Let me be direct: other than Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, I’m no fan of modern depictions of the life of Jesus. Whether it’s Jesus of Nazareth or The Chosen or just about any other attempt, modern portrayals of Christ’s fall flat. They typically insert too much of our modern world into the scenes—either subconsciously or in a misguided attempt to make Christ’s world more understandable to moderns. Mary ends up being a whiny teenager or Peter a big goofball or, worst of all, Jesus becomes a modern therapist. While I appreciate the desire to make the story of Jesus more accessible to today’s audiences, most attempts do nothing other than demonstrate how difficult the task remains.

This is no small matter, either. How we view Jesus is perhaps the most important question in the world: Who do you say that I am? Due to the power of books as well as cinema, a faulty depiction of the life of Jesus Christ can have far-reaching, even eternal, consequences.

I say all this to emphasize my trepidation when I picked up the book My Brother’s Keeper: A Novel About the Family of Jesus by Bill Kassel. I was interviewed on the author’s podcast about an unrelated topic, and he asked me if he could send the book to me to check out. I agreed, but to be honest, I groaned a bit inside when he described it, based on my views explained above. I figured I would read the first chapter or two, then set it aside and forget about it. 

That’s not what happened, however.

Instead I found myself quickly engrossed in the story and ended up reading the 581-page book in about a week (I’ll admit, I was helped by the fact that I was on vacation that week). Most importantly, I felt like I came away after reading the book with a better understanding of the Gospels and the story of Jesus and the movement he inspired—which is saying something considering that one of the prime focuses of my study over the past 30 years has been the life of Jesus. 

So why does My Brother’s Keeper succeed where so many other similar attempts fail? Aside from Kassel’s talents as a writer, I’d say the primary reason is that the novel is not focused on Jesus directly, but instead upon James, the “brother of the Lord,” who became the bishop of Jerusalem after Pentecost. By limiting direct references to Jesus, Kassel avoids the pitfalls of directly depicting the God-man—an almost impossible task if you aren’t being inspired by the Holy Spirit. Yes, Jesus does appear and speak in a few instances, but Kassel wisely limits the Lord’s words and actions, rarely going much outside of the biblical testimony.

While a good choice, that doesn’t eliminate the potential pitfalls in Kassel’s task. Aside from the biblical texts, which are sparse on details, there are various accounts of the life of Jesus and Mary in the Catholic tradition, some of which contradict others and some which stretch credulity. With both a lack of hard information as well as an abundance of questionable information, Kassel has to make difficult choices in crafting his narrative. 

For example, Kassel chose to depict Joseph as an older widower when the carpenter agrees to be betrothed to Mary. James is the youngest child of Joseph from his first marriage, thus making James the step-brother of Jesus. This is one legitimate possibility, although there are other traditions that Joseph was a never-married young man, and that James was a cousin of Jesus. Further, in Kassel’s telling, James is not the apostle James the Less. This is the most common belief among scholars today, although there is a strong tradition that identifies the two as the same person. One could nitpick Kassel’s choices, but each one does have strong evidence behind it. Ultimately, none of Kassel’s choices take away or distract from the narrative, and never does his story contradict or undermine Scripture or Church teaching.

The question that most Christians ask at one time or another is: What would it have been like to be alive during Christ’s ministry? Would I have accepted him as Messiah…and God? Here is where My Brother’s Keeper excels. It depicts the family members of Jesus, including Joseph but most especially James, and their growing acceptance of Jesus and who he really is. We know from both Scripture and tradition that James was a devout Jew with a reputation as a righteous man; he was called “James the Just” by his fellow Jews. How did this Jew come to accept his relative as the promised Messiah, and so much more? By focusing on that evolution, Kassel helps us to enter into how we might have perceived Jesus had we been alive then—and how we should perceive him now.

After reading My Brother’s Keeper: A Novel About the Family of Jesus I feel as if the Gospels are more alive than before. While cognizant of the dangers of accepting too much of a modern reimagining of the life and times of Jesus, I’m happy to have read this book, and I highly recommend it for any Catholic who wants to know Jesus better.