I will preface this post with an advance notice. In no way do I mean any disrespect to any of these artists, much less any member of the Holy Trinity. In fact, those three and myself are on a first name basis, and I have it on good authority that they have a GREAT sense of humor – not a good one. I have told a few people that anyone who ever sees me praying in my quiet time probably thinks I am crazy. I dont bow my head and close my eyes. I look up with my eyes open and reach toward the stars. My church is outside. In case anyone ever wondered why I dont take my hat off at meals when the food is being blessed, I aint being disrespectful… i am working. Ok. Having said all that… As my relationship with Jesus has strengthened and deepened, he has somehow found a way to help me maintain a state of “prayerful awareness” (I am calling it that for a lack of better words). Our conversations are usually one way conversations – and they usually begin with me asking “why” or something like that… His answers come back like this Don Williams song.
I was fortunate enough to get to take my uncle Don and my daddy to see Don Williams on his very last tour. I bought them both tickets for Christmas – money well spent, at least IMHO.
I have always been close to uncle Don, and he is the best brick/block/rock mason in this part of the world. And I aint prejudiced one bit neither. I was fortunate to get to spend many years working with him learning the trade. Honestly, I was never really very good as a brick or block mason, but I was a good laborer. Over time, I think I was learning how to be a decent stone (or rock) mason though. Whereas brick/block are more engineering based, stone/rock is much more artistic and visually based. I was in school and loaded down with religion classes as I was learning stone masonry. Instead of becoming frustrated, the gears in my head started turning. How many trees are there in Israel? How many wooden structures do you see in the old part of Jerusalem? If Jesus was a carpenter, why would he be called a stone?
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Acts+4%3A11&version=NIV
Then, that little kid called the Holy Spirit started whispering in my ear. He (or she – I aint sure) is a kid you know. The whispering got to a point that I had to stop at lunch one day and write something called “The Mason’s Muse”. A little background first. When a mason is preparing a stone for a position on a wall, floor, etc., he/she has to use a hammer/chisel or saw or drill to shape the stone to fit properly. One must be very careful however. If you use too much force or strike too many times in the wrong place or against the grain, you may break the stone in the wrong place. If the tone the stone makes when being struck changes, it will break VERY soon – mason beware! I was reminded of this passage… If Jesus really was a stone mason, I can totally see why he would say the stones would cry out! Makes perfect sense to me…
https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Luke+19%3A39-40&version=NIV
The Mason’s Muse
As I struck the stone today
Sharpened edge of tempered steel
Made it cry as if to say
Man, you know not how I feel…
With foolish human wisdom you
Fix flaws to fit me in
And broken now it’s true, I’ll
Never be the same again…
A beating bringing pain
Compromised integrity
Now the part that does remain
Will conform more easily…
God made me quite unique, and
Yet you struggle to improve
Stones He Himself hath set, since
You see spots to be removed…
Perception clouding judgment
Your decisions do deceive
For the Master was once sent
Teaching those who would believe
The Cornerstone, rejected
Without flaws to chip away
One day will be respected
On that final judgment day…
So. Where does that leave us? Was Jesus a carpenter? Maybe. My best understanding is that carpenter was the most “complete” word used for “builder” when the KJV was translated and no one has bothered to do anything about it. It is no big deal either way – except we do know that he died nailed to wood. But as efficient and engineer driven as the Romans were, Jesus was probably crucified on a Tau cross ( like a capital T) instead of a lowercase t. The reason? They could leave the vertical beam permanently planted in the ground and have the condemned man carry the horizontal beam up to speed the process along. The Romans were nothing if not efficient and brutal. Oh yeah – that kid – you know the one the Holy Spirit one… He (or she – still not sure) wanted to end on a funny note since PRAISE GOD HE IS RISEN! So here goes. This is Monty Python via Clint Black… It is called “The Galaxy Song” and it is meant to make us realize just how mighty our Creator is!