Isn’t this the carpenter? Isn’t this Mary’s son and the brother of Jacob, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren’t his sisters here with us?” And they took offense at him. Mark 6:3

Jesus was locally known as the carpenter, an artisan, one of the חַכְמֵי־לֵ֔ב, a skilled worker, living from his talent and work (Ex 26:1-3, Ex 28:3, Ex 31:6, Ex 35:35).

At that time, the walls of the common houses were made of cob of one to two levels, and the flat roofs were made of simple planks, rafters, and battens, with no need for mastery of cutting or adjusting the pieces of wood.

A carpenter, on the other hand, was making wood pieces for the temple (Isa 44:13), was making boats, furniture, musical instruments (oud, lute, flute), and objects (locks) out of precise, fitted pieces of wood (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carpentry).

So Jesus was a designer who knew how to work with wood.

 

He is also the author (αἴτιος, Heb 5:9, 1Pe 1:3) of salvation for those who believe, who see his miracles, hear his parables, his beatitudes, his teachings.

In an age of mostly farmers, ranchers, merchants, clerics and Roman military men, he was an artist.

(Of course, there is also the divine Jesus who performed miracles, healed the sick, teaches and fulfilled the scriptures.)

And he was an artist who took care to put himself at the level of the people who listened to him: Short stories to keep the attention for 7 minutes maximum, few characters, almost no names or backstories, no description of the place, nor season or the era, no geopolitical knowledge to have to grasp but simple logic, common sense. Simple, short, efficient.

The French legal status of artist-author pays homage to this idea that the artist, a creator, is the author, the one by whom a change is produced in the viewer.