Don't get me wrong.
It's not a bad book.
I am talking about the New Testament. The one that contains the four narratives of the life and death of Jesus. You know, Jesus, the guy who put "Christ" into Christian, the guy who was crucified for speaking against the authorities. Not that we care much about the New Testament here in America.
Televangelists have always been more at ease quoting the Old Testament than they have any of the four gospels. And who can blame them? Jesus can be such a troublesome figure---if one really, really must talk about Jesus, much better to talk about "baby Jesus," isn't it? Not the discommodious grown-up who rode into Jerusalem on a donkey (mocking the entrance of Caesars and military generals), touched lepers, ate with social outcasts, talked to women during the daytime, and disrupted business activities at the temple (which most bible scholars agree is what got him killed). How much more comfortable a figure "Baby Jesus" is, who has not yet spoken.
But let's not throw out baby Jesus with the bathwater. The Nativity has been known to inspire the best in Man. It's not a bad story and it's not a bad book by half. It's just that on the fourth or fifth reading, knowing the ending, kind of ruins it a bit---like already knowing who's done it at the beginning of an Agatha Christie novel. Don't you just hate it when that happens?
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