The narrative of Hebrew Scripture tells the compelling story of the relationship of GOD with humanity. Much of the content focuses on the children of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. GOD changed Jacob’s name to Israel. So his children are called “The Children of Israel.”

Jesus identified with the story content personally because he was a son of Israel. Further, the story arc of the Hebrew Scriptures impacted Jesus’ culture. In six sets of three movements, we observe cycles of setback and progress, progress and setback. For the first-century participant, the question was whether Jesus contributed progress or setback to the cycle of Israel’s experience. It was a difficult question.

The narrative in 18 words:

• God, community, creation,
• fall, failure, flood,
• family, famine, forced-labor,
• exodus, wilderness, conquest,
• judges, kings, injustice,
• exile, sojourn, return

Jesus experienced two seasons: summer heat and winter rains. During the summer, the sun beamed through cloudless blue skies day after day. The time is also known as the dry season, and dry it was. Only morning dew brought moisture to the vineyards of Galilee. Otherwise, the sun’s rays baked the land including the rooftops.

So the intense summer heat and winter rain necessitated roof maintenance described as follows:.

The roof of the house was generally flat. To make it, branches were woven together and laid on the rafters and then covered with a thick layer of clay that filled the spaces between the branches and formed a smooth, hardened layer of plaster. To keep the roof from washing away, the owner performed a number of maintenance chores that included rolling over the roof after a heavy rainstorm with the device very like the modern lawn roller, applying a fresh coat of clay plaster each fall before the start of the rainy season, and replacing the entire roof or sections of it when needed. See Mark 2:1-4 for mention of cutting through a roof. (Jesus and His Times, 93-94)

Jesus lived at home as a carpenter most of his life. He was no stranger to manual labor. Mudding the roof was a likely part of his experience as it was for his neighbors.

The Anchor Bible Dictionary, ed. David Noel Freedman (New York: Doubleday, 1991).
Jesus and His Times, ed. Kaari Ward  (Pleasantville, New York: The Reader’s Digest Association, Inc., 1987).