I finished “Killing Jesus“, a week later than I planned. I have to say I was much more interested in it once it got to the life of Jesus and his eventual crucifixion.

It was as graphic as I expected it to be, with a few things left out that really surprised me. I don’t think they were left out because they were considered myths, because they are in every single other story or show about Jesus’s life, including the 4 gospels in the Bible.

the first of these was when Jesus was betrayed by Judas, and as he is being captured. Peter takes out his sword and cuts off Malchus’s ear. It is at this point that Jesus tells him to put the sword away, and reattaches Malchus’s ear. On pages 223-224, the chopping off of the ear is mentioned; but not the reattachment.

The other thing that was excluded was when Peter is inside the temple walls and he denies knowing Jesus 3 times, before the rooster crows. I was very surprised that neither of these things were mentioned, when I find them vital to showing not only the loyalty of Jesus’s disciples, but also the fact that they were scared of their own upcoming punishment for following Jesus and believing in his ministry.

A passage that I found very interesting was when Jesus was criticized by the Pharisees for eating with person’s who were considered unclean. “Don’t you see that whatever enters the mouth enters into the stomach and then out of the body. But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and these make a man unclean. For from within, out of men’s hearts come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance, and folly. All of these evils come from inside and make a man unclean” (O’Reilly, B., Dugard, M., 2013, Killing Jesus, pp -160-161).

So, on a lighter note, I think it’s time to find a more upbeat book to read next 🙂 I have a couple books on my bookshelf that I have not read yet, but I think I am going to bypass those for now,  go to Barnes and Nobles, and pick up a Joanne Fluke book. If you have never read her books, she includes recipes in her book as the main character runs a bakery. After reading several of her books, I think it’s time to try out some of those recipes!

Oh, and they are always based on someone’s murder, and I know that isn’t upbeat, but the stories have a humorous side to them and always ends with the good guy winning. Who can’t like that in a story? 🙂