Christ the Lord

Because I've gushed so much in recent posts over the movie The Chronicles of Narnia, I thought I would take a spin as a book critic as well. Anne Rice is best known for her vampire novels, several of which have been adapted into movies (Interview with a Vampire). Rice lived and worked as an academic and atheist for thirty years before a dramatic conversion to Jesus in 1999. That conversion rose from a fascination with Jesus, and it led her to "do violence" to her career (her words) as she focuses on religious themes.

Her latest novel is entitled Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt. It tells the story of Jesus as a seven year old child in Egypt just as Joseph and his clan decide return to their homeland in Nazarath. The story is narrated by the child Jesus himself and focuses on his gradual journey to self-awareness. Why does he have miraculous powers? Why does he seem to know things a seven-year-old should not know? What was it that happened at Bethlehem of which Joseph and Mary will not talk? Rice powerfully captures both the normal child and the extrodianary being who is Christ as they exist together in a seven-year-old child.

Do I agree with all her choices? She writes as a Catholic, and Rice presupposes (as I do not) Mary's perpetual viginity and explains James as being from Joseph's earlier marriage. In fact, the older James becomes something of a foil that drives some of the tension in the book. And there are stories woven into the novel that come from The Gospel of Thomas, one of the Gnostic gospels. Rice almost appologizes for this in the author's note, but these stories do fit well the flow of the book. But then, if you are writing about Jesus as a seven year old, all the stories are going to be made up!

What isn't fiction is the great care and reverence as Rice handles her story. She is obviously dealing with something she feels is very holy, and so the telling comes across much differently than, for example, Dan Brown in The DaVinci Code or Angels and Demons. In fact, Rice's long and powerful author's note at the end explains why her extensive research led her to reject liberal recastings of the Jesus story and why she came to a very conservative and biblical view. Her title for the series captures her view of the hero of her story perfectly-- Christ the Lord.

Many points in the story touched me, but two more than the others. Tears came to my eyes as Mary finally tells Jesus the details of his birth-- the angelic announcement, the trip to Bethlehem, the manger, the magic. she tells him that he is the son of God-- not as a king or pious man might be; he is the Son of the Most High God.

If that brougth trears, the next brought chills. Later Jesus ponders over the meaning of Mary's revelation, and the power of the novel hits with full force. He says he finally understands why he was born. He reflects on all that that he has seen-- the death of a rebel killed by Romans, the death of his aunt deom a sickness, and the blood of sacrifices he saw in Jerusalem. He concludes that "Everything that is born is born to die." He knows who he is, and he also knows that he was born to die. But he was also born a child. That means that he was born to live and grow and love and learn and serve and experience what it means to be human. The book ends with his prayer, "Father in heaven, I am your child!"

Jesus was indeed born to die, as are each of us. But like Him, we are also born to live and grow and love and serve. And as in the life of Jesus, those two destinies are connected. How we live and grow and serve prepares us for our death. May God bless us all as we follow and serve Christ the Lord.