Is this not the carpenter? (Mark 6)

Mark 6 has a few interesting notes off the top that are of minor importance, but make for good discussion. Apparently verse 3 is the only verse in the Bible that says Jesus was a carpenter, but it may have been altered from the earliest manuscripts. Yes, I'd say that while Jesus is popularly thought of as a carpenter, it's entirely possible that that wasn't his profession; there certainly isn't any record of him actually doing any carpentry work.

The next note points out that Jesus had many siblings, and suggests that the Catholic belief that Mary was an eternal virgin can't be true because of this. I believe that the Catholics would suggest that these were half-siblings by an earlier marriage of Joseph.

In response to both questions on verse 5, I would like to say that the reason Jesus was unable to do great works in his hometown was simply that people weren't interested in asking him for help.

As for whether or not Jesus commanded his disciples to go without certain things, I addressed that in Matthew 10.

On verse 11, I don't think Jesus is talking about destruction of cities, but rather judgment. Of course, this judgment could include destruction, in which case the SAB would be right, I suppose.

The SAB notes that many people had odd ideas about who Jesus was, including Herod who thought he might be John the Baptist back from the dead, "even though John had just recently died and the people must have known what he looked like." While technically true, I think it's worth noting that Jesus and John the Baptist were cousins, and may have looked very similar to one another. Anyway, I addressed Herod mistaking Jesus for John the Baptist in Matthew 14. I also addressed whether there was ever a just person in Matthew 13.