Ed, my neighbor next door, was philosophical when there was a covering of snow everywhere on the morning of May 25th. “No point in even considering it,†Ed observed. “It will melt before lunch.†He was right. It melted away like butter in a hot frying pan well before noon.
I was upset for my tomato plants out in the snow. I had some pots around them for protection, but snow was a mean thing to come upon them. I had a little pep talk with them and hinted strongly that it wouldn’t snow again. I tell Ed that you must talk to your plants, that any gardener knows that. I won’t mention Ed’s reply, as some people can’t be told anything the least bit out of the ordinary.
The only vegetable Ed considers really worthwhile is the potato. If there are meat and potatoes and a slice or two of bread, that is all Ed needs or wants. Ed says that all those other vegetables like beans, cabbage, cucumbers, carrots, lettuce etc. are of little value and certainly not worth a word or two from anybody. Ed says to forget all vegetables except potatoes.
Ed also says to forget it when it comes to jobs, in that, if it isn’t farming he doesn’t want it. Any job that isn’t farming is a bad job for him. Not too long ago, there was an uproar when the federal finance minister said “There are no bad jobs.†He was addressing those unemployed not taking what they considered to be a bad job because of the pay or the location.
I asked Ed to list five bad jobs, in his way of thinking. I was not surprised that being a pastor/priest was his first pick; his second was school teacher, his third was nurse, his fourth was politician and his fifth was taxi driver in a big city like Vancouver, Toronto or Edmonton. I was surprised to learn that Ed has a dream job which is being a jockey. He is the wrong body size to be a jockey. Therefore there is no changing to the job of jockey for Ed.
When Jesus was thirty years of age, he changed jobs. He went from being a carpenter to being a rabbi – a teacher of Jewish law. Jesus was considered an excellent teacher. He was also a great healer of the sick, blind, deaf and demon-possessed. He was even able to bring the dead back to life. The Bible says, “Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.†After Jesus brought Lazarus to life from being dead in his tomb, Jesus entered Jerusalem. There the whole city was stirred and the people celebrated Jesus in triumph as a great prophet from Nazareth in Galilee.
A good job today would seem to mean good pay with health and retirement benefits. Jesus’ retirement benefit was an agonizing death on the cross, suffering the punishment of all sin for all time. His sacrifice was the hardest job ever. On the cross, the crowds mocked him and the soldiers gambled to obtain his clothes. The best jobs and the worst jobs on this earth mean nothing unless God in heaven is well-pleased with our work. The job is never over until God gives His seal of approval and, in the case of Jesus, it was his resurrection from his grave on the third day.
