To leave the shop was not easy, but it was love

It was time for Jesus to leave His carpentry shop which was His home and His refuge.  Life was peaceful and safe here. It was here that He learned to shape the wood that His Divine hands had created. It was here that His body matured while His spirit waited for the right moment. And now that day has arrived.

 

I wonder if He wanted to stay. I wonder because He knew what His future holds. He knew that once He step out of His shop His feet would not rest until they are pierced and placed on a Roman cross.

I wonder because He had a choice. He did not have to go. Had He chosen to stay nobody would have known it. He could have come back when the cross was our style and death penalty would be done in a more humane fashion.

I  wonder because once He leaves, He would love His mother from a distance – from a boat, or from the edge of a crowd.

If in His humanity there was any hesitation to leave the shop, it was overcome by the compassion of His Divinity. His Divinity heard voices and saw faces. He heard the hopeless cries of the poor - the least of these, the victims of injustice and the infirmed.

His Divinity saw faces.  From the face of Adam to the face of the last infant to be born before the end of time, He saw them all. Some wrinkled, some weeping, some hidden behind veils and some obscured by fear. Some earnestly searching for meaning of their lives. Some blank with boredom.

And you can be sure of one thing – your voice was among the voices He heard and your face was among the faces He saw.

 He heard your silent prayers uttered on your tearstained pillow. He heard your prayers before you uttered them.  He answered your deepest questions about death before you asked them. Your direst need for a Savior was met before you ever sinned.

And not only did He hear you – He saw you. He saw your face aglow when you first received Holy Communion, or when you were confirmed, or ordained a priest or a deacon, or got married.  And He also, saw your face in shame the hour you first fell and when you  first lost your innocence.

He left the carpentry shop because of you. He laid His security down with His hammer. He closed the window shutters of the sunshine of His youth and locked the door of comfort and ease of anonymity.

He left the shop because He could bear your sins more easily than He could bear the thought of eternity without you. It was not easy, but it was love!