Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography Reflection

As a child I had few encounters with the Bible or even the Christian doctrine so when I began reading Crossan’s biography of Jesus I had little knowledge of its contents. With this limited amount of understanding I was open to his interpretation and I found many of the people and events that he discussed to be quite fascinating. Some of those include the contrast between Jesus and John the Baptist, his concept of the Kingdom of God, the disagreement between gospels as to who was invited to the first supper and why. I also found Crossan’s discussion about disease and illness quite enlightening. The way Crossan interprets the life of Jesus was far more interesting then I could have imagined.
John the Baptist was one of the few biblical figures that I actually remember from my brief stint in Sunday school. Though I knew he baptized Jesus in the River Jordan I did not realize that their lives paralleled as much as they did. The birth of John the Baptist to Abraham and Sarah parallels the birth of Jesus to Mary and Joseph in that Abraham and Sarah were infertile and past the age of birthing a child while Mary conceived her child by a virgin birth. Both these stories are anomalies, said to be impossible, but as we have learned from our reading of the Bible and works such as Crossan’s they are quite true. Reading about these two remarkable men is interesting not only because of the things that they accomplished in their lifetimes but because they themselves are miracles, an exact portrayal of the work of God.
“The Kingdom of God is the Kingdom of Wisdom eternally present –available, on the one hand, to anyone who heeds her call, and transcendent, on the other, to all the evil rulers of the world” (Crossan 57). Crossan writes that the present or sapiential Kingdom of God has two types, one for retainers and one for peasants. It is his belief that Jesus was an “illiterate peasant, but with an oral brilliance” (58). I find it very interesting to consider that Jesus was either a peasant or illiterate considering I have never viewed him as such. However, if in fact Jesus was a peasant I feel that it makes him less of a “king” and more like a regular person. It had never occurred to me that Jesus was anything less then an aristocrat but after reading Crossan I feel like it is easier for me to relate and understand the stories of Jesus Christ. After just reading about the Kingdom of God and how Crossan believed Jesus was a peasant I began to question what I had come to accept as my own beliefs about Jesus.
Within Crossan’s book he discusses beggars and Jesus’ relationship and connection with them. Crossan also discussed when Jesus gathered people for dinner in different gospels like Matthew 22:1-13, Luke 14:15-24 and the Gospel of Thomas 64. Each of these show a different version of who Jesus invited to dinner and who actually showed up. Some versions say that aristocrats or merchants were invited and they did not come so Jesus opened the invitation to everyone, while others say to search out the “poor and maimed and blind and lame” (67). It is interesting to me to think about whom Jesus would have associated with especially after coming to the realization that Jesus, himself, may have been a poor peasant.
As a sophomore in college I am majoring in nursing and have a profound interest in medicine, diseases, and illnesses. That’s why I found Crossans section on disease and illness particularly fascinating. My whole life I have wanted to go into medicine because I wanted to help people find the cure for their disease and help them in the healing process. When reading the book I came across a section where Crossan was talking about disease and illness and I finally found someone who I agree with completely. Crossan writes “Disease sees the problem, unrealistically, on the minimal level; illness, realistically, on the wider level. Think for example, of a difference between curing the disease or healing the illness known as AIDS. A cure for the disease is absolutely desirable, but in its absence, we can still heal the illness by refusing to ostracize those who have it, by empathizing with their anguish, and by enveloping their sufferings with both respect and love” (81). A prime example of Jesus’ healing comes in Leviticus when Leprosy is discussed. It says that even the clothes and the person’s house are unclean and therefore unfit to be part of society. Though there have been much discussion about Jesus and whether or not he healed the man with leprosy, Crossan believed “Jesus heals by refusing to accept traditional and official sanctions against the diseased person” (83). In other words he accepts him into the Kingdom of God. I find what Crossan is explaining to be very interesting and an overall good way to look at things because if I were the one who was sick I would not want to be ostracized but rather accepted for who I am.
This biography prompted me to question a lot of my preconceived notions surrounding Jesus and Christianity, while at the same time educated me on some of the Bible’s most interesting points. If I am to grow in my education it is important for me to be exposed to readings such as this that are not only interesting but informative. However, several of the topics covered in the book like John the Baptist and The Kingdom of God were far more interesting to me than others because I already had some recollection of these people and concepts and throughout the chapters my opinions changed. Crossan may be a bit hard to understand at some points but overall he writes about Christianity and the Bible from his perspective and offers an enlightening and refreshing look at our history and the life of Jesus.