Book Review: The Jesus We Missed

[JimB]

The Jesus We Missed
The Surprising Truth about the Humanity of Christ
Patrick Henry Reardon​

(Nelson, 256pgs, $16p)

Since the fourth century we have been told that Jesus, while on earth, was, and I quote, “fully God and fully man.” As theologically-sounding as that phrase may be, for me it is incredibly unsatisfying, a pill too big to swallow without a little help washing it down. I mean, how can anything be doubly “full”? If Jesus was “fully” man and “fully” God at the same time, then how can someone like me be expected to imitate him? He had a distinct advantage in his struggle with sin—being God and all—but if I read the Bible correctly, he was a God who got weary and slept, hungry and ate, thirsty and drank. Who sweat, felt corporeal and emotional pain, wept, expressed joy, bled. He had to learn stuff. He suffered temptation and prayed. He did not know who touched him in a crowd or the time set for his return? All of these are natural human limitations Jesus experienced and I, for one, do not believe he faked them just to “appear” human. ​

The Incarnation, according to Scripture, is “the great mystery of the faith, God revealed in a human body,” but, I wonder, should it be something so ethereal that it defies reason and be dismissed with a cliché? To add to my dilemma, Jesus himself always—always!—referred to himself as “Son of Man” (80 times) and never—ever!—as the “Son of God.” In fact, Auburn theologian Walter Wink claims a more precise rendering of the phrase “Son of Man” would be “The Human Being.”​

Okay, now my head is beginning to hurt, so I’ll leave all that to the theologians. Personally, I am comfortable with the idea that Jesus, while he walked among us, was every bit as human as we are. If he was God-who-became-man-only-to-become-God-again, as the Epistle to the Philippians tells us, that is fine with me. At least I know God understands my limitations, up close and personal, because he experienced them himself in Christ. Unfortunately, however, for those who may want to delve this subject, there are few studies available concerned with the mystery of the Incarnation. Except for Max Lucado’s lay-friendly “God Came Near,” I can’t think of another. ​

This may be because when Christian writers speak of the sticky subject of the humanity of Jesus they are often accused of falling prey to the skepticism that denies Christ’s divinity which marks the so-called “quest for a historical Jesus” crew. It’s a subject that has been avoided. Until now. Baptist-trained Antiochian Orthodox priest, Patrick Henry Reardon, has taken on the contradiction in a palatable new book, “The Jesus we Missed: The Surprising Truth about the Humanity of Christ.” ​

Reardon takes special care not to minimize the divinity of Jesus and to be true to the 2,000-year confession of the Church while helping his readers come to grips with the “mystery” of the Incarnation of Christ, his flesh-and-blood humanity as seen in the Gospels through the eyes of his contemporaries and those who knew him best ​

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~​

Author’s bio​

Patrick Henry Reardon is pastor of All Saints’ Antiochian Orthodox Church in Chicago, Illinois, and senior editor of Touchstone Magazine. In the past forty years, Fr. Patrick has published more than 500 articles, editorials, and reviews in popular and scholarly journals, including Books and Culture and Touchstone. As a guest lecturer, he receives invitations year-round to give retreats, homilies, lectures, and Bible studies. In addition, Fr. Patrick has penned several books for Conciliar Press, including Christ in the Psalms and The Trial of Job.

Fr. Patrick was educated at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky; St. Anselm's College in Rome; The Pontifical Biblical Institute in Rome; and St. Tikhon's Orthodox Seminary in South Canaan, Pennsylvania.