during more than twenty years of sometimes rancorous family life (John 7:2–8). We must never forget that for most of his life Jesus was what we today would call a blue-collar worker, a tradesman, an “independent contractor.” His hands had calluses from using the first-century versions of hammers, drills, axes, saws, and planes. He was known in his village simply as “the carpenter.” There James saw him practice all he later preached. We know what it is like to “do business with the public.” So did