Apprenticeship

by Joey Davis

At the end of the day, Jesus sweeps up the wood shavings on the floor of the shop for the last time. He stands and looks back while resting on the broom in the doorway. The fresh-cut smell of sawdust is fragrant with memories. Memories of Joseph

wrapping his large hands around the hands of an eager little boy as he shows Him how to hold a saw, pound a hammer, and plane a piece of wood. Memories of the objects that they made, the furniture, the tools. I wonder if he ever built a cross? Memories of the lunches they shared, the conversation, the laughter.

As He closes the door, Jesus says goodbye to those memories. But before He leaves His life as a carpenter, there is one more goodbye that He must say.

We have no record of their conversation. Maybe that is good. Goodbyes are so private and personal, so full of tender words and kind gestures, and yes, even our Lord and His mother deserve some semblance of privacy.

Not long before, Jesus had told her that He had to be about His Father's business. From that time until this, both He and His mother knew the fate that faced them. Now it was here, and all of the things that Mary had pondered in her heart made its way to the surface and came spilling down her cheeks.

He meets his cousin who is preaching a message of repentance. When Jesus responds to the preaching, John is puzzled. What would Jesus have to repent? Nothing! How far would Jesus go and to what steps would he descend in calling an indifferent world into His fold?

From the heavens, the soft flutter of God's Spirit descends upon His shoulders as people stare and wonder. Who is this for whom heaven opens and upon whom the Spirit of God settles so tamely?

A thunderous voice answers their pondering, "this is my Son, whom I love; with Him I am well pleased." What had His Son done to merit such approval? Maybe it was the same pleasure Joseph had when he saw the young Jesus standing next to him in the shop, miming his every move. Though his Son had not made anything of His own, He was so eager and willing.

Jesus' baptism marked His passage into a new apprenticeship. The apprenticeship of suffering. It would be the hardest and lowliest work He would ever do.

But He would be working with His Father, listening to every word, following every instruction. And He would be working with delight. What father wouldn't be pleased?