Greetings Dear Reader,
There is a movie, Bridge
on the River Kwai about allied prisoners of war building a
vast wooden bridge. It is a movie about
character in adversity. It is a study in discipline
and bravery. What gets missed is the
engineering and carpentry that goes into the production.
Pain and sacrifice
went into that carpentry. There is
another carpenter I would not have you miss.
This particular first-century carpenter may or may not have been a
carpenter by trade during that particular spring. Still, he carved out the beams for his project
and fastened them together so that they would bear their load properly. There was no need to plane them smooth. Aesthetics were not part of the artistry of
this labor.
The demand for the beams
was constant. The process had to be efficient
and continuous. The beams were delivered
to the one who ordered them. They were
heavy like our modern railroad ties. The
one who ordered them did not want them.
Neither did the ones to whom they were given and they only used them
once.
The carpenter who
made the crosses for Golgotha had no idea what he was doing the week before Passover. When he fashioned the rough-hewn beams intended
for Jesus, he could not have known he was making it for a fellow carpenter. I wonder also if we ponder the carpentry
aspect of the cross.
The last recorded
interaction we have of Jesus with raw lumber is the crucifixion. Nails were used to affix the Carpenter of
Nazareth to the wood he created. His bloody
beaten back slid up and down the raw lumber for each breath on the cross. The crown of thorns was wood as well. The thorns that came into being as wood were
cursed in the fall became his royal crown and his blood poured down the lumber. The Carpenter King died on a wooden cross
wearing a wooden crown.
You see, Dear Reader,
the ultimate thing to learn in Carpentry 101 is that from the moment that he
created trees, the Carpenter knew he would die on one. He understood that we would take the amazing
creation that is wood and use it to kill him.
He did it all because he loves us and would rather die than live without
us. There is wood all around to remind us
of the instrument of our redemption. What
I must continually grasp is that as horrible as the cost for it was, the beauty
and uniqueness of wood can also remind us how the Carpenter works to redeem us
and shape us into something amazing. We need only accept the gift of the Carpenter
purchased on the rough crossed beams of wood.
He used those beams to build a bridge to us so that we could follow him
home. For now, here endeth the lesson of
Carpentry 101.
On the Willows – Steven Schwartz - Godspell
On the willows,
there
We hung up our lives
For our captors there
Require
Of us songs
And our tormentors mirth
On the willows, there
We hung up our lives
For our captors there
Require
Of us songs
And our tormentor's mirth
Saying
Sing us one
Of the songs of Sion
Sing us one
Of the songs of Sion
But how can we sing?
Sing the Lord's songs?
In a foreign land?
We hung up our lives
For our captors there
Require
Of us songs
And our tormentors mirth
On the willows, there
We hung up our lives
For our captors there
Require
Of us songs
And our tormentor's mirth
Saying
Sing us one
Of the songs of Sion
Sing us one
Of the songs of Sion
But how can we sing?
Sing the Lord's songs?
In a foreign land?
On the willows,
there
We hung up our lives
We hung up our lives
Wishing you joy in
the journey,
Aramis Thorn
Mat 13:52 So Jesus
said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of
Christ’s rule of the universe is like a homeowner. He liberally hands out new
and old things from his great treasure store.”
(͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)
Contacts for Aramis
Thorn:
Bookings: aramisthorn@aramisthorn.com
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