Caleb brushed aside the dust with his fingers and, leaning closer to the stone, blew away more particles. Joseph handed him the smallest chisel, and Caleb gently hammered in the fine lettering to finish the inscription on the stone lintel above the door of the house.

Stepping down from the ladder, Caleb collected the tools and joked with Joseph about the likelihood that the high priest might not pay them for the job. One more day of work in the holy city of Jerusalem and then they would travel home with others, to Nazareth for Joseph, and Bethlehem for Caleb.

For twelve years now Caleb had worked with Joseph, first as his apprentice, and then as a friend and fellow craftsman. Caleb often reflected on the extraordinary night twelve years ago when he had first met Joseph:

the night Mary had given birth to Jesus,

the night Caleb had been working in the hills of Bethlehem as a shepherd,

the night that was his 13th birthday,

the night when heaven showed its face and Caleb and the other shepherds had heard the voices of angels,

the night they had come to the cave to see the child the angels said would be found in the manger,

that singular night when Caleb became a man, a new man, a man of God.

Joseph had taught Caleb carpentry, and masonry, and stone carving. He also taught him to pray, to work as a form of prayer, and to read, so that Caleb might read the holy scriptures.

Joseph had also taught Caleb to listen:

to the wind,

to meanings underneath the voices of men,

to the silent stirrings of his heart,

to the messages of God that come in unexpected ways.

Caleb had traveled with Joseph, Mary and Jesus and other villagers to Jerusalem, to festivals, to job sites, and to the hills for rest and quiet. He had also continued his work as a shepherd, to be close to his father and his friends. He sheared the sheep and brought the wool to Mary. She wove wool and linen into marvelous creations.

“What will you weave next, Mary?” Caleb asked.

“Oh, I’m thinking of some things for Jesus now, and for later,” she answered.

Caleb later taught Jesus many of the skills he had learned from Joseph, when he and Jesus started to work on jobs together. Jesus was now the age that Caleb had been when he first met him. Caleb, and then Jesus, took on new apprentices to train as the years progressed.

Caleb owned a grotto next to his home in Bethlehem. Inside the cave he had carved a burial tomb for Joseph, and he chiseled a small prayer on the stone that covered the narrow opening, showing it to Mary, before Jesus and Caleb carefully laid Joseph down for his rest.

When Jesus began his public ministry, Mary and a group of other women would sometimes travel with them. Caleb occasionally would travel from Bethlehem to Nazareth to watch over Mary’s home when she was away.

Mary had woven an ingenious tunic for Jesus that seamlessly wove about him and adapted to various kinds of wear. Caleb had been perplexed, though, by a piece of linen she created that was roughly 14 feet long, and more than 3 feet wide. He knew that it was something special, so he built a cedar box in which Mary carefully folded the cloth.

One day when he was alone at her home while Mary was away with Jesus and the others, Caleb opened the cedar box and stared at the mysterious cloth. Placing his hands on the cloth, he prayed that somehow God would give a glimpse of Himself through that cloth, so that others might have a glimpse of heaven, just as Caleb had on a hillside of Bethlehem on a cold and silent night so long ago.

copyright 2025 Tom Medlar