New Testament – a page out of her book

Janette Oke is a name well-known among Christian Fiction circles. Her books have graced a thousand bookshelves, passed between friends at church, and been treasured finds at thrift stores. Several of her works have birthed film adaptions, such as the Love Comes Softly movies and When Calls the Heart series. Perhaps it shouldn’t have been a surprise to me to see her most recent release at the library– The Pharisee’s Wife–but it was.

For one, Janette is no less than 90 years old! Always a bit of a skeptic, I remember scrutinizing the front, back, and inside covers looking for another author who must have co-written Oke’s vision and released it under her name. But as 2nd Corinthians 12:9 says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness.” I truly believe God worked through Janette’s years and enabled her to write, to my mind, her finest work.

In fairness, I haven’t read a great portion of the staggering 70+ novels Oke has penned. Speaking humbly–with respect for how much she contributed to the Christian Fiction genre–I didn’t connect with most of those I tried. The romances, in particular, often felt cliche and even a bit hammy to me… I’ll never forget one chapter from When Calls the Heart where the female protagonist faints dramatically and is predictably gathered up in the arms of the ever-ready handsome Mountie.

Whether we see eye to eye in that regard– adore Oke or nay– I hope you will give The Pharisee’s Wife an opportunity. The book reads as a different flavor of love story– a love story to the Gospel, a love story to God’s people waiting expectantly for Him to come again, and a love story to ordinary women. It connects you to the heart of a young girl during Jesus’ first coming, trying to make sense of everything she is hearing about the “teacher” both from his followers and from her Pharisee husband, who bitterly hates Him.

The Pharisee’s Wife is set in a completely different time and culture than Janette has typically written in all her life, yet it felt natural and well researched. Mary–the titular wife– isn’t “ahead of her time.” She doesn’t think or talk like a modern woman, and I find that refreshingly realistic. She’s little more than a child, raised in an insular, tiny village… naive, innocent, and unsophisticated. She’s also kind, discerning, and warmly endearing.

Mary “ties the knot” with a Pharisee–a total stranger–and in turn her family receives a dowry that will help her crippled father live a comfortable life. Her husband, Enos, is neither gentle nor generous. Thankfully (depending on how you look at it) he spends most of his marriage away from home, trying to make an end of Jesus.

The book isn’t without flaws. The book lost steam in the second half– and the ending in particular left me somewhat unsatisfied. There were hints at directions I thought the book was headed that never led to a conclusion (some characters in particular were left dangling). There was one scene where the Gospel is shared, and I remember noting it felt unnatural, somehow. While the Gospel certainly has not changed since Jesus first shared it– repentance and belief in the Messiah for forgiveness of sins– I doubt the earliest believers sounded like TV evangelists. Especially since Jesus hadn’t even died or risen yet, so their understanding of his teachings wasn’t “complete.” I wished that Jesus’ actual words had been quoted.

That said, after reading the Note from the Author at the end of the book, I had a newfound respect even for some of the plot points I would have preferred to tweak. Janette intentionally left the ending a bit anticlimactic, pointing forward to Christ’s return, “for the climax of God’s great plan is still in the future.” Some of her character arcs made more sense when she explained that she wished to remind readers that “…it is not always the person we would choose as worthy who makes the important decision of becoming a believer. God has given each individual free will. We deeply grieve over those we love who do not choose to repent and believe. At other times, one whom we see as the greatest sinner does seek forgiveness and God responds in mercy.” While imperfect (as all books are besides our Heavenly Father’s), The Pharisee’s Wife left me with spiritual food to chew on and ultimately honored our Lord. I commend the author for this thoughtful story and her prayer, with which I will close:

“To you who hold this book in your hands, no matter the time or your circumstances, may you know that I have prayed for you, that in some way, as only God through his Spirit can do, your heart may be touched to meet whatever is your present, personal need.”

When you were a kid, did your mom ever make you watch history documentaries? You know the ones; maybe they were about the Civil War, or the Aztecs, or uncovering the secrets of Ancient Egyptians (seems as if new mummies are discovered every day). There was a deep voiced narrator who had perfected the art of sounding ominous, and interviews with at least one old guy who appeared to spend too much time locked away in a dusty museum basement. But the best parts of the film were when they would use actors to reenact historical moments in the background. You could watch Pharaoh so-and-so yell at underlings, lounge by the Nile, order a pizza, and ultimately die at the hands of some angry conspiring family member (okay, I made up the pizza part). If you’re like me, you ultimately found yourself surprisingly entertained. Fifteen years later, it’s not what you’d pick for movie night, but you still remember enjoying the learning process.

I finished a book a while ago that reminded me of one of those films– King’s Shadow by Angela Hunt. Based on the events just before Christ, the story revolves around King Herod’s sister Salome and her fictionalized handmaid Zara. Since much of the unfolding drama in the book is drawn from true history of the time, the plot meanders around like ordinary life does. Real people rarely have stories that fit perfectly into the plot-writing standards you learned in high school English, with orderly climaxes and obvious overarching themes. For those reasons, I think Angela’s hands were tied, (pen and all) and the story tends to lack direction.

That said, King’s Shadow still did an amazing job breathing life into the years just before and up to Messiah’s birth. Christian fiction centered on the years of Jesus’ life are commonplace, but the time period for this book was unique–and set the stage in a way that helped me to better understand the cultural and political backdrop that followed. It documents Herod’s life through the eyes of a sister who is fiercely loyal, even as he slowly degenerates into the baby-killing monster we read about every Christmas. If you enjoy political intrigue, there is plenty of it here, even (or especially) within the royal family. Handmaid Zara is a quiet presence throughout, lending the viewpoint of a God-fearing and humble Jew.

Of course, I made the mistake of reading what turned out to be the fourth book in a series (!)– oops. Do I regret it? No. This book solidified my opinion that Angela Hunt’s best work is her historical fiction. Her research and rich writing style shine here, while the constraints of the timeline help her keep her characterizations and stories more believable (something I think she struggles with in some of her contemporary fiction, such as an earlier work, The Canopy). Not unlike those documentaries, I walked away feeling as if I knew the time period and the motivations of its main players better, but lacking deep emotional attachment to the story or practical application to my own life. For those pros and cons, I gave the book 3/5 stars.

Do you like documentaries? Who are your historical inspirations? As always, I love hearing from you.

Tag: New Testament

A Review, The Pharisee’s Wife

King’s Shadow by Angela Hunt