Publisher's Synopsis
Did you ever wonder what Jesus really said? What was he really trying to say? Memoirs of Jesus is a book that attempts to look at the deeper meaning of what Jesus Christ said and did at least as portrayed in the Gospels. Most of the text follows the Gospel of Luke. Jesus was often misunderstood. Certainly he was misunderstood by the religious leaders of his day. Even his own followers did not always understand what he is trying to say. Memoirs of Jesus are an attempt to help readers understand some of the complex even conflicting things that the Gospels present. Memoirs of Jesus was inspired by a homily given for the feast of the Ascension of Jesus. The homilist mentioned that he has seen pictures of Jesus ascending into heaven but never pictures of what Jesus saw as he ascended into heaven. He said he would like to see such a picture. I knew that I did not create pictures but I did write. I decided to create a written account of what Jesus saw. Basically as I wrote an account of the twelve Apostles I realized they were all misfits in the religious environment of their day. I came to the conclusion that they chose Jesus as well as Jesus chose them. They chose Jesus because he was also a misfit in the religious environment of his day Luke presents the work of Jesus as his "mission.'" But what was the mission of Jesus? The author takes the approach that Jesus' "mission" was to preach the message of the forgiveness of God. That should have been the approach of the religious leaders of Jesus' day. The book points out that there were fees charged for being forgiven. Jesus was cutting into the economic structure of religious practice in his day. The religious leaders were the ones who profited from the fees. So Jesus was definitely a misfit. I began to see Jesus as one who preached a simple message: "Your sins are forgiven. Be well!" Once I saw Luke's Gospel in that light the Gospel began to flow in a very simple way. Each event followed on the last event. Many well-known passages took on a new meaning. I hope the reader is able to see the Gospel of Luke in this way. The sole intention of the author is to help others see the Gospels and the mission of Jesus in a new light.
