«Jesus' Silent Years: Homecoming» by Vance Shepperson

This is the last novel in a four-volume series, Jesus’ Silent Years. All these stories are a back story to the biblical accounts of Jesus in the gospels. The stories happen in that time of his life between thirteen and thirty years of age. One version of what might have been. About 40% of the Bible is story. I’ve always liked stories better than doctrine. Scripture says Jesus did not speak without telling stories. He told stories of good people who went bad, bad people who went good; stories with sad outcomes and glad ones. He taught by contrast: this is a good person, that is a bad one. He didn’t lecture. He told stories. In this last novel, Jesus travels the comeback trail, after years of maturing abroad—stories of his life in his late twenties. Jesus travels through different countries—modern-day Albania, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, and Israel. You look at the world through his eyes and God’s eyes (Windy). You also look at him through the eyes of others—bad people, sad people, criminals, authorities, and the woman he loves who adores him. All four novels in Jesus’ Silent Years follow the classic path of the hero. Jesus starts in a no-name village, a mudhole in between nowhere and not much else. He goes down, down, and further down. Then, in this final volume, he rises to a far greater plateau—a life of goodness, compassion, and intimate relationship with his Father and followers. It’s all about character, wrapped in a story.