Johann Quisumbing

An Adventure Story of Yeshua bar Yosef by JQuisumbing

PREFACE

As a Bible teacher and storyteller, I love recounting the earthly life of Jesus, but mostly in the third person. Some time back, I started to write an adventure-like novel about Him from a first person perspective. The title was ‘Through HIS Eyes’. I only got as far as chapter 2 because I started doubting myself to write about Him, that is, to write what He saw, heard, said and especially what He thought. Even though this project was basically fiction, I hesitated because I feared putting out a misleading image of Him. The thought of heresy kept blocking my enthusiasm. Eventually, I shelved it thinking I probably would not pick it up again. 

But then in 2021, I experimented in putting myself in His shoes when I posted in my blog a Holy Week 7 part series, ‘His Voice from the Cross’. I wondered again about ‘Through HIS Eyes’ but still felt inadequate. Then I started to watch all sorts of movie renditions of Him including the latest TV series, The Chosen, studying how they presented Him. I learned a lot on how the authors/producers perceived Him then translated it into variented dramatizations. Now, I would not say that I feel qualified to venture into a first perspective story of the Son of God but I am encouraged. So, I pulled it out of the shelf and hoped that I would not blow it. 

Now, I want the readers to understand that though ‘Through HIS Eyes’ does follow closely the harmony of the four Gospels of the New Testament, it is still essentially fiction and by no means, did I write it as an improvement to the Bible. So, why am I writing this Biblical fiction? In my time of studying the gospels, I have always wondered about what went through Jesus’ mind especially since He as God denied His own deity  to the point that He walked this world just as any man (Philippians 2:6-8); to see why He chose twelve odd balls as His closest disciples notably men like a braggadocio Simon Peter, the worrywart Thomas or even Judas Iscariot who betrayed Him. Scriptures do not give a complete dossier on them but what it did provide was enough for me to exercise what my pastor coined as ‘sanctified imagination’ and fill in the blanks. Okay! I must confess that one of my other reasons to write this is that it will be FUN. 

Now, I have it always in mind that my readers are contemporary. The storytelling and descriptive aspects will be quite contemporary but as to the dialogue, I opted to use Jesus’ actual quotes from a variety of Bible translations. For instance, when I write of Jesus’ prayers whether in thought or out loud, I will use the archaic English of the King James Bible. Why? Because I love its poetic timbre. Of course, there will be times that in some of Jesus’ discourse I may have to paraphrase and also implement some creative license. 

One other thing, I have also decided to use the Messiah’s Hebrew name, Yeshua bar Yosef, which translates to Jesus son of Joseph. This will be the same with most of the other biblical characters.

All in all, I hope you enjoy the story and come away with a renewed sense to get to know Jesus Christ better by going to the source, the HOLY BIBLE.

To Adonai be all the glory!

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In my next posting, I will start our tale in the fringes of the Judean Wilderness, where an exhausted Yeshua was led by the Spirit of Adonai to be tested.

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