Jesus: A Story of Enlightenment by Deepak Chopra

 Author’s Note: “This book isn’t about the Jesus found in the New Testament, but the Jesus who was left out – the enlightened Jesus. The gospel writers are silent about “the lost years,” as they are known, covering the span in Jesus’s life between the ages of twelve and thirty.”

This story is based on the premise that Jesus wanted “us to reach the same unity with God that he had reached. (…) To do that, Jesus has to be brought into the scheme of everyday life. He worries about violence and unrest; he wonders if God is listening; he is intensely absorbed in the question, “Who am I?””

In the village of Nazareth, two types of people lived, “people of the mountains and people of the roads, that is, those who stayed at home and those who traveled. (…) But Jesus was rare. He was of the mountains and the roads both.”

What Jesus and his brother James witness is the continuous rise of Zealot rebels against Romans. And wonder themselves which path to pick? “The Zealots had bitterly divided the community. For every Jew who saw them as merciless killers, another saw them as heroes against the oppressor.”

Then like an answer, Judas appears and tempts Jesus to pick up a sword and fight. “Pick it up when you’re ready to be a free man. Or leave it there to rust. That’s what a slave would do.”

“He had had enough of being a slave, and if Judas knew where the road to freedom led, the choice was clear.”

Jesus and Judas travel to Jerusalem “on a lethal mission, to stab the high priest of the Temple.” But only Judas knows the details of the mission. Jesus was tempted to fulfill the mission to gain freedom. But what he doesn’t know is that he is being lead on a mission to sin.

After a failed mission, they’re on the run toward the Dead Sea. But there is something about Jesus. Wherever he hides, he finds “new clothes and loses the air of a fugitive.”

He is lead to an oasis by the Dead Sea and as soon as they approach it, he recognizes the sect of Essenes; ones living in caves and hillside enclaves. “They were recluses, reputed to be the most secret sect in Judea.”

At oasis, he recognizes “the painting that shadowed Mary and Joseph in the stable.” On another painting he recognizes three crosses, and their meaning.

This unique journey takes Jesus through confusion and doubt to the realization of his true identity. The author combines spirituality with dramatic narrative to bring this intriguing story.

Author’s Note: “A static Jesus stands outside human experience… it makes him unique… but it also creates a gap. (…) Indeed, the only way to follow Christ’s teachings is to reach his own state of consciousness. To achieve Christ-consciousness… means walking the path to enlightenment that he walked. For that reason, the Jesus of this novel faces everyday doubts and contradictions. He wonders why God allows evil to triumph so often. He feels inadequate to change other people. He is torn between love for men and women and divine love. In other words, Jesus sets out to solve the deepest mysteries of life – this is the chief reason he isn’t static, as the biblical version of Jesus often seems to be.”

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