A Better Gospel

Writing in The New York Review of Books some months ago, historian of religion Eamon Duffy says of James Carroll's recent book, Constantine's Sword: The Church and the Jews: "Carroll believes that the entire structure of the Gospel narrative can be criticized as being unworthy of the story it wants to tell, because of the distorted prominence the Gospels give to the Crucifixion."

Carroll, Duffy continues, offers "an alternative account, in which the Gospel narratives...are replaced by something more this-worldly and emptied of the supernatural." For example, instead of witnessing an actual resurrection, a "healing circle" of Jesus' friends met, and as they did this, they began "imagining" that Jesus was risen and there with them. Carroll, moreover, is certain that this was all that happened to the first Christians because his own circle of friends, all "East-Coast Lefties," had a similar experience as they mourned a friend's death from cancer and imagined the friend to be with them.

"What a keen idea," I thought when I read this (although as a New Yorker, I live among many "East-Coast Lefties" and never realized that they had so much imagination). The wonderful thought came to me that my own life experiences can also offer clues to much more realistic explanations of various episodes in the New Testament, making them more "this-worldly" and "emptied of the supernatural," thus improving on the Gospels. Here are a few examples:

? Jesus Feeds 5000 with Five Loaves and Two Fishes, and There Are 12 Baskets Left Over. My friends and I had a picnic one Fourth of July, and even those who were not expected to bring food had done so. As a result, we had a great abundance and we felt really blessed and happy, and had a lot left over, too. I am certain that something like this is what really happened that day in Galilee.

? Jesus Turns the Water into Wine. One summer when I was traveling in Italy with some college chums, a waiter was so pleased to be able to talk to us about his experiences in America that he took away the tap water at our table and replaced it with wine, gratis. This gave us such a marvelous and joyous feeling, and I realize now that we had been shown the truth of Jesus' "miracle" at the wedding at Cana.

? Jesus Walks on the Water. When strolling on the shore in Long Beach several years ago, I got into a conversation with some young surfers, who told me that you can get a sense of walking on water as you ride the waves. Thinking back to that incident now, I realize that Jesus was most likely an early practitioner of the surfing arts, experimenting with slabs of treated wood on the Sea of Galilee when the water was rough, and then using this skill to approach his disciples in the storm.

? Jesus Takes Three of His Disciples Up to A Mountain and Is Transfigured Before Them, His Face Shining as the Sun and His Raiment as White as the Light. One of my high school buddies noticed one day that all her white clothes had become very dingy, so she washed them with strong bleach. As she walked toward me in the sun wearing her newly laundered garments, she looked simply divine. This explains the disciples' feeling of wonder when they beheld the "transfigured" Jesus. They were so dazzled by his brightness that they thought "no earthly" process could have achieved it, but we know better now.

? Jesus Is Scourged, and Walks with Bleeding Footsteps, Carrying His Cross to Calvary. On a shopping excursion years ago I simply exhausted myself but had to walk home because I had spent all my money and did not have carfare. I was carrying a great many packages and on top of this I had an awful shoe bite. This was the worst physical pain and stress that I have ever experienced and now I see that it was something like this that Jesus endured.

? After His Crucifixion, the Resurrected Jesus Enters the Upper Room in Which the Apostles Are Staying, Even Though the Doors Are Closed. Once some girlfriends and I were discussing our mothers, while unbeknownst to us the cleaning lady had quietly entered the room. One of my friends missed her mother so much that she imagined the cleaning lady was her mom and hugged and kissed her. Something similar undoubtedly happened to the disciples in the upper room.

I am so grateful to James Carroll for helping me to see that Jesus did not bring anything into the world that I could not have experienced on my own. In fact, now I'm wondering why a gospel hasn't been written about me and my life.