Messiah, Deceiver, Agitator, or just a man? Who exactly was "Jesus"? Under the rule of the Roman Empire, in Palestine, where Herod the Great reigned. Baptized by the prophet John, and after training in the wilderness, Jesus began to preach in his native Galilee. Many worshippers gather around Jesus, who performs many "miracles" such as healing the sick and raising the dead.

One of them was a young man named Joshua, who approached Jesus with a "secret mission". Amidst a whirlwind of speculation, including the Jewish clergy, who are hostile to Jesus, and a faction that is planning an armed uprising against the Roman Empire, Jesus heads for the holy city of Jerusalem with a sense of foreboding his own death. Joshua, who is fascinated by Jesus, gets involved in an incident when he tries to save his teacher and is crucified along with Jesus.

Jesus was a passionate religious man who lived 2,000 years ago. He continues to religiously ask the question, "Who am I?" But what an unsettling question it is throughout the Gospels. How insistent it is, sometimes directed at his disciples. How fragile and human he is in his fear of the "inescapable death" that his too-seeing eye announces to him early on, even as he assures his dying son that he is "the Son of God!" (From the afterword).

(from ebookjapan)