Book reports are over-rated… forced upon us by our teachers, causing a child’s love for reading into a traumatic event for most students across the board. At least that was my experience. However, when I read The Jesus I Never Knew, by Phillip Yancey, I got a strong desire to really dig deeper and write out loud the findings I found to be true within his text. I hope you will also finds some truths of your own within mine.
Before I begin,I would like to say a special thank you for Philip Yancey for taking up space in the Christian world to speak your truth and to help us gain a different perspective on the life of the Holy Family and the imagery below the surface of social stereotypes. I highly recommend his book! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Yancey
The Jesus I never Knew
Author: Philip Yancey.
When I first read the title of this book, I knew this would be something I’d like to hold on too as a reference in my personal spiritual life, so I bought it new, for my own religious book collection. This may not be a typical to “collector books” such as the Harry Potter series, but nonetheless one that you could reference back to when you’re in a spiritual rut.
After receiving the book the look and feel of the book is very nicely done. The texture of the cover is a mixture of both glossy and matte making it a cover I won’t forget when I am trying to remember this book in the future. I also liked that the imagery of Jesus that he chose was more of a historical truth of what Jesus would have looked, middle eastern, dark hair, brown eyes, etc. As appose to the Jesus that you would commonly see in churches and Hollywood; white porcelain skin, blue eyes, and wavy blonde perfect hair. I think that by the author (Yancey) choosing this image of Jesus it sets the stage for a deep depiction of the truth on who Jesus is, and that is what drew me to purchase this book in the first place (as appose to renting/borrowing it for class purposes)
When flipping through the pages of book, you get a good look on how Yancey himself may have broken up his own research in finding out who Jesus really was. At first glance this is a pretty thick book, with 275 pages of story-line material, needless to say this is a bit much for a slow reader; however, if you read a little bit over the period of a couple weeks, this is a nice and easy read. It is nice that Yancey both teaches his readers and converses with them in relatable dialog. What makes this book run smoothly is by the way he broke up the book in three sections; PART ONE: Who He Was, PART TWO: Why He Came, and PART THREE: What He Left Behind. These three sections not only organize the foundation of his book, but also gives his readers a synapse of the entire New Testament, from Jesus’s birth to His rising from the dead, and all the miracles, temptations, and earthly drama in between.
An over look of Philip Yancey’s, The Jesus I Never Knew:
Who He Was: In part one of the book Yancey, goes into detail about his own life’s experience about what he first thought of Jesus growing up and led into confusion and doubt as he grew up. Growing up in a Christian household and attending a Christian school most of his life, he never knew of any other religions and it wasn’t until he saw the 1971 movie The Gospel According to St Mathew, directed by Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini, (page 15) that he really started questioning everything he knew about Jesus. Knowing that Yancey gave a special thanks to the class he taught at LaSalle Street Church in Chicago, I would have to say that that movie was the foundation of his lifelong research of who Jesus really is. He continues through part one looking into what it may have been like if he had been there when God became man. He goes into rich detail of what was happening around the world when Jesus was born and the comparisons of Western/ modern day Christmas and what that day actually looked like when Jesus was born. I found that Yancey goes in such grave detail that it would lose my interest throughout the book. It almost felt like he would get loss in his own thoughts of what was happening that he’d lose me as a reader.
Why He Came: This who section is staged during “The Sermon on the Mount” and is nicely summed up as the “Lucky are the unlucky”, which I also learned that the word blessed in Greek means just that. In this section, Yancey references a lot of profound figures throughout history, such as Martian Luther King Jr, Gaundi, and Mother Teresca, who lived their life to the fullest by loving one another as Jesus loves us. He also talks about Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky that did not understand the meaning of love until they had no other way to live. For example, “Prison offered Dostoevsky another opportunity as well… Yet over time he also glimpses the image of God in even the lowest of prisoners” (page 141). Overall in this section he teaches his readers the beauty of Jesus’s grace among all. He welcomed the sinners and the tax collectors. He cured and loved the sick and brought them all to his table. I like how Yancey explained how easy it was to pin a sin then it is to extend Grace, what is even harder is to extend Grace upon a sinner. He goes into detail on how this principle that Jesus profoundly used throughout all his teaching made the Jewish people very angry. For the old law was and eye for and eye and this new law was made for forgiveness.
What He Left Behind: “we would know nothing about Him except for the traces he left in human beings. That was his design” (page 228). I love this quote, Yancey breaks down Jesus’ life to nothing but the holy spirit, which is the whole reason God became flesh, so that we can have a part of him in us and that we will be made in His image because of the coming of His son Jesus Christ. I also found it interesting the imagery of the disciples looking around for Jesus in the sky, picturing bystanders walking by them wondering what they are looking at makes me laugh. In concluding both this section and the book, Yancey tries to envision what Jesus’ Kingdom looks like. He takes from what he’s read in scripture that perhaps the Kingdom looks more like a farm land and seas to fish in, then it would a palace with a golden gate. He finishes his book with what Jesus’s up-most-calling: Love.
While reading this book I felt enchanted. I felt like I was going on a spiritual quest with Philip Yancey and I greatly enjoyed the adventure and imagery he laid before me. He achieved these effect, by his attention to details and personal reflection of his own life. Lastly, he kept it relevant, to our everyday society. I liked it how even though he is a very intelligent, theologian he kept light for anyone to enjoy and understand. As I said before I am glad that I bought this book, and I look forward to referencing it to anyone that needs some insightful answers as to who is Jesus.
The Jesus I Never knew, In my own words.
I thoroughly enjoyed this book, not only did it take me on an amazing journey through the New Testament it also taught me some truths I did not realize. For example, from the beginning, Yancey takes us to when Jesus was in Mary’s womb, and how she must have felt, the horror and humiliation. How must her parents felt? I never thought about that before, but that is true. I found it interesting how he looks in Revelations chapter 12, an angel’s birds eye view of Jesus’ birth. This was a little frightening seeing the spiritual warfare between good and evil play out in action on earth. “Often God comes with two edges, great joy and great pain… Mary embraced both” (page 32).
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Throughout the book, Yancey not only adds some great quotes but also creates some profound ones himself; such as, an W.H Auden’s poem, “O here and now our endless journey stops.” The shepherds say, “O here and now our unless journey starts.” The search for the worldly wisdom has ended; true love has just begun. Talking about when the wise kings came to see baby Jesus in the manger. Or from Martin Luther King Jr. “was not to defeat the white man, but to awaken a sense of shame within the oppressor and challenge his false of superiority.” It was interesting to find out that Yancey, although at that time, was routing for the other side, it was by King Jr’s love and forgiveness for other people that changed his own heart during that time of civil rights. This had everything to do with what Jesus stood for. Lastly, Yancey say’s “Grace was slippery, evanescent, hard to get my mind around. Sin was concrete, easy target to punch on”. (page 152) This was a great way I thought, to describe the trials between sin and grace. It is so easy to call someone out on their sins and even your own, but it is so hard to pinpoint when someone is showing you grace. Grace to me can often be mistaken for being condescending. Just letting a big deal go, just to forgive, for the one being forgiven, they may be wondering “what’s the catch?”. With grace there is no catch, it simply is all you need, to know the meaning of Love.
At the end of the book probably my favorite part was when Yancey’s “companion” asked him this, “Philip, do you ever just let God love you? … it’s pretty important don’t you think?” (page 269). He goes on to explain that with all his research for the Truth he missed the whole message. Sometimes we are so concerned with what we don’t have we forget what we do have. Love, this is Jesus’ legacy, the reason He was here and is the reason he will come back some day.
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