Just then Joshua stumbled through the gate and crashed into us. We were able to catch ourselves and him before anyone fell. The Messiah was holding the little girl's pet bunny, hugging it to his cheek with the big back feet swinging free. He was gloriously drunk. "Know what?" Josh said. "I love bunnies. They toil not, nor do they bark. Henceforth and from now on, I decree that whenever something bad happens to me, there shall be bunnies around. So it shall be written. Go ahead, Biff, write it down." He waved to me under the bunny, then turned and started back through the gate. "Where's the friggin' wine? I got a dry bunny over here!""See," I said to Maggie, "you don't want to miss out on that. Bunnies!"
i enjoy christopher moore as a writer. i have most of his books, but my favorite by far is Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ's Childhood Pal, which i just finished re-reading. and please don't be put off by the blasphemous-sounding title; this book is brilliant. it's funny, touching, thought-provoking, and spiritual.
i was raised catholic, and if you've met me, you know i need to know the "why" of things. a lot of the things i was being taught were presented as fact without any reason behind it. it's not that i disbelieved what i was being taught, it's just that i wanted to know more. i needed to understand the people in the story, not just the story itself. my biggest issue, always, was the way jesus ("joshua" in the original hebrew, and how he is titled in the book) was described, personality-wise. as in, he had none. yes, he was the son of god, and yes, he had very important things to do and ideas to teach. but one of the central tenants of christianity is that jesus was just like us "in all ways except sin." if he was like us, where was the humanity? i get that he didn't sin, but didn't he get confused, happy, irritated, etc just like us? how else would he know the experience of being human? i know life was hard in that time and especially for jews under roman rule, but wouldn't there have been some humor, some spontaneity, even if it were just in self defense to keep from going crazy? and also: where did he learn all these things he taught as an adult? they were decidedly un-jewish concepts, and very eastern in their feel.
i think part of why this book sits well with me is because it just makes sense to me. yes, it's a work of fiction, and moore readily admits that several things included most likely could never have happened; but it's a beautiful story of a soul that is struggling to learn all he can so he can be messiah to his people. in lamb, joshua does not sin, but everything else about him is human. and if you have a person who cannot sin, then he needs someone to look out for him. you need someone like biff who's going keep him safe and do the lying and stealing and cheating when it's necessary for survival. who is, as raziel the angel states, a bit of an asshole. it just makes sense.
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