I Eat Poetry

Khalil Gibran - A Rich Levi in the Neighborhood of Nazareth, on Jesus the Good Carpenter

He was a good carpenter. The doors He fashioned were never unlocked by thieves, and the windows he made were always ready to open to the east wind and to the west.
And He made chests of cedar wood, polished and enduring, and ploughs and pitchforks strong and yielding to the hand.
And He carved lecterns for our synagogues. He carved them out of the golden mulberry; and on both sides of the support, where the sacred book lies, He chiseled wings outspreading; and under the support, heads of bulls and doves, and large-eyed deer.
All this He wrought in the manner of the Chaldeans and the Greeks. But there was that in His skill which was neither Chaldean nor Greek.
Now this my house was builded by many hands thirty years ago. I sought builders and carpenters in all the towns of Galilee. They had each the skill and the art of building, and I was pleased and satisfied with all that they did.
But come now, and behold two doors and a window that were fashioned by Jesus of Nazareth. They in their stability mock at all else in my house.
See you not that these two doors are different from all other doors? And this window opening to the east, is it not different from other windows?
All my doors and windows are yielding to the years save these which He made. They alone stand strong against the elements.
And see those cross-beams, how he placed them; and these nails, how they are driven from one side of the board, and then caught and fastened so firmly upon the other side.
And what is passing strange is that that laborer who was worthy the wages of two men received but the wage of one man; and that same laborer now is deemed a prophet in Israel.
Had I known then that this youth with saw and plane was a prophet, I would have begged Him to speak rather than work, and then I would have overpaid Him for his words.
And now I still have many men working in my house and fields. How shall I know the man whose own hand is upon his tool, from the man upon whose hand God lays His hand?
Yea, how shall I know God's hand?