26. Christ , the Man of Work

The truth that by means of work man participates in the activity of God himself, his Creator, was given particular prominence by Jesus Christ - the Jesus at whom many of his first listeners in Nazareth "were astonished, saying, 'Where did this man get all this? What is the wisdom given to him?.. Is not this the carpenter?'"⁴⁰. For Jesus not only proclaimed but first and foremost fulfilled by his deeds the "gospel", the word of eternal Wisdom, that had been entrusted to him. Therefore this was also "the gospel of work", because he who proclaimed it was himself a man of work, a craftsman like Joseph of Nazareth⁴¹. And if we do not find in his words a special command to work - but rather on one occasion a prohibition against too much anxiety about work and life⁴² - at the same time the eloquence of the life of Christ is unequivocal: he belongs to the "working world", he has appreciation and respect for human work. It can indeed be said that he looks with love upon human work and the different forms that it takes, seeing in each one of these forms a particular facet of man's likeness with God, the Creator and Father. Is it not he who says: "My Father is the vinedresser"⁴³, and in various ways puts into his teaching the fundamental truth about work which is already expressed in the whole tradition of the Old Testament, beginning with the Book of Genesis?

The books of the Old Testament contain many references to human work and to the individual professions exercised by man: for example, the doctor⁴⁴, the pharmacist⁴⁵, the craftsman or artist⁴⁶, the blacksmith⁴⁷-we could apply these words to today's foundry-workers - the potter⁴⁸, the farmer⁴⁹, the scholar⁵⁰, the sailor⁵¹, the builder⁵², the musician⁵³, the shepherd⁵⁴, and the fisherman⁵⁵. The words of praise for the work of women are well known⁵⁶. In his parables on the Kingdom of God Jesus Christ constantly refers to human work: that of the shepherd⁵⁷, the farmer⁵⁸, the doctor⁵⁹, the sower⁶⁰, the householder⁶¹, the servant⁶², the steward⁶³, the fisherman⁶⁴, the merchant⁶⁵, the labourer⁶⁶. He also speaks of the various form of women's work⁶⁷. He compares the apostolate to the manual work of harvesters⁶⁸ or fishermen⁶⁹. He refers to the work of scholars too⁷⁰.

This teaching of Christ on work, based on the example of his life during his years in Nazareth, finds a particularly lively echo in the teaching of the Apostle Paul. Paul boasts of working at his trade (he was probably a tent-maker)⁷¹, and thanks to that work he was able even as an Apostle to earn his own bread⁷². "With toil and labour we worked night and day, that we might not burden any of you"⁷³. Hence his instructions, in the form of exhortation and command, on the subject of work: "Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus Christ to do their work in quietness and to earn their own living", he writes to the Thessalonians⁷⁴. In fact, noting that some "are living in idleness ... not doing any work"⁷⁵, the Apostle does not hesitate to say in the same context: "If any one will not work, let him not eat"⁷⁶. In another passage he encourages his readers: "Whatever your task, work heartly, as serving the Lord and not men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward"⁷⁷.

The teachings of the Apostle of the Gentiles obviously have key importance for the morality and spirituality of human work. They are an important complement to the great though discreet gospel of work that we find in the life and parables of Christ, in what Jesus "did and taught"⁷⁸.

On the basis of these illuminations emanating from the Source himself, the Church has always proclaimed what we find expressed in modern terms in the teaching of the Second Vatican Council: "Just as human activity proceeds from man, so it is ordered towards man. For when a man works he not only alters things and society, he develops himself as well. He learns much, he cultivates his resources, he goes outside of himself and beyond himself. Rightly understood, this kind of growth is of greater value than any external riches which can be garnered ... Hence, the norm of human activity is this: that in accord with the divine plan and will, it should harmonize with the genuine good of the human race, and allow people as individuals and as members of society to pursue their total vocation and fulfil it"⁷⁹.

Such a vision of the values of human work, or in other words such a spirituality of work, fully explains what we read in the same section of the Council's Pastoral Constitution with regard to the right meaning of progress: "A person is more precious for what he is than for what he has. Similarly, all that people do to obtain greater justice, wider brotherhood, and a more humane ordering of social relationships has greater worth than technical advances. For these advances can supply the material for human progress, but of themselves alone they can never actually bring it about"⁸⁰.

This teaching on the question of progress and development - a subject that dominates present-day thought - can be understood only as the fruit of a tested spirituality of human work; and it is only on the basis of such a spirituality that it can be realized and put into practice. This is the teaching, and also the programme, that has its roots in "the gospel of work".