Play Book Tag discussion

What an unlikely choice for me to pick up and read, although to be honest its been on my TBR for an extremely long time. I always liked Sue Monk Kidd, since the Secret Life of Bees. But you wouldn't expect even a historical fiction lover like me to be jumping for historical fiction that depicts the life and times of Jesus. But why the heck not? My reading life has exposed me to so many things and areas and cultures and points of view and unusual tidbits of knowledge and experience that I would have never otherwise learned about. And Jesus is an area where I have known literally nothing. Like less than any Christian Kindergartener. I wouldn't have even known the basics of his life and times. Truth be told, I had to wait for the authors note, to distinguish which parts of it were based in truth, and what were the fictional parts. Because historical fiction becomes our truth. And many of our authors are quite meticulous in their research. Others stretch a great deal. But for me, everything that happened in Tudor England happened through the eyes and lens of Philippa Gregory. I would not know an ounce of difference from Reality. So Sue Monk Kidd becomes my version of Jesus Christ, even in her footnote corrections and clarity. So it turns out he never likely had a wife. But this is the story of what if Jesus had been in love? Had had a wife? This is the story of Ana. A writer and scribe whose life is changed and shaped and saved by her love for Jesus. And who learned how to become a voice. And this is her story, and her version of the story of Jesus. Which given very little other information, is my story now too.

I loved it - I loved Ana, and the other strong women I met through the book. Ana's brother was Judas, and John the Baptist also made an appearance and played a role. Salome, Jesus's sister (who knows if that is true) was in there as well. I thought it was a great read, and more humanity is needed. Here is one thing I know about Jesus that is well portrayed in the book. Jesus cared for all people. He mourned for their suffering if they were poor or hungry or mistreated or were in need. And he felt called to help. This one thing I have always known about Jesus. He loved others, whether they were foreigners, whether they were dirty or clean. Regardless of what they believed and practiced and the lands they came from. He believed in the right to live, love, and pray in any way that brought you closer to God, and he fought vigorously for religious freedom, for welcoming the stranger, and for loving one another. That I have never doubted.

The part that of course is hard for me these days, is how Church and God (and not everywhere, and not as a consistent truth, yet in some powerful places and instances) can be and has been used as an instrument of the opposite of Jesus's teachings. I am impressed by our late and new Pope's commitment to immigration, humanity, and religious freedom, as well as love over cruelty, which is what Jesus stood for. And what so many churches these days stand for. And yet there are those that would use Jesus and church as a weapon to raise the rich and the men, and create a social and economic structure that more resembles the thinking at the time of Jesus's life, even if he and his own thinking did not match that. How Church folks who come from a place of power, greed, and hate reconcile that within themselves, I have no idea. But its also not and never has been mine to reconcile. But this book reaffirms the Jesus I had imagined, one that comes from love and humanity and God and is a true leader, and who also loves deeply, as we all do. And his relationship to Ana and how he balanced that with his mission and devotion to God and serving others was beautifully done. This is the Jesus I knew.

So I veer off my review for a bit of a history lesson of what I do know, to explain where the Jews and the Christians became aligned and divided on the issue of Messiah. And it veers into my favorite topic- prophecy! So, somewhere long before the Common Era (BC - Before Christ), there were Jews and there were Romans and Greeks and Arabs and others. But the Christian Faith (Christ) grew from the Judeo (Judea) Christian line of ancestry. We were all one. And originally before that, Muslims were from the original split of the sons of Rebecca and Issac (Jacob and Esau). Esau being the father of the Arab world and what would eventually become Islam, and Jacob our father of Judeo-Christianity. Anyway, long before the time of Christ, there was a prophecy about the Messiah. That someone would come from the line of David (King David), which I believe was also the line of Benjamin, the 12th son of Jacob, Benjamin and Joseph (Coat of Many Colors) were the 11th and 12th sons, and the only children of Rachel, his truest love and one of our four matriarchs. This messiah when he came would come from a specific place (over the hills of the Mount of Olives) at a specific time (Shavous). I interrupt here, because I think Shavous is right around now. I just saw my girl Miriam on Facebook, who I befriended on goodreads as well, just do a video on Shavous, the Cheesecake Holiday. And I happened to read this book just at this time. Torah portions are a funny synergistic thing, so why not books.... Anyway, the messiah was supposed to usher in a time when we would see no crime, a time of peace, diseases healed, and no war, and love across the planet. And it had a specific date in mind. So when Jesus showed up, he fit a lot of the criteria. He came over, seemingly appeared in the community, at Shavous, coming over the Mount of Olives. He was from the line of David. And he could make the blind see, and the deaf hear. He walked on water and turned water into wine. None of that was in the book, now that I think about it. No healing or miracles. The only problem was, he showed up to early. He was supposed to come at around 6000 years. By the Hebrew Calendar, we are at 578-something. Maybe 5786? We are now like 200 years away, and the messiah was supposed to show up when you could blow up the world with the touch of a button. However that concept read back then, that was essentially it.

So in the Jewish thinking, Jesus was a rabbi and a carpenter, both somehow, and preached well. Its just not everyone was sure he was the messiah. One because he came pretty early by a stretch, and two, despite his teachings, peace had not settled on the land, war and crime still raged, people were hungry, and disease and famine still persisted. But many people, particularly the disciples disagreed and said This Was It. My guess is that the Crucifixion and the Resurrection had a good deal to do with that, but again, my Christian knowledge is less that of a Gentile Kindergardener. I am just sharing what I know about how that divide came to be. Anyway, the death of Christ heralded both a new calendar counting as well as a new religion that has populated our earth. But here's where we circle back together. The Christians are waiting for a 2nd Messiah where Christ's work can be completed, and the Jews are still waiting for the first. Which appears to be about 200 years away. Another tidbit, is that if you count a thousand years as a day (think matching evolution by the way - too much to explain here), then 6000 years hits right at Shabbat, where everything is peace and holy. And the last two hours before Shabbat is a madhouse in terms of getting ready to welcome in the new time of holiness. The thinking is, that that is where we are right now.

Side note, there was a Lubavitcher Rebbe (Rabbi) who some Jewish people thought was the Messiah. Maybe he was, what do I know - and now we are on the third. This Rebbe wrote a series of mystical books called the Tanya, and the mystical feats of Jesus have been known to be replicated and outshone by this man, and other holy people. So he is in the mix as well. He died in the early 90's, and my friend Maddy was working in the hospital when he passed away there, and that is a hell of a story, for another day. Anyway. The idea now, is that everyone, the whole world, is looking towards the 1st or 2nd or new Messiah, toward a time where peace and holiness can descend, and one would think we have a common goal, and are more alike than different. But our social and political climate would show both the truth of that sentiment as well as its opposite. And yet the truth remains, that all of us, religious or not, regardless of denomination or religion, we all want the world to be in a better place - don't we? I think we do.

Back to the book, Ana is a wonderful and it turns out fictional character, Jesus and Judah in more of a supporting role. This book is really about her and the women of the time. Its about her voice, her writing, her strength, and her love. And I really loved the book. I learned some things. I felt some things. I enjoyed it, and I grew in knowledge and in other ways as well, as one should from a good book. I thought it was great. Four stars from me.

I also really enjoyed this one!