Jesus the Tekton
Timber Framing, Poetic Knowledge & the Curse of Sin
We stood at the ridge marking our property line, admiring our neighbor’s mature forest of mixed hardwoods and looking back with not a little distaste at the tangle of vines, thorns, and immature saplings on our side of the line—the mess from which we had just emerged. I counted fourteen holes in my shirt and more in my skin. We generally avoid this grim section of our otherwise beautiful farm but went that day to survey the forest and develop a timber-management plan.
Standing on the ridge, I realized that I had never fully appreciated the thorns and thistles of Genesis 3:18—which is to say, I had a superficial grasp of the curse of sin. I said as much to my companion, a professional forester and Christian, who remarked that it would make a great object lesson for our students—if we could find a way to get them there without getting cut to pieces. The insight struck with force: “No,” I said, “we’re going to go right through it! But just once a year; I don’t have enough shirts to spare.”
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Mark Perkins is a priest in the Anglican Province of America and Chaplain and Assistant Headmaster of St. Dunstan’s Academy in Roseland, Virginia.
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