Jesus Is A Girl

 by Ted Dekker

September 25, 2006

I’ve been sitting back as of late, trying to understand that growing group of people who read my novels and those who refuse and from it all I’ve made some basic observations that have helped keep me centered. I think.

It’s increasingly amazing to me that so many people who call themselves “Christians” so often betray their conformity to a religion rather than to a faith, and remain mostly blind to the fact that the Rabbi named Jesus Himself railed against those so faithful to a religion rather than to a faith in His day.

The Pharisees lived squarely in the BOX of legalism, yet many today are trapped in that same grave Jesus referred to. As humans we have a tendency to want an explanation for everything, one that our own frail reasoning can comfortably grasp, and we support that tendency by demonizing anything that is not clear. The teachers that Jesus scolded had everything down to the clipping of their fingernails in perfect order.

But our ability to understand God is not meant to be so succinct—after all, we are human and He is God and who in their right mind can understand the mind of God? His ways are beyond us, as the word emphatically states. He pursues us with love more than with reason.

Now think about how storytelling fits into this issue. The Rabbi Jesus often told stories that were misunderstood by those who heard them, right? Perhaps as many as half of His fictional tales, called parables, left the audience scratching their heads. And when asked for the meaning, Jesus turned them away. He spoke in metaphor, as did most of the prophets who preceded Him.

When I lurk on the message boards and find evidence of good intentioned readers who are offended by the lack of clarity in some of my metaphors, I feel no anger, only amazement. Consider the following quote in a review of House by a reader who is complaining that it wasn’t nearly clear enough:

Jesus as a girl? Wouldn't it have made more sense to make Susan a boy and be in some way related to the Circle Trilogy's boy? Making Susan a girl for the sake of connecting her with Melissa was a bit sloppy...considering Jesus is in fact male. She even said it..."Son of Man." So is she Jesus or not? Literal? Metaphorical? Dead-end.

I’m sure this reader is rather intelligent, but they’re missing the point of the story, aren’t they? When Abraham killed a Ram from the thicket in his son’s place, said Ram was a metaphor for Jesus. Was the Ram male? Do we care? When we read a story in which Jesus is a lamb or a lion, or read about an angel thought to be Jesus who wrestled with Jacob, or the three angels who visited Abraham to announce the birth of Isaac one of whom was Jesus, or a mysterious king named Melchizedek, we see Susan. Redemptive analogies involving many Christ-types are replete in history and in the word.

The review goes on to criticize the fact that story House leaves for the reader to judge where or not Susan was an angel. Okay, let me just tell you once and for all who Susan is: Susan is a little girl. Susan is a victim. Susan is the way to surviving the night. Susan is the light, like the blinding light that appeared to Paul on the road to Damascus. Susan is a type of Christ and it matters not whether she’s an angel or a girl or a lamb or a box of chocolates.

The point of this Blog isn’t to tear down any particular review, rather to reflect on how narrow we who call themselves Christians tend to be, and how wrong we often are, good intentions put aside.

This question of how clear the thematic elements of my stories should or shouldn’t be comes up over and over and over. I’ll respond the way I always do: That’s in the hands of the reader. For those who have ears to hear, let them hear. The rest of you, enjoy the story.

Is Jesus a lamb? Or a lion? Or a Ram? Is he male? Is he white? Is he black? Is he a little girl named Susan?

You tell me.

THE END

Final Word

Sweet, huh?

Be sure to catch the interview with Ted Dekker, too. And if you missed any of our other special features, including works by Jerry B. Jenkins, Bill Myers and Tosca Lee, you can find them here.