'Jesus. Nativity - Passion - Resurrection' - Geza Vermes

Where I come from, which is small town South Africa, there are very few names as important as Jesus of Nazareth. In fact, religiosity is not only limited to some parts in my country. South Africans are very religious indeed. And Jesus forms a very important part of what many people here believe. As a practising Christian, I confess Jesus to be God incarnated. We believe Jesus to be send with a mission – to save mankind.

But Jesus is controversial. From the very beginnings of His ministry on earth, His life and work has been clouded in mystery.

Many people will deny this. Many people will argue that the life and work of Jesus on earth is easy to interpret.

But for me it is harder to deny that Jesus is a controversial figure. In fact, I believe that:

1. It is better for me to be honest about this, not only towards God but also towards my fellow Christians as well as all other people and

2. I believe that God expects me to be sympathetic towards people who do not believe that Jesus is God incarnated and also those who are like me – often sceptical.

A while ago, I have read the book Jesus. Nativity – Passion – Resurrection by Geza Vermes. Geza Vermes is described as “The world’s leading Gospel scholar”. He is a very celebrated theologian. Vermes’s book is in fact three books that he had written, but the edition I studied contains all three in one volume. It is a study of the life of Jesus in three parts, focusing on the mentioned themes.

The life of Jesus is not well documented. The best sources on His life are the four canonised gospels. There are some other sources on the life of Jesus, but the bulk of what scholars knows of Jesus of Nazareth, is what is written in the Gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.

What emerges from Vermes’s book, is that the Bible is full of contradictions about the life of Jesus. For many Christians, this will be quite disturbing. This is so because many of us consider the Bible to be verbatim words of God. If the Bible contradicts itself, how can it be God’s word? But for me this is not really disturbing. What is disturbing to me, is the way in which people can be so unsympathetic towards each other. This book by Vermes has indeed empowered me in many ways. Today it is much more clear to me why there are so many people who doubt in the stories of the gospels - indeed, I understand my own doubts much better.