This idea of people making a living apart from the regular day job is legitimate, even in the Bible. We know the Old Testament prophet Amos maintained a full-time job as a sheep-herder while tending sycamore trees on the side. Similarly, the New Testament missionary Paul supported his mission work by making and selling tents.

Now, when it comes to Jesus, what do we know?

The Bible gives no clear word that Jesus did any extra work to earn a living once he began his ministry. His full-time job of teaching wasn’t designed to produce income. But it’s a logical conclusion he could have been earning money on the side considering what we know about his upbringing, his ministry timeline, and those who served with him.

Clearly, Jesus and his disciples had many skills that were suitable to produce side gig income. Jesus himself was a carpenter, trained under his father Joseph’s watchful eye. His disciples were mostly uneducated men but skilled in the art of fishing. And we know the group of disciples had a treasurer who kept a moneybag.

Was Jesus hired to make a kitchen table for someone when he wasn’t traveling from town to town healing the sick? Were the disciples out fishing and selling their catch at the marketplace? Did they help any of the local farmers in the fields? Was the tax collector turned disciple Matthew hired again during the Roman tax season to collect Jewish revenue owed to the government?

It’s reasonable to conclude some of these could have happened. But we can’t know for sure if Jesus had a side gig. The question we have to answer is, “Should you have one?” 

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