For Kahlil Gibran, re-telling the story of Jesus had been the
ambition of a life time. He had known it from childhood, when as a
poor boy in the Middle-East, he'd been taught by a priest reading
the bible with him. Now, in his maturity - and a successful writer
in the USA - he wanted tell the story as no one had told it before.
With 'Jesus, the Son of Man', (1928) he did just that; set
alongside Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, here is 'The Gospel
according to Gibran.' Gibran's approach is to allow the reader to
see Jesus through the eyes of a large and disparate group of
people. Some of these characters will be familiar: amongst others,
we hear from Peter; Mary his mother; Luke; Pontius Pilate, Thomas
and Mary Magdalene. But many other characters are new, created by
Gibran, including a Jerusalem cobbler, an old Greek shepherd - and
the mother of Judas. 'My son was a good man and upright,' she tells
us. 'He was tender and kind to me, and he loved his kin and his
countrymen.' What connects these people is the fact that they all
have an opinion about Jesus; though no two opinions are the same.
'The Galilean was a conjuror, and a deceiver,' says a young priest.
But then a woman caught in adultery experienced him in a different
way. 'When Jesus didn't judge me, I became a woman without a
tainted memory, and I was free and my head was no longer bowed.'
Not all the women like him, however. A widow in Cana, whose son is
a follower, remains furious: 'That man is evil! For what good man
would separate a son from his mother?' While a lawyer has mixed
feelings: 'I admired him more as a man than as a leader. He
preached something beyond my liking; perhaps beyond my reason.' A
philosopher is in awe, however: 'His senses were continually made
new; and the world to him was always a new world.' With each fresh
voice, a different aspect of Jesus' character is explored; and a
different reaction named. Gibran concludes by reminding us that all
the characters and attitudes presented in the story live on in the
world today, with nothing different now from then. The Logician is
clear in his distrust: 'Behold a man disorderly, against all order;
a mendicant opposed to all possessions; a drunkard who would only
make merry with rogues and castaways.' But for Gibran himself,
whose Lebanese roots placed him close to the original steps of the
Galilean, Jesus is worth rather more; and is present still: 'But
Master, Sky-heart, knight of our fairer dream, You do still tread
this way. No bows nor spears shall stray your steps; You walk
through all our arrows. You smile down upon us, And though you are
the youngest of us all, You father us all. Poet, Singer, Great
Heart! May our God bless your name.'
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