
This novel by Anne Rice was a welcome interruption in my usual readings. I'm still plugging through "A Team of Rivals" and enjoying it when I can. But this novel grabbed my attention. I've never read an Anne Rice novel. I understand them to be sexually provocative, quite vampirish, disturbing, and historically representative. The Author's Note at the back of the book gives you an insight into Rice and why the change of subjects. It also gives you a listing of the fine scholarship she consults as the background for her story. It was enough to give some confidence in reading the book.
When we read the Bible, we often fail to imagine the circumstances of the stories. We immediately put Jesus in stereotypical scenes we have come to imagine as authoritative. Often we just don't fill out the details in our minds, and the stories hang there as disembodied spirits, with ideas as the main focus, not people. One of the things that I often do with the scriptures is to try to get to the point. What's the main objective here so I can have my "talking points" in order. In this novel, and let me stress that it is a novel, not to be confused with truth or reality, Rice tries to get inside Jesus. To live in his skin if just for awhile. This book is a refreshing perspective on the young Jesus. It is reverential, a little too Catholic for me at times (I don't know that Jesus' miraculous deeds were wrought before his ministry began), historically accurate on many points (the portrayal of the customs and divisions of the time were masterfully conveyed) , and quite imaginative.
I must say that Rice opened up my imagination to what it would be like for Jesus to grow up; to learn of himself; to gain insight into who he was announced to be; and how, as a young boy he would cope with this extraordinary knowledge. We forget that Jesus' life is a story of details, just like our own. I think, sometimes, in order to preserve Jesus' divinity, we make him out to be super human. But Rice reminds us that part of Jesus purpose was to grow in understanding. To learn, to seek wisdom, to grow, these were as necessary for Jesus to be human as they were for him to be born. There is a fine moment towards the end of the book where Jesus comes to a profound understanding of what he is doing. I won't share it here, though it is a great preachable moment.
At one point in the novel, Jesus is reflecting on the stories of his heritage. He narrates it this way:
"Stories were our history, and who we were, and there were times when I liked nothing better than the stories.
"Yet I was coming to understand something of the greatest importance: all stories were part of one great story, the story of who we were. I hadn't seen it so clearly before, but not it was so clear that it thrilled me." - p.228
Our story is caught up in the story of Jesus. Rice's novel is an imaginative invitation to walk with Jesus in one part of his life. I think I'm changed by the walk. I know I'm eager for the next installment.