A Man Called Jesus: A Novel

By Rick Herrick

Have you ever wondered about Nazareth as a place to live in the first century? How about Jesus the miracle worker: how did he do the great deeds reported of him in the New Testament? A Man Called Jesus answers these questions and more. It recreates Jesus as a Jew in contrast to the first Christian of the early church. It’s a novel that makes one central assumption about the historical Jesus. He was a man all about love. In doing so it creates a Jesus that is relevant for all times and all places.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Sunstone Press
• Release date: Jan 1, 2015
• ISBN: 9781611393156

Rick Herrick

Rick Herrick has a PhD from Tulane University, is a former tenured university professor and magazine editor, and is the author of four published novels and two works of nonfiction. His musical play, Lighthouse Point, was performed as a fundraiser for the Martha’s Vineyard Museum in 2013.

Book preview

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A

Man

Called

Jesus

© 2014 by Rick Herrick

All Rights Reserved.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or

mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems

without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer

who may quote brief passages in a review.

Sunstone books may be purchased for educational, business, or sales promotional use.

For information please write: Special Markets Department, Sunstone Press,

P.O. Box 2321, Santa Fe, New Mexico 87504-2321.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Herrick, Rick.

A Man Called Jesus : a novel / by Rick Herrick.

pages cm

ISBN 978-1-63293-021-7 (softcover : alk. paper)

1. Jesus Christ--Fiction. I. Title.

PS3558.E748M36 2014

813’.54--dc23

2014027114

www.sunstonepress.com

SUNSTONE PRESS / Post Office Box 2321 / Santa Fe, NM 87504-2321 /USA

[phone] / orders only [phone] / FAX [phone]

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For our son, Ben

who inspires us at work, and makes us laugh at play.

Acknowledgments

The first century Jewish historian Josephus described Jesus as a teacher and doer of great deeds. These great deeds included several healings of people he encountered with disease. From reading the novel and the Explanatory Notes, you will learn how Jesus healed disease and the basic assumptions he made in practicing his craft.

Our son Ben is a medical doctor who heals patients by using different techniques and by making different assumptions. Despite these differences, Jesus and Ben share two important characteristics in common. They both exhibit a wealth of learning and a sense of compassion for their patients. Because Ben inspires me with his incredible work ethic, his skills as a surgeon, his compassion, and his many other achievements, I am proud to dedicate this book to him.

Earlier drafts of this book were greatly improved by the comments of four friends. Many thanks go to Les Woodcock, Bob Coe, Kate Hancock, and John Goldthwait. In addition to these four friends, I want to thank in advance readers who send me comments after finishing the book.

Forward

In describing Jesus for the first time in A Man Called Jesus, I set his height at five feet, six inches. That was hard for me to do. I imagine him so much taller. In fact, I see him as just like me or maybe more like a Hollywood icon at six feet, two inches with an athletic frame. History tells a different story, however. Five feet, six inches was the average height of a Palestinian male living in the first century.

Contemporary Christians invent a Jesus that meets their needs and supports their values. The gospel of Mark asserts that Jesus earned a living as a tekton (Mark 6:3), the Greek word for a person who works with his hands; ie, a carpenter, stonemason or blacksmith. Several years ago I read a book about the historical Jesus in which the author used this information from Mark to argue that Jesus was a builder, a solid member of the middle class. This author wanted a Jesus just like him. In point of fact, a tekton was on the bottom of the social ladder. Jesus was a first century Palestinian peasant.

Christians are in awe of Jesus’s ability to heal the sick; and yet as you will learn from reading this novel, his understanding of what it meant to heal someone was very different from our own. Though it may surprise many Christians, Jesus did not share our values. His understanding of the world had nothing in common with modern thinking.

For two thousand years Christians have worshipped a Jesus who is their personal savior. Again, history tells a different story. Jesus proclaimed the imminent coming of God’s kingdom, a political entity God would establish for the people of Israel. Ideas relating to his atoning sacrifice on the cross for the salvation of individual believers came from the early church. The historical Jesus would not have recognized or understood such ideas as pertaining to him.

In the history of Western civilization, no individual has had a more profound impact than Jesus of Nazareth. Sadly, however, the findings of mainline New Testament scholarship have shown that the Jesus who has had this impact is largely an invention of the Christian church. This created Jesus has little relation to the Palestinian Jew who lived in the first century.

Two important questions arise from this situation. Who was the real Jesus of Nazareth and what relevance does this man have for the twenty-first century? A Man Called Jesus attempts to answer these two questions.

Of all the materials contained within the New Testament, scholars are most confident that the teachings of Jesus are authentic. Without doubt, his most popular and important teaching is found in Matthew 22: 31-40. When Jesus was asked by a Pharisee which was the greatest commandment of the Law, he responded, You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and the first commandment. The second resembles it: You must love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments hang the whole Law and the Prophets also. (Matthew 22: 37-40)

As this well-known teaching suggests, the religion of Jesus was all about love. A Man Called Jesus is a novel about this love. It retells the Christian story by making two basic assumptions: that God is love and that Jesus reflects this love in a way few humans have been able to achieve.

In writing a novel about Jesus, one must make a number of significant historical assumptions. If you are familiar with the Christian story, you will note several places where the novel strays from that story. In my comments later in the book, I include explanatory notes in an attempt to defend the twists and turns the novel takes. Readers interested in issues of New Testament scholarship or who wonder about where this author is coming from, should not miss this section.

A brief notes section follows my comments. The notes are used to cite scriptural references and to fill in historical details relating to the story.

And finally, there is a Readers Guide at the end of the book that should prove useful for book club members. I hope you agree.

1

The Waterfall

It was the tenth day of Sivan, a late spring morning made warm by the hot sun of a cloudless day. Jesus and Anna were standing beneath their favorite waterfall located in the foothills of Mount Tabor, an hour’s walk to the southeast from Nazareth. As the chilly water cascaded down on them, Jesus wrapped his arms around the swollen belly of his petite wife.

What a way to celebrate Sabbath, he thought. The best thing about this sacred place was they could make love and then instantly become clean. There was no need for a ritual bath with all of this cool, clear water around.1 He smiled deeply as he felt the baby kicking inside Anna.

This water is freezing, my precious one, Anna said as she gently removed Jesus’s hands from her and stepped away from the waterfall. I’m going to sit and warm myself on the big rock.

Wrap yourself in the blanket. I’ll be right there, Jesus replied as he applied soap to his long brown hair. He lingered under the falls. It doesn’t get better than this he thought. He had just made awkward, wonderful love to his beautiful wife, and their child was due in the next few weeks.

And then a dark cloud swept over him. The tax collector would surely come this week, and he hoped they had enough money to satisfy Rome’s seemingly insatiable appetite for Jewish wealth. Raising cash was his responsibility. He left Nazareth each morning early to make the hour long walk to Sepphoris where he chiseled rock for the Roman theater being constructed on the northern edge of the city overlooking the Beit Netofah valley. His daily wages2 were stored in an earthenware jar to be used for payment of the hated land tax.

The only good thing about Rome he thought was that if you paid the tax they left you alone. The warm support of his family and friends helped to put the rapacious beast out of his mind. But he too was getting cold, and so he quickly finished washing his five foot, six inch body and stepped from under the falls to join his wife. He marveled at her beauty as she sat on the rock—the long black hair, olive skin, the shinning black eyes, and firm breasts that were gaining in size as her pregnancy progressed. She was spreading out their lunch of bread, dried figs, and olives.

Moses must have been deeply in love with Zipporah, Anna said with a sheepish grin as Jesus walked from the river and climbed up onto the bank.

Why do you say that? he said as he reached for the blanket to dry himself.

Because making love is not a violation of Sabbath Law. Moses made so many things difficult on Sabbath day, but he didn’t ruin our fun.

Most Jews don’t understand the reason for Sabbath, Jesus said as he spread out the blanket to dry in the midday sun. The point is to honor God."

If passionate feelings inside me do that, we did a good job, she said as she smiled across at him and handed him an olive. He squeezed her hand and sat down beside her.

That’s how I see it, Sweetheart. If you need squash for the evening meal, you pick it. No one can honor God if they are hungry. If your neighbor all of a sudden has a leak in his roof, you help him fix the roof. The best way I know to honor God is to help your neighbor, he said as he reached across for some bread.

You know so much about these things, my Jesus. You should become a rabbi.

My family needs me working in Sepphoris. Our land is too precious to surrender to the Romans.

But you can read.3 I can’t even imagine that. Rabbi Benjosef trained you well.

I have read Isaiah. That’s the only scroll the good rabbi had in his possession.

I’m sure they’re all alike.

Maybe. I would love to practice on some others.

How long did you train with Rabbi Benjosef?

I don’t think train is the right word. I started going to work in Sepphoris with my father when I was thirteen. He would often drop me off at the Rabbi’s house while he worked.

Your father was a fine man, though I didn’t know him well. I was a young girl when he died.

One of the many sad things about his death was that I was no longer free to visit Benjosef. My family needed me working.

Maybe you can take our son to learn from a rabbi when he comes of age.

I have been thinking a lot about how wonderful that would be. But a daughter would be precious too—especially if she looks like you. And he took her in his arms and kissed her passionately.

I just want a healthy child, and the sooner the better.

It won’t be long, my Anna, he said smiling across at her. The only unfortunate thing about this birth is that it will be harder to get to this wonderful place with a child to take care of.

We can certainly bring our child, but it will be a little more difficult to celebrate the Sabbath in our own special way, she said grinning across at him. And then a different thought crossed her mind. We must bring our children here, my Jesus. They must learn to love wildflowers. They will laugh, and giggle, and play in these clear waters. Our God is all about goodness and beauty and love, she said as she gently kissed him before raising herself and walking across the long flat rock to gather her clothes.

Hey, why are you putting on your tunic? I haven’t finished eating yet.

You can take the remaining olives with you. I need to get home to help your mother with the evening meal.

◉

Anna loved Jesus’s family—his mother, two sisters, and two brothers. It was the only family she had. They all lived in separate houses; two-room stone houses with flat roofs, and packed dirt floors, that were close together, arranged in a circular pattern with a shared courtyard. The courtyard was an important center of her social life.

Naomi, the youngest sister, was her favorite, a lively twenty-two year old who was closest to her in age. She was married to Aaron who, along with Jesus’s brother Joses, took care of the family animals and the animals of several neighboring families.

Anna, you have the nasty job of plucking the four chickens.

We must be celebrating Naomi.

Reviews for A Man Called Jesus

[dubiousdisciple · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Herrick’s new book is more than fiction; it’s a controversial, studied picture of the Jesus of history. Just as the Gospel writers set about to convey the nature of Jesus in story, so does Herrick. His Jesus, however, is human and fallible. The man we call Jesus fell into his place in history through good intentions and a bit of naivete.Buy this book for a thoughtful portrayal of a driven, compassionate man who lived 2,000 years ago. Herrick’s prose is a bit passive; this book just isn’t meant to be a page-turner. He repeatedly tones down the supernatural claims of scripture, sometimes blatantly rewriting the Bible. But that’s sort of the point. Herrick means to provide a reasonable image, true to the atmosphere of the first century, of the most influential man who ever lived.The book’s real value is in the retrospective analysis that it demands. Readers already familiar with the Jesus of the Bible will enjoy Herrick’s work the most, since it is the rewritten passages which are most meaningful. This is Herrick’s subtle way of highlighting where historical truth escalated into evangelical posturing, particularly in the passion narrative. Thus, the short section at the end, where Herrick discusses the research which led him to portray Jesus in this manner, cannot be missed.Recommended for all who believe they know who Jesus really was, this book will make you think differently.Sunstone Press, © 2014, 136 pagesISBN: 978-1-63293-021-7