1. Mark 6:3 (ESV)
  2. Exposition

Is this verse in contradiction with the parallel verses in Matthew 13:55 and Luke 4:22?

Mark 6:3 (ESV)

3 Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon? And are not his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him.

This passage does constitute a possible difficulty in interpretation. In Mark 6:3 Jesus is called the carpenter, the son of Mary whilst in the parallel accounts of this passage Jesus is rather asked, Is not this the carpenter’s son? or Is not this Joseph’s son? (see Matthew 13:55, Luke 4:22). But, it is important to note that despite this variation, this does not constitute a contradiction. With Mark focusing on the fact that Jesus was a carpenter and the other accounts mentioning that he was the son of the carpenter Joseph, harmonization is indeed possible. The key lies within the practice of Jewish culture where typically the son would pick up the same trade and work as his father did.1 If this is the case and Jesus picked up his father Joseph’s trade, then both accounts in their description—Jesus being a carpenter and the son of the carpenter Joseph—make sense.