Keynote Address on “Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?” (Matthew 13:55)—Fatherhood, Family and the Christmas Message, given by Most Rev. John Opoku-Agyemang, Catholic Bishop of Konongo-Mampong, at the Holy Spirit Cathedral, Accra on December 10, 2025
Your Grace, Most Rev. John Bonaventure Kwofie, C.S.Sp.,
Metropolitan Archbishop of Accra
Your Excellency, Most Rev Anthony Narh Asare,
Auxiliary Bishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Accra
Your Excellency, Most Rev. John Kobina Louis,
Auxiliary Bishop, Catholic Archdiocese of Accra
My brother priests and ministers of the Word of God,
Dear Panelists,
Consecrated Men and Women,
Invited Guests,
Brothers and Sisters in Christ.
We have come from our homes and work places, to have a conversation in this Cathedral because we would like to prepare ourselves to celebrate the wondrous event of Jesus’ birth. People have done similar things for many centuries in several circumstances and given it several names. We know of Christmas pageants and Christmas Carols. We know that the event of Jesus’ birth is unique. We may know that babies have been born before and since. Shepherds have been afraid, and wise people constantly travel seeking wisdom. Many still are homeless and children today die young as they did in the slaughter at Jerusalem.
While the obvious may never be forgotten, we know that Christmas is the celebration of the simple and the profound. We are here because we believe that in the event of Jesus’ birth God was at work and we would like to renew the wonder. We acknowledge that in the unfolding of the drama of Christmas, God has come to us. This is the seventh edition of our Conversation in the Cathedral and we have chosen the theme, “Isn’t this the Carpenter’s Son? (Matthew 13:55), Fatherhood, Family and the Christmas Message”. I am grateful to Archbishop, John Bonaventure Kwofie, CSSp, the Auxiliary Bishops Anthony Asare Narh and John Kobina Louis, the Planning Committee of the programme and the entire Archdiocese of Accra for inviting me to share in this conversation.
We may be familiar with the saying that familiarity breeds contempt. So, the likelihood is that with the seventh edition of our Conversation in the Cathedral, we have become very used it, we have seen it before so we can easily lose sight of its focus, listen only by proxy and converse with hearts very far away from the events of our own lives. From the book of Matthew, the thirteenth chapter, verses fifty-four through fifty-seven, we see Jesus returning to his hometown, Nazareth. He had begun preaching in the synagogue and the people were amazed at his wisdom and miraculous powers. But their response to what they were hearing and seeing was this, “Is not this the carpenter’s son?” They then proceeded to name his mother, his brothers and his sisters. The final outcome being; “…they took offence at him.”
Obviously, this was no compliment. They meant their remark for a slur. These were people from his hometown of Nazareth. They had seen him grow up. They knew Mary and Joseph. They knew the other family members. Who did Jesus think he was?
In a sense, we can hardly blame the people of Nazareth (a tiny village in Jesus’ day) for reacting as they did. Because it’s hard for anyone raised in a small town who rises to fame to escape the box of early labels, demeaning remarks or tags: Who does he think he is? Did he not grow up in our neighbourhood? Did we not see him lifting up carpentry tools as he learnt a trade?
That is not fair, we might think, but that is life in small towns. It is not always easy especially sometimes and when people decide that you come from the wrong side of town so you will never make it in life. That judgment tends to stay with you forever.
So it was with Jesus. The people who knew him best (or thought they did) couldn’t take him seriously. “Where does he get off trying to teach us anything? He’s Joseph’s son. The objection of the townspeople was both unnatural and unreasonable. They thought they knew Jesus better than he knew himself.
They knew one thing. He was the carpenter’s son. That was part of the story, but only one part. Their knowledge of Him and his family background ought to have opened their eyes to His unique character. They knew “his” earthly family, not “His” heavenly origin.
But that leads to an important thought: The objection they raised against His claims tilts really in His favour. They find no fault in His character; they could only complain of His trade. Their slur (“Is this not the carpenter’s son?”) is a “highly, unconscious tribute to His excellence and that of Joseph, the carpenter.”
They were saying more than they knew. They had no dirt on Jesus because there was no dirt to dig up and throw at him. They could not attack his character because it was immaculately pure, so they slandered his family background.
Such is the Christmas story which astonishes the world. The events surrounding Christmas let everyone who opens himself/herself to it, receive infinitely beyond what he/she thought possible. Elizabeth the sterile, gives birth (Lk 1:57-58). Zacharia the incredulous, prophesizes (Lk 1:67-79). The virgin, becomes a mother (Lk. 2:1ff). Joseph the carpenter, the just and upright becomes the foster father of the God incarnate (Matt. 2:13-23). Common shepherds, talk with angels (Lk. 2:8-14) Wise people, give away all they held dearly to (Matt. 2:11-12) Simeon, no longer fears to die (Lk 2:22-32). This is the redemption of humanity at its best.
Jesus was divine but came to live among us as man. His name is Immanuel, God with us. He did not exclude himself from the tragedies of life. Indeed, it is precisely in the crises of our lives that we probably should know him best. He was born to share our life. He had Joseph as his earthly father who taught him a trade. To us then, the need for a father must be very paramount in our lives as Christians.
God is our father, but the role of Joseph as father of Jesus must be our example at Christmas. A father guides and directs. A father creates and commits himself to a good cause, all for the good the family. In society and families, fatherlessness adversely affects individuals, our families, our neighborhoods, or churches, our cities and our nation. Fatherlessness imparts social behaviors, emotional development, and a list of other factors that are essential to children’s wellbeing. Fathers who are good, are present to their families, and constantly grapple with the question “How can I be a good father?”. Knowing that he was not the natural father of Jesus, Joseph must have asked this question to himself several times.
A good father is seen through the lenses of his good personal experience and impart on his children. Can our children be described by the positive influence our fathers have had on them, just as Jesus was said to be the son of the Carpenter, Joseph?
God as father recognized Jesus as His Son, ‘This is my son, the beloved, listen to him”(Matt 3:17). Natural fathers are expected to do the same. In an age where many children do not even have a father’s name on their birth certificates, and many are fatherless, there is the importance and the need for fathers to acknowledge their children and a privilege of being there for them.
Are you a father here longing to be a better father to your children? Follow the example of Joseph and God your heavenly Father. Be present to and with your children physically and emotionally. Find creative ways to let your children know that they are yours and that you wouldn’t trade them in for the world. Yes, you may not be perfect, but who is? Stop beating yourself up over your shortcomings. Rely on your loving Father to give you the grace you need to be the father he wants you to be. He will help you to be present, acknowledging, loving, and affirming to your children.
Today, your heart may be burdened for the many fatherless children living in your extended family, church, or community. Allow God the Father’s heart to become your heart. Find a child to whom you can be a mentor, become a big brother, a surrogate father or a grandfather. Be there for them and share the heart of your heavenly Father with them. Let them know how valuable they are, and how much God, and you love them! There is no need to try to be a professional father; just being present in a child’s life is invaluable. Remember, your prayers make a difference in the lives the fatherless child too.
Today, you may be a person who is living with a father-wound. Your earthly father may have failed you, but God will not. He promises to be the Father you always wanted and needed. Just as he opened the heavens to proclaim his love for his Son Jesus, he will touch the pain in your heart and pour out love and mercy to heal your deepest wounds.
By examining the years between Jesus’ birth and resurrection we get a full grasp of the significance of His years on earth in terms of our day-to-day lives as a family, and the blessings that they hold. His lowly start in life runs through his entire life as a real stumbling block in the hearts of his neighbours and people. Some people cannot conceive that Someone with such an ‘insignificant’ heritage could possibly be the Saviour of the world.
It is a sad truth that the unbelieving will often sneer at the idea that He Who made the world, the Creator of the universe, would spend thirty years of his physical life as a poor and unknown worker of wood. Was our Lord ashamed to come from the wrong side of the tracks? No, not at all.
“For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that you through his poverty might become rich” (2 Corinthians 8:9).
Jesus was not ashamed to be one of us. He chose to be a carpenter’s son that he might one day lead many sons and daughters to glory.
So, what shall we as a family, do with the Child who is born for us? There have always been four responses to that question.
- There is the Herod’s answer. It is the response of hostility. “Let him be destroyed.” Today, people engulfed in hostilities and in worldly power and matters found nothing but a competitor in the Child of Bethlehem, born as the Prince of Peace. They want him to be destroyed. Those who engage in violence want him who call on all to love their enemies and pray for their persecutors to be destroyed. Like Herod they still wonder what will this child come to bring.
- There is also the Inn Keeper’s answer; “There is no room in the inn.” This is the response of apathy and indifference. People can simply be too busy to do anything for the Child. Christmas can be here but who cares? Hence Christ is irrelevant to them.
- The third is the Nazareth response. It is the combination of the first two. The response of apathy and rejection. Is this not the carpenter’s son? That is a danger we face today as well. We can become so familiar with Jesus that we lose sight of who he is. We may have grown up with Jesus and cannot remember a time when we did not “go to church” on Sundays and other occasions. We may have read the gospels many times and have become thoroughly familiar with the stories about Jesus and his teaching. We may even have a famous picture of him fixed in our memories. But we would throw him off the cliff of our lives because we take offence at his teachings. Hanging out with Jesus as a friend is a good thing. But don’t stop there. He is Lord. Be faithful to his call in your life. Then, you will be able to fully experience what he can do.
4. This is what lead us to the fourth response. It is the Mary’s , the Joseph’s, the shepherds’, the wise people’s and the Simeon’s answer. This is the response of accepting the child and whatever he has in stock for them. It is an answer of commitment and the answer God wants us to make as individuals and as Christians during this conversation in the Cathedral.
All human beings need to hear the truth, that His light shines in our darkness. No matter how dark life may be, the light of the Child of Bethlehem is stronger and it is available to everyone who will call out for it. May He shine in our darkness this holy season of Christmas and in the New Year.
Thanks for your attention.