Blasphemous Rumours

Today's Friday Reads is Lamb by Christopher Moore. It's a seasonal choice, for obvious reasons. Before I am accused of Blasphemy for suggesting this title, read the book. There are numerous scenes that are wildly inappropriate (Biff & the kama sutra, for one) but there are others that remind us of Christ's humanity.
Jesus laughed, cried and ate meals with his friends. He slept, got mad and probably, as a child, got in trouble. Lamb takes the theme of Jesus' humanity and runs with it.
I always thought that Jesus had a good sense of humor. He probably needed it to deal with the disparate personalities He encountered in His ministry. The demands from people for Him to heal them must have been unreal, and sometimes the best way to deal with stress is to laugh.
It's an irreverent story. It's not meant to be (pun intended) Gospel truth. It's a work of fiction, and it is quite an enjoyable one.
From http://contemporarylit.about.com/od/fiction/fr/lamb.htm
Here is a brief synopsis:
Our story begins with the narrator, Levi bar Alphaeus, who is called Biff, meeting the Savior as a boy in the streets of Nazareth, where the son of God is resurrecting lizards, just for fun. Joshua (Moore reminds us that "Jesus" is a Greek translation of his name) and Biff become best pals, a dynamic duo of which Joshua is the earnest and good-hearted half, and Biff, the source of much mirth and more than a little mischief. They are like any other pair of good Nazarene boys - studying the Torah, arguing over who gets to play Moses and who Pharoah, and occasionally smiting one another in the eye. Their childhood is of course peppered with unique occurances as well - omens, prophecies, minor healing miracles, and the arrival in town of Mary from Magdala, who the boys simply call Maggie, and for whom they both develop a boyhood crush.
Lamb really picks up when Biff and Joshua leave Nazareth to seek out Balthasar, Gaspar, and Melchior, the three Magi who foretold the coming of the Messiah and were present at his birth. Along the way, the two boys have more than their fair share of adventures involving bandits, Yeti, and hundreds of blood-thirsty followers of Kali, the Hindu Goddess of destruction. Amidst all of this Joshua and Biff travel along the Silk Road to China and later to India and along the way learn the tenets of Confucianism, Taoism, and Buddhism; Joshua also studies yoga, and Biff, the Kama Sutra.

But all good things must come to an end, and when Biff sees the image of Joshua's mother Mary in a water stain on the side of a temple wall, they know it's time to return to Nazareth. The storyline becomes familiar at this point - Joshua picks up an entourage of disciples, performs public miracles, is persecuted by the Pharisees, and is, well... you don't want me to spoil it for you, do you?

I highly recommend this book if you enjoy hilarious, irreverent writing. Moore is a brilliant story teller, and the story holds up as much today as it did when I read it as a Borders store manager 10+ years ago.