In the Footsteps of Jesus...

Back on January 1, I posted about the first of fifty "must read" (in my opinion) books. If I choose a new book every 2 1/2 months, at the end of a decade, I'll have a list of fifty books that I think everyone should read at some point in life. Today I bring you book #2. It's called In the Footsteps of Jesus: One Man's Journey Through the Life of Christ.

I happened upon this book in December 2007 during an impulsive shopping trip to a Christian discount bookstore. My hands were already tired of holding a very heavy shopping basket, but the store was going out of business and I just couldn’t pass up the deals as I walked the aisles. This was the very last book I tossed in – I found it hidden among other books of subject matter that didn’t interest me. I purchased it more out of curiosity than anything else, but I now count it as one of the most soul-changing purchases I ever made.

In 1993, a man named Regardt Van Den Bergh began filming a four-hour, word-for-word depiction of the Gospel of Matthew. Bruce Marchiano portrayed Jesus in Regardt’s film, and this book is his testimony of how that role forever changed not only his life, but the way he related to his Savior.

The closing words of the preface to the book, written by Bruce himself, say this: Lord Jesus, thank You that You know us so well, so specifically. Thank You that You know every heart, every dream, every hope, desire, and circumstance. O mighty God Jehovah, let not one of us walk away without a fresh look at You, a fresh touch from You, a fresh understanding of You. Father, I submit us all to be loved, to be held, to be embraced by You. To be filled with Your joy. To hear Your heart and taste the warmth of Your smile. In your precious name. Amen. (p. xii)
I experienced a bit of each part of that prayer as I read through Bruce’s book and underwent a transformation in the way I knew and related to Jesus. I’ve known Jesus all my life, and even though I had experienced His love and direct involvement in my life, there was still a side of me that related to Him as Someone Who was a bit unapproachable. But after reading Bruce’s interpretation of Jesus as He interacted with those whose lives He touched, I now approach my time with God in an entirely different way. A real way.

This book is filled with excerpts from Bruce’s journal, stories of specific scenes that touched his heart, the support of the cast and crew who enabled him (through prayer, encouragement, and Scripture reading) to complete this enormous task of quoting Jesus’ words in the book of Matthew verbatim. He shares the experiences of his life that shaped him to play this role and how those same experiences shaped him as a Christian; he also offers glimpses into the lives of the extras who thought they were just playing a filler-role in a movie, but ended up changed forever by their brush with the real Jesus through the filming of a Gospel. There are also pictures from the set to help explain the emotion in ways that even words cannot grasp.

Since this book was such a recent purchase, I’ve only read it through completely one time, but I am convinced that God’s blessing rests heavily on these pages. At the time I read it, I was also reading another book that started digging through my heart and revealing difficult things about me. Each night, I would read the tough book first and then I would reach for this one to find a bit of joy and comfort so that I would be able to sleep when I went to bed. And each time, the love and mercy of God that I so needed to find were waiting within the pages of Bruce’s story.

Here are some quotes from throughout the 218 page book:

He had no problem fully being who He fully was and fully living what He fully felt, every full moment of every full day…as hard as He laughed and as big as He smiled, that’s how hard He wept and how deeply His heart broke. (p. 78)

His every move, every word, every healing, every rebuke, every drop of blood – an act of love! From the moment He lay in the manger to the day He disappeared behind the clouds – all acts of love. (p. 92)

For the first time in my life, I understood what the word “compassion” means when it comes to Jesus Christ. I understood that it isn’t just feeling sorry for people; it’s a heartbreak so intense, so deep it’s like your gut is ripped open. It is a heartbreak that screams in utter agony for the needless, pointless pain of people – people who need only turn to Him. What I felt that day was so incredibly tragic. And there can be no doubt what I tasted was just a drop of water in the oceans of the universe compared to what it truly feels like for Him. (p. 116)

It’s a picture of Jesus we seldom think about: perspiring in the sun from dawn to dusk, hoisting timbers, carving, shaping, sawing, sanding. Panting in the afternoon heat, hair matted with dirt and dust and workshop grime. Working endless hours into the night, pushing to meet deadlines over the days, weeks, years. Singing psalms at the top of His lungs while planning doors, carving plows, and fitting ox yokes. (p. 125)

Every believer should wear a crown of thorns and hang on a cross for ten seconds – they would never be the same. And I can’t help but feel that every non-believer would accept Christ on the spot if he did the same. I have never felt so alone, so naked, so ugly, so emotionally bare – and I was just play-acting, dipping my toe into the experience of the cross. What He did for us! He chose it! (p. 177)
I realize that some people may be wary of a book like this because for a person to take on the role of playing Jesus could bring about the writing of opinions that could be considered out of line. But I found nothing offensive in the book. Bruce never claims to be Jesus. He simply shares from his heart the experience he had playing the role, and multiple times, he reminds his readers that he experienced only a brief taste of what Jesus would have known. But to read this book is to see into a deeply emotion-filled, hands-on Savior who simply lived each day to love, not threaten or intimidate, His children into eternity.