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Title: The Jesus I Never Knew
ISBN: 031021923X
Author:
Philip Yancey
Publicate Date: 2002-02-01
Publish: 2002-02-01
List Price: $14.99
Average Customer Rating: 4.5
Format: Paperback
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Amazon Lowest New Price: $5.85
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1: So, You THINK You Know About Jesus?
Try this on for size, and see what surprises you might find about Christ. Yancey doesn't animate this, but uses a journalist's perspective.
Is Jesus bigger than our expectations? Did he walk around constantly with a smile on his face, or was he a man with great concerns? Jesus came to this life and faced it from a human perspective. He knew what it was like to be lonely, and he knew what it was like to be singled out as a strange person. Yet those who came in contact with Him were never the same. An encounter with Christ made you great and attracted to Him, or simply hard-hearted. And nobody talked like Jesus talked.
Who He was, why He came, and what He left behind, this was interesting the whole way! Philip Yancey puts everything on the line, and in the end, what we do with Jesus is up to us.
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2: The Jesus I used to know
Philip Yancey, in THE JESUS I NEVER KNEW, lets slip with a few secrets that you never learned in Sunday School (nor even, for that matter, in THE DA VINCI CODE). Example: Have you heard the one about Jesus catching a bad case of leprosy? (p. 79). [He got it from rubbing spit-and-mud on an elderly leper, neglecting then to wash his hands before lunch. Two weeks later, when the lesions appeared, Jesus healed himself using the same trusted remedy, and Presto! he was good to go.]
Yancey's disclosures are precisely what make this book so important: Indeed, THE JESUS I NEVER KNEW has been "Critically acclaimed as the most significant book of the last ten years" (and it's not just Phil Yancey who says so, I take that quote directly from the book jacket).
Phil grew up long before the days of Christian video games, like that one in which you blast to smithereens the Jews who want to nail Jesus to the cross. As a child, Phil Yancey thought that Jesus was just some two-dimensional bearded figure in a boring flannelgraph story; after which, the teacher gave you KoolAid and sugar cookies. Later, as a teen, Phil was able to admire Jesus as a role model--a bootlegger who, when his Mom rebuked him, sassed her with such rude remarks as "Woman, what have I to with THEE?" But when Phil (as a grown man) finally came to know the true Lord of glory, he discovered "a Jesus who is brilliant, creative, challenging, fearless, compassionate, unpredictable, and ultimately satisfying"--not unlike Robert Powell in Franco Zeffirelli's film version (p. 77); in fact, I'd say almost EXACTLY like Robert Powell in Franco Zeffirelli's film version.
I actually like Jesus, quite a lot. Jesus, back when I first knew him, was (a.) the Son of Yahveh, and (b.) a very nice, well-adjusted person, which, when you consider those two facts side by side, is no small accomplishment. And I totally agree with most of what Phil has to say in this book about the real Jesus: "brilliant," yes; "creative," yes; "challenging," absolutely. I endorse all of his epithets except the last: "ultimately satisfying?" Not! Just ask Mary Magdalene, she'll back me up. "What would Jesus do?" is a fascinating question, but it's exactly what we never knew; and (trust me!) no one tried harder to find out the answer, than Mary Magdalene.
My favourite part of Phil's book is Chapter 4, "Temptation: Showdown in the Desert." Here's the story, which is one that Philip Yancey never used to know. In 28 CE, Jesus and I spent six weeks together, hiking in the wilderness and then taking a tour of Jerusalem. We talked. We reminisced. We shared our fantasies. My idea was for Jesus to have a little fun while he lived among humankind, maybe even commit a harmless sin or two, just as a life-experience; but he was not open to that suggestion (Mark 1:13). When he became hungry, I tempted him to turn stones into bread. He didn't bite. When he felt discouraged, I tempted him to throw himself off a pinnacle without getting hurt, thereby to prove his divinity. He didn't jump. Testing the limits of his courtesy, I offered him a sizable chunk of real estate - the entire planet - if he would pay me a single compliment of the sort Yahveh gets every day of the year. No thanks. And when he was horny - yes, Jesus was tempted in all points like any other man, but without sin - I'd catch his attention with some short-togaed Roman shiksa and whisper in his ear and say, "Hey, Jesus, how'd you like some o' that before returning to Heaven!" (Hebrews 4:15).
But Jesus would just his squeeze eyes shut in that cute way he has, and say, "Woe unto you, Lucifer, for trying to make me think about that!" (Matt. 4:1-11).
In retrospect, I have always felt my timing was off: for it was immediately after the baptismal service - right after he saw his Father looking down on us from Heaven - that I tempted Jesus to dabble in sin. I should have tempted him to dabble sooner, during his adolescence. Instead, Jesus' unassailable virtue struck a harmful blow to my self-esteem. It's quite unusual when I earnestly tempt someone to sin, for my suggestions to be rejected flat out. But with Jesus I hit a brick wall. I tried every rhetorical, Jesuitical, trick in the book. I could not even make Jesus WANT to dabble in sin. So I guess you could say that, between the two of us, Jesus proved himself the better man. He is certainly more obedient than I am. Well, more power to him! I've got no beef with Jesus. I just wish that I could have got to know him a little better before he scooted back up to Heaven and left us with a planet full of Christians.
--L
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3: This is must-have reading for the Christian
This is a fabulous book that I absolutely love. I have gone through it with men I was discipling in the past, and it makes a great gift to new believers or even curious inquirers to the faith. This is just a great, outside-the-box look at our Lord and I can't say enough about this book. Read it, read it again and then read it some more!
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4: Writings Outside the Canon Can Be Useful
So far, with the exception of a Children's Bible and the Bible itself, this is the only theological book I've ever read. I had the idea that rather than read various books ABOUT the Bible, why not just read the accepted Baptist canon over and over? I fancied my method as somewhat lazy and sneaky and thought I had mastered it enough to continue it indefinitely until my Bible study class said we were going to read "The Jesus I Never Knew."
In my mind I thought, "Darn, isn't reading the Bible ENOUGH? Look how big it is! How much more do you need? Just read a chapter of this one book a day, meditate on it, and you're all set." Maybe this is true. I'm not sure. But certainly additional reading doesn't hurt as long as it doesn't stray too far away from the Bible's message. I feel that Yancey's book stays close to the Bible, and it provides some useful insight that unimaginiative persons like myself probably won't consider by sticking to the Bible alone.
I must say that I'm impressed with Yancey's zeal. I'm wondering how many hours he spent thinking about Christianity to come up with his ideas. Also his honesty is impressive. He admits he has his occassional doubts about his religion, and sometimes struggles with lust. I believe most all Christians are battling similar devilish ideas in some form or other but are far too ashamed to admit it. It makes us look weak, which we are. Takes a big man to put faults like that in print.
I think what Yancey really showed me was that Jesus didn't really care who ran the government. He didn't try to turn the disciples into political figures who would make laws to mandate values of cleanliness. He knew that no matter WHO was controlling the government, he could get people to believe. I think the main point here is Christians aren't the morals police for the entire world. They can tell believers how to behave like Christians of course, but they pretty much have to leave non-believers alone. Non-believers don't have to act like Christians if they don't want to. However, if we get to vote on laws we want to have for everyone in our country, I'd like to vote against anti-Christian stuff, thank you very much. Of course, I might end up breaking the very laws I vote for, but oh well.
I think another point Yancey made was that even though Jesus probably had long hair, a lot of Christian schools only allow the clean-cut look. I don't think there's anything in the Bible saying long hair is sinful, but lots of folks no doubt are convinced that long hair is a sure sign of a secular lifestyle. I like my hair short of course.
Yancey makes a lot of good points showing how the church strays from its original intention in many ways. The thing he DOESN'T mention that he probably should have mentioned is that many, many non-christians are working for altruistic causes like feeding the homeless and doing cancer-fighting fundraisers and stuff. This REALLY makes Christians look outdated. How can Christians argue that people who are visiting the sick, feeding the poor, clothing the naked, and what-not, just like Jesus did, are not going to heaven? I think we need to be careful with our words, especially when we don't do stuff like that. When I see all these volunteers doing stuff I don't do, I feel like that tax-collector who prayed, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner."
As long as I honestly believe I'm a sinner who needs God's mercy, I have faith that his wonderful plan of grace will deliver it. This is what I believed before reading Yancey's work, and Yancey's work has reinforced my belief. Jesus died to forgive sins. Sure God loves it when people are good to others, but he also loves when people are humble, and you can't admit you're a sinner without a little humbleness. Yancey is quite humble himself throughout this book with his honesty, and seems like a genuinely nice guy.
Notice how little I mentioned Jesus in this review. Twice maybe. Although the book follows the life of Jesus very well, it contains a lot of other stuff that's well worth considering. It's not just a reprint of the gospels. I recommend it to get some new viewpoints, but I still think if you read the Bible without reading any other books about Christianity, you're no worse off.
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5: A new view
Yancey is a fabulous writer. This book made me think long and hard at how do I view Jesus. Yancey does a good job of pointing out things in a way everyone can understand.
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