The Bible, seen from a literary standpoint, is a book of foreshadowings, of prefigurements. It's amazing how verses from the Old Testament accurately prophesy the coming events of the New Testament.
Father Anton Pascual last Good Friday borrowed such an astounding literary device, a device which keeps readers on their toes as they pause for a while, gasping at the moment of epiphany.
He posed the question: Why did God choose a carpenter for Jesus' father? Why not a fisherman or a farmer or a doctor?
When Jesus was a little boy living with His putative parents, Fr. Anton goes, he used to be woken up by the sound of hammer striking nails into wood. Pok, pok, pok! It was a sound that signaled something to be glad about. It meant Joseph was busy in his workshop, toiling for a piece of carpentry work for a certain customer around town. Pol, pok, pok! To Jesus, it would be the sound of life. It meant a day assured by providence, another drop into the Holy family coffers. The clattering can really be annoying to His ears but He eventually got used to it. Much as it vexed Him into a rude awakening, it also signified life. Jesus couldn't help but thank the Father.
At the moment of crucifixion, the sound of joy would turn out to be the sound of agony, a death knell. Pok, pok, pok! The centurions are simply merciless as they drive the rusty nails into the skin and flesh of divinity, into the wood. Blood spills. Jesus is stripped down to His groin. He face spat upon. His body spent, kicked at. He groans the groan of the Son of God bearing the brunt of the sins of the world.
Jesus, it turns out, was just being prepared all along every time Joseph was busy in his workshop. Pok, pok, pok! The sound would become so familiar that at Golgotha, He would no longer be shocked too much. He would have been conditioned by the cruel sound of hammer on wood which to Him as a young boy always signaled not death, but life.
At the moment of crucifixion, Jesus is glad once again. This time, He is giving His own life.
4.16.2001
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