Jesus the Son of Man

For kahlil gibran, re-telling the story of jesus had been the ambition of a life time. he had known it from childhood, when as a poor boy in the middle-east, he'd been taught by a priest reading the bible with him. now, in his maturity and a successful writer in the usa he wanted tell the story as no one had told it before. with 'jesus, the son of man', (1928) he did just that; set alongside matthew, mark, luke and john, here is 'the gospel according to gibran.gibran's approach is to allow the reader to see jesus through the eyes of a large and disparate group of people. some of these characters will be familiar: amongst others, we hear from peter; mary his mother; luke; pontius pilate, thomas and mary magdalene. but many other characters are new, created by gibran, including a jerusalem cobbler, an old greek shepherd and the mother of judas. 'my son was a good man and upright,she tells us. 'he was tender and kind to me, and he loved his kin and his countrymen.what connects these people is the fact that they all have an opinion about jesus; though no two opinions are the same. 'the galilean was a conjuror, and a deceiver,says a young priest. but then a woman caught in adultery experienced him in a different way. 'when jesus didn't judge me, i became a woman without a tainted memory, and i was free and my head was no longer bowed.not all the women like him, however. a widow in cana, whose son is a follower, remains furious: 'that man is evil! for what good man would separate a son from his mother?while a lawyer has mixed feelings: 'i admired him more as a man than as a leader. he preached something beyond my liking; perhaps beyond my reason.a philosopher is in awe, however: 'his senses were continually made new; and the world to him was always a new world.with each fresh voice, a different aspect of jesuscharacter is explored; and a different reaction named. gibran concludes by reminding us that all the characters and attitudes presented in the story live on in the world today, with nothing different now from then. the logician is clear in his distrust: 'behold a man disorderly, against all order; a mendicant opposed to all possessions; a drunkard who would only make merry with rogues and castaways.but for gibran himself, whose lebanese roots placed him close to the original steps of the galilean, jesus is worth rather more; and is present still: 'but master, sky-heart, knight of our fairer dream, you do still tread this way. no bows nor spears shall stray your steps; you walk through all our arrows. you smile down upon us, and though you are the youngest of us all, you father us all. poet, singer, great heart! may our god bless your name.'kahlil gibran was born in northern lebanon on january 6th 1883. his mother, kamila, came from a very religious background and he and his older half-brother and two younger sisters were brought up as marmonite christians. a local priest taught kahlil biblical lessons and, noticing that the young boy was bright and inquisitive, also taught him the basics of various other subjects such as writing, reading, history and science. in his own time kahlil indulged in the arts and would sketch and draw the beautiful surroundings of the mountainous region the gibrans lived in. when kahlil was eight years old his father was arrested for tax evasion after leading the family into poverty and kamila decided that the family should relocate to the usa, following in the footsteps of kahlil's uncle who had moved to america a few years earlier. his father was released from prison a year before the family left but he elected to stay in lebanon. the family settled in boston's syrian neighbourhood and kamila worked as a seamstress and peddler, selling fabrics from door to door. only two months after arriving kahlil was already in school and although he didn't speak english the teachers were quick to take notice of his talent as an artist and intr