with dirty hands who trust Him enough to take on the challenge of following Him more than people who know all the right things, but don’t do much. Jesus is still calling roughnecks to become apprentices in His workshop; to become doers who live out the high calling of following Him.
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– Ian Millar is the Author of “the Jesus Adventure“, the “Listening Stories”, and “A Roughneck’s guide to powerful praying”.
What’s a Roughneck Christian?
He knew what it was like to work so hard that his hands hurt, his body was exhausted, his clothes were stinking with sweat and his fingers were bleeding. He wasn’t a university student in a library when he studied his Bible. He read it by candlelight, long after his tools were cleaned, the shop was swept, the fires were lit and the evening meal was cold. He started his day working outdoors in the cold of dawn, pushed himself through the heat of Judean summers, stayed at his tasks even when his hands ached from dryness, cuts and scrapes. As a youth, Jesus would have apprenticed under Joseph and been required to do the hard, boring & repetitive tasks. This was the way all poor youths of Nazareth grew up: as apprentices to their fathers, learning a trade in one of the poorest and roughest towns in Galilee, using tools until their hands were hardened and cramped from a long day’s work.
We can only imagine how that made him feel. Yet when His time came to lead, the people he chose for His inner circle were fishermen, prostitutes, tax collectors, revolutionaries. Roughnecks. Men of salt, sweat, dirt and blood. Men and women from corrupt and violent backgrounds. Even Paul, the great theologian, was a laborer who made tents; But to be truly ready to follow Jesus Paul had to learn how to handle danger and grit to live out his calling. Although Paul was a man of high education, he had to become a roughneck. He had to endure abuse and punishment everywhere he went. He had to be tough to keep going.
I’m convinced that Jesus loves doers; he loves hands-on workers who take on hard tasks. Jesus loves people who get grease under their fingernails, sweat on their collar, who work tirelessly in tough situations. He relates to people who don’t melt in the heat of a harsh sun. Clearly, as you read the 4 accounts of his life, He was less interested in soft-handed guys with religious theories and critical attitudes. He rarely had nice things to say to them. Jesus was kind, but he was tough. He had muscle and bone, sinews and fiber that were formed by hardship.
Today, people tend to think that you have to be trendy, popular, prosperous and have a successful happy life to follow Jesus and do His work. But, i think Jesus likes people who are a little messy. I think He still hangs out with people who know they are imperfect. I think that Jesus connects with people who trust Him, but are still trying to work life out, more than people who know a lot of verses but are too successful and too important to get their hands dirty for Him.
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– Ian Millar is the Author of “the Jesus Adventure“, the “Listening Stories”, and “A Roughneck’s guide to powerful praying”.
Published in Commentary and Great News