Strange thunderous sounds can be heard close by...I suppose more stone workers starting early--getting a jump on their day too.
Nothing but white stone everywhere as I walk down stairs and descend into the side of the rock. I pick up my tools and start banging away. After lathering up a good sweat and humming a tune to myself...banging rock...cutting stone....suddenly a man is in front of me. I'm guessing he is the new partner they have sent to help me finish this project.
"Extra tools over there for ya" as I point to the corner. The man walks over and bends down and grabs the sledge hammer...he begins to pound away with me---in rhythm. "A lot going on 'round here today" I said. He just kept banging away...seemingly enjoying the physical work.
It's easy to get lost inside your own thoughts with everything happening recently. So much commotion...people happy...people angry...people sad but everyone has strong feelings this week. The past week was kind of a blur....
The man stopped...I can only see his profile but never his full face...
Deliberately he heads up the stairs and outside into the new sunshine. The man speaks with a woman....low talking at first...then she is embracing him like an old friend. "Strange" I thought but I went back to work. Soon he came back and was back to work hammering and pounding the area into submission.
The guards that were here on my last work day are no longer here...and it is very quiet once the woman leaves.
This is not my favorite job for a stone cutter--but it pays the bills. I don't like the thoughts about being here amongst the dead.
The job is moving along quickly with my new partner. He is very quiet but he is a good worker I thought to myself. I wish everyone would partner like this.
"Let's break for lunch" I said. The man headed back outside with me. "Hard to believe all that has happened this week--eh friend?!"
"What do you mean?" asked the fellow stone cutter?
"I mean...the man riding in a week ago as the awaited Messiah...and then by a week later--his crucifixion--the leaders got rid of him quickly..."
"What man is this?" asked the fellow stone cutter.
"The carpenter from Galilee...the man with astute learnedness in all of the books of the law...and a man who was unafraid of the temple leaders...he called it like it was...sometimes kind and gentle fighting to allow the children to come to his side...other times fiercely full of fire to heal the sick--and drive out demons....and compassion--there was nobody like him...he always gave more to others."
"He sounds like quite a man" stated the fellow stone cutter. "Oh--he was" I said....and then I was out to get bread on the morning before the sabbath...and suddenly a man next to me was taken by the Roman guards to carry this man's cross up the long hill."
"The man was a prophet of some sort...yet he couldn't escape their grasp" I said. It's sad that it comes down to the powerful...having the power to do as they wish."
The fellow stone cutter grunted...then stated "Maybe there was a different plan even more powerful than what meets the eye" he stated...
Two men came running up looking like they were racing for their very lives...they raced past and to the tomb next door. Like was shining brightly out from the darkness. "Strange things still happening" I said. "I was told to mind my business and stick to my work....so I have."
"Indeed...and you have done that" stated the fellow stone cutter. "You have carved and pounded and cut out an area for the future dead to be laid" he observed. "You have done what you know to do by trade...skillfully carving through the solid rock."
"It reminds me that since your wife died two years ago...you have been as impenetrable as the very rock you work on."
Shocked at the fellow stone cutter knowing a part of my very own story--I quipped "How do you know these things and who are you?"
I felt a burning in my heart as if a laser had pierced my armor that had long protected my broken heart.
"James...I have come to cut through the stone around your very heart...here...today."
As the fellow stone cutter finished uttering these words he slowly turned and I caught his face and his eyes for the very first time...there was a fire in his eyes like lightning...he placed his massive hand over my chest--over my heart...there were scars on his hands...Suddenly I felt my own heart--pounding strongly--and I was keenly aware of it...it felt as though a weight had dropped off of my chest and shoulders...and instead of just being--just living--I was aware I was alive...and then he was gone.
There were many other stories I heard through the next few days...strange appearances...to the men who rented my upstairs room --and to other women as well.
I can never forget the fellow stone cutter who looked within me and spoke my story---the man who broke through my stone encrusted heart and brought my sorrow out...the man who cut away the stone and brought me back to life.
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