“I wrote many novels without being aware that they reflected my quest for meaning in a world without God.” But after deciding later in life that Jesus is who He says He is, Anne Rice dedicated herself entirely to Christ. “Now what happened in 2002 was this: I was praying, I was talking to the Lord, I was discussing my writing with Him, and what came over me was the awareness that if I believed in Him as completely as I said I did, I ought to write entirely for Him. Anything I could do ought to be for Him. I told Him so. I set out to put this into practice. The day I told the Lord I’d write for Him, and Him only, I now see as the most important single day of my entire life. Truly not the simplest things have been the same since.” These words come from the Author’s Note at the end of “Christ the Lord – Out of Egypt,” Anne Rice’s first novel about Jesus. Before reading it, on the long flight from Washington D.C. to Johannesburg, I read her second book of this series, “Christ the Lord – The Road to Cana.” These books, written from Jesus’ perspective, are quite remarkable… and powerful.
As a writer, Anne Rice is not only known for telling great stories, but for being historically accurate in the details of setting, culture, and community. We all know Jesus grew up in Nazareth with His mother, Mary, and her husband, Joseph, a carpenter. What we rarely think about, because of Scripture’s silence, is what exactly Jesus did from age twelve to thirty.
In Namibia I met someone that made me think of Jesus, the Carpenter. His name was Stephen and he was a brick mason. We helped him build a wall and after two days of working with him, I thought to myself, “I’ll bet this is the way Jesus worked.” Stephen worked from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm in the hot African sun without complaint and without fanfare. If he knew I was writing this, he would probably laugh and say, “I just worked the way I always do.” He was honest; he was diligent; he did excellent work; he did not desire any glory… he was just determined to do a good job.
I don’t guess this is an overly fascinating point, to focus on an unknown laborer on the opposite end of the earth… except to remember that that’s what Jesus was for most of His life. Aside from the three years of ministry, His death, burial, and resurrection (the Gospel), we know about Jesus’ birth and an episode at the Temple. Everything else is hidden. But we know Jesus’ character, so it is not hard to propose that He simply worked hard every day of His carpentry career… except on the Sabbaths and festival days, since He was a Jew. Do you think Jesus complained? Do you think He loafed? Do you think He cheated His clients? We would never consider these possibilities. I wouldn’t be surprised if, every now and then, He talked to His Father in Heaven about God’s plans… but not in a wrong way. “Father, how long until Your reason for sending Me unfolds?”
We may ask similar questions about God’s timing and purposes… I just need to learn to humbly accept His answers. “Keep working with your dad on earth, Jesus. Work hard and do a good job. Treat people right and reflect Me. When its time for bigger things, I’ll let You know.”
“Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross!” Philippians 2:5-8