Kingdom People

This post is written by my brother, Weston Wax, who is graduating from high school this week and planning to attend Union University in the fall.

Wood. Nails. Hammers. Frustration. Smashed thumbs.

Jesus would have spent hours working with wood, gradually sculpting the raw material into masterpieces. The Divine would have built homes, fences, and other necessities for every day life in the first century. His job for the day might have varied, but his resources did not. Wood. Nails. Hammers.

Ever stop to think that the soldiers who crucified Christ had the very same list of tools at their disposal? Crosses of wood. Long cold nails. And heavy cumbersome hammers. Their purpose however, was not to build a seat for a neighbor, or a trough for a Jewish farmer, but to destroy and pierce the flesh of the King of Kings.

Surely Jesus had to have thought, while striking the nails into his timber, that one day men would be doing the same, but with his own palm between the cold iron and wood. Surely he passed the tip of one of his spikes over his fingertips and grimaced in the solemn realization of what awaited him.

He was a carpenter. He was God in the flesh. He was well aware of the Father’s plan. So why then did God choose this profession? God easily could have chosen another occupation for his Son, one that wouldn’t require his child to be constantly reminded of his coming sacrifice.

An interesting question… but answered or unanswered, the fact remains. Jesus was a carpenter, stuck with wood, nails, and hammers. And because of this simple work, Jesus was reminded every day of his greater work. He was forced to focus on his task, his purpose, his mission. The tools of the carpenter must have screamed at him everyday, must have been awful symbols of his coming pain, but Jesus could hear something over the deafening cry of his instruments.

He heard your whisper. He heard my whisper. He heard our prayer for salvation and redemption. He heard the child on his knees at the alter, the father broken and lost, the mother tired and weary, the elderly aged and wrinkled. Jesus ultimately felt the splintery wood and thought not of his bloodied back, but of you, and the task that his Father had appointed Him. He felt the pointed end of the nails and didn’t think of his hand, but of your heart, and the very heart of God. He witnessed the strength that went into driving each nail into the thick wood, and He thought of you and of glorifying his Father.

So, why a carpenter? I believe it was a reminder, not just to him, but to us. Every day Jesus worked, he was reminded of me and you, and all he would do for us. And when we keep that in mind, we’re reminded of how much you and I should do for Him.

written by Weston Wax  © 2008 Kingdom People blog