I imagine Jesus would have answered something like this: "No, I have come to be a man, simply a man. Most people on earth will spend their whole lives simply working from dawn until dusk. I want to make them realize that they can come to my Father in this way—by simply working, caring for their families, accomplishing the tasks that God has entrusted to them."

What a mystery this life of work of the Son of God is! For thirty or more years, Jesus worked all day building furniture, paying his bills, talking with his neighbors, keeping his mother company, resting at night in preparation for the next day’s work. He simply wanted to be a man.

Most people will never be called or be able to do great things. For most of us, our daily work is our mission. And Jesus wanted all of us to know that we could come to his Father simply by being faithful to the work entrusted to us.

But we must work in faith, as Jesus said in the Gospel. Our work cannot become an obsession, the be-all and end-all of our lives. We must not be over-anxious about it. We must trust God to take care of us.

There is a beautiful legend among the Jews. They say that at each moment of time, throughout history, there are thirty just people on the earth. These people, by the purity of their lives, uphold the whole earth.

It’s only a legend, of course, but I believe that most of these people are simple working people, husbands and fathers, wives and mothers, single lay people, people whose hearts have become so purified by simply doing the daily things required of them that they are completely unaware of how close they are to God.

Let us pray for one another that we always have a great respect for the dignity of work and a great faithfulness to the work God has entrusted to us.

And let us have a deep and profound respect for all the ordinary people we know. Who knows? He or she might be one of the just ones who are holding up the earth.

— Reprinted from Restoration, December 1975.