I usually do a review of at least one animal book on Wednesday, but I don't have one today. Instead, I am reviewing the book "The Jesus We Missed" by Patrick Henry Reardon. Rev. Reardon is an Antiochian Orthodox Priest who ministers in Chicago. This book is focused on discussing the humanity of Christ. Rev. Reardon certainly believes in the full divinity of Jesus. That will be clearly evident to anyone who reads the book. The purpose of this book is to explain that Jesus was fully human as well as being fully divine. The author explores instances in the life of Jesus that point to His real humanity.
This book would be worth reading just for the chapter that deals with the suffering of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane. What a tremendous account of Jesus wanting to avoid death if possible, but still, Jesus fully yielded Himself to the will of the Father.
There is another part of the book that made me think about an incident in Jesus' ministry in a different way. While Jesus was on the way to Jairus' house, a woman touched the hem of Jesus' garment in order to be healed. Jesus felt power go out of Him for healing, and Jesus wanted to know who touched Him. The author's take on this is that Jesus was wanting the woman to come forward and be acknowledged as a person of worth before the crowd. She had suffered for so long that her self-worth was totally eroded. Jesus, in His great compassion, wanted to restore her sense of value and dignity.
I found this book to be very well done. I highly recommend this work, and I intend to read other books by this same author in the future.
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