Joseph, The Great Servant

CHAPTER 4. THE FIRST TIME JOSEPH SAW THE STAFF-2

The old woman was waiting at the door and as Joseph was leaving, she said to him,

“Let me take your hand” and as she did, the boy felt the same tremendous surge of warmth and energy coursing through his body that he had felt that day when he had taken the hand of the girl Mary, many years before. When he looked into her eyes, he saw the girl Mary, but as an old woman standing before him.

When he arrived home his friends were waiting for him, and when they saw him arrive with a bundle of firewood on his horse, they all burst out laughing. Joseph hadn’t even thought of getting rid of the firewood that he had bought from the old man, and he said to his friends,

“Leave me alone, you’ve all caused more than enough damage.”

At this point, Joseph’s father appeared and on hearing the comment, he asked the boys what had happened. They proceeded to explain to him that on the way to the capital they had accidentally trampled on an old man who had been carrying a bundle of firewood. They told him that Joseph had stayed behind to help him, and he had only just arrived back with the same bundle of firewood loaded on his horse.

When he questioned his son, Joseph replied that his friends had only told part of the truth, because it was their mocking of the old man that had caused them to trample him. Joseph told his father that he had taken the old man back to his home in the woods not far from where the incident took place and had helped him tend to his wounds. However, just as he was about to tell his father of the miracles he had witnessed, he stopped short as prudent thinking got the better of him, and so he skipped the rest of the story, saying,

“Look what the old man has given me. He treats it like an old friend” and he showed his father the staff.

His father picked it up, looked at it and saw that it was indeed very special, saying,

“I think I’ve seen this staff before, or one very much like it many years ago. It too belonged to an old man who I came across one day on the way to the capital. If I’m not mistaken, he too said something to me about carpentry, but I was just a boy at the time. I remember the staff because I got a good look at it when I picked it up to give it back to him. What really surprised me was the fact that it had our ancestors’ symbols carved into it. Look Joseph, they go right back to the symbol of David. And then here are several more that lead to the name ‘THE MESSIAH’. Along this side, there are many more and at the end, a line has been carved with nothing else after it; it's very strange. Everyone descended all the way back from David right up to where it says MESSIAH, are all from the same lineage have been carved here on this staff.”

As Joseph’s father showed it to his son the others also managed to see it. His father continued,

“Here it says how each person died, and how old they were. Where it says MESSIAH, it has the word CRUCIFIED, and last of all alongside the word MESSIAH it has an arrow pointing in the opposite direction as though it’s indicating some sort of return, and that’s what puzzles me the most.” He went on,

“The priests at the temple will know what it means because this” and he pointed to the staff “is how family knowledge was passed down from parents to their children. The greatest treasure that was passed on to the children of any family was a staff with all their ancestors’ symbols carved on it. Those who were of the royal bloodline had a special one made from a type of wood that apparently provided its rightful owner with great powers.” And while Joseph listened to his father, he remembered everything that the old man had told him about the staff being special. Everyone realised that the staff was enormously valuable, exclaiming,

“What luck!” and then they left envying the stroke of good fortune that their companion had had.

Joseph spent the whole afternoon thinking over everything that had happened. The following day he went to the temple to look for a priest amongst those who taught the doctrine left to them by Abraham. The priests who taught at the temple had been entrusted to instruct anyone who passed through their cities.

To this end, a special caste of priests in Israel dedicated their lives to teaching and answering questions about the doctrine to anyone who wished to learn. Joseph went to one of the priests and introduced himself taking the staff with him. The priest took a good look at it, but as he wasn’t familiar with the symbols carved on it, he called over one of the priests who was a teacher of the teachers. However, he too was puzzled, saying,

“This is indeed a special staff. It must be very valuable because of the way it’s been carved. Judging by the number of generations carved on it, its wood has to be more than ten thousand years old but, apart from these carvings, it looks untouched with no other scratches or marks.” He told Joseph, “leave it here with us in the temple and let us study it in detail so that we can learn more about it.”

“Sorry, but it’s not mine and I must return it to its rightful owner in a few days’ time” said Joseph.

“Was it an old man who left this with you?” the priest asked. Joseph, surprised by this question, answered yes and the teacher told him,

“It is said that once in the life of each of David’s direct descendants, an old man will appear and provide them with a special sign in order that each one of them may travel along the righteous path. I remember your father being told something similar by an old man, just like his father before him, but no one knows what the old man wanted or where he came from. What all these events have in common is that the old man appears only to the descendants of David. No one else has ever mentioned anything like this happening to them.” He added, “Here’s some advice! Ask the old man about the meaning of the staff and make sure he gives you an answer. Then come back and tell us what he has said.” Then Joseph left.

Joseph, more and more astonished by what he had heard, set off for home. When he arrived, he told his father everything that had been said to him at the temple. Joseph’s father replied,

“I remember my father also telling me something similar. Be careful, Joseph! No one knows who the old man is, or whether he is human because no man could live for so long. Go and see him but be on your guard. You’ll have to act prudently when questioning him, but this shouldn’t be hard for you Joseph as you’re already tactful by nature. Remember, we have two ears but only one mouth, so we can listen twice as much as we talk, and we all learn more from listening rather than from talking” said his father. However, it was then that Joseph realised that no one had mentioned the old woman.

The next day Joseph got up very early and picking up the staff, he went off to see the old man and woman. But, amongst all the fuss and bother about the staff, the one thing that Joseph had forgotten to ask his father was if he had ever learned anything about becoming a carpenter.

When he got to the house, he saw the old man drawing water from the well. Joseph thought to himself, "It really is astonishing how well he’s healed! Although I don’t understand much, what I do know is that his wound was so severe that if anybody else had suffered the same fate, he or she wouldn’t have been capable of working for the rest of his or her life," and as he was thinking this, he reached the old man, saying to him,

“Good morning, my lord!”

“Good morning to you, and praise be to the ALMIGHTY because every day he gives us the sky, the earth, the sun and everything that can be seen all around us” he answered.

Things seemed fine to Joseph, but he didn’t reply. At that moment the old woman came out and looked at him, and in that gaze he felt a warm glow, just as he had when he had taken Mary’s hand many years before.

“Good Morning!” he said to her.

“Praise be! Tell me, have you already eaten this morning because you must have gotten up early to arrive here at this time," said the old woman.

“I totally forgot about getting anything to eat” Joseph answered. She smiled back while staring at him.

Joseph was invited into the house and as he entered, he saw that the interior had changed. There was now a table with some stools around it, none of which he had seen on his last visit. In addition, there was a fire where cakes had already been baked. Milk and honey had been placed on the table, although he didn’t remember seeing any goats or sheep. Just as his father had instructed him, he observed everything, but said nothing and waited. In came the old man carrying a bucket full of water, and when Joseph saw him with this, he turned red with shame, saying,

“My lord, please forgive me! I came in when your wife invited me and forgot all about helping you.”

But the old man was carrying the bucket with one hand as if it were as light as a feather, and answered,

“Don’t worry! When you're young and someone mentions the word “food”, everything else is forgotten. But before you start eating, I’m going to tell you something, and if you agree to it, you can go ahead and eat.

Everything in this house gets eaten up, but this food isn’t from the present, from the “here and now” so to speak. Just so you know, there’ll be a lot less to eat in this house in the future, and when the time comes, I’m afraid it will be you who must go hungry. How do I know this? Well, you must have guessed by now that it’s no coincidence we have the same name.

We are you, Joseph, but in the future. We are the man and wife that you yourself will one day be, and we’re here because if we don’t put you back on the right path, you won’t be able to carry out the mission that is your rightful calling.”

“My lord, tell me first what I must do and then I will decide whether I’ll eat or not,” said Joseph rather confused.

“My name is Joseph, and I work as a carpenter in a town called Nazareth, where I have what you see before you now” and as the old man said this, he showed him the carpentry workshop.

As Joseph looked around, everything changed before his very eyes.

“Yesterday it all seemed so old and was falling apart, but today everything looks new!” Joseph said, puzzled.

“Good!” said the old man, “That is how it will be when you are my age.”

And right at that moment the boy turned to look at the old man and what he saw frightened him. The old man now only looked about forty years old. The old man told Joseph,

“You don’t have to tread so carefully or watch what you’re saying around me, Joseph. Listen, we are servants of the ALMIGHTY and all we wish to do is to serve him in everything that he commands us to do. We have a mission, Joseph, but our mission is in danger because when someone is as young and headstrong as you are now, so many mistakes can be made that it will affect you for the rest of your life and will make you useless in the service of our Lord” and while still looking like a forty-year-old, the old man went on, “The ALMIGHTY has sent us to warn you that you are going astray. You are taking the wrong path and if you don’t change, then you will never know the mission he has in store for you.”