Interviewing Jesus

THE WASHINGTON TIMES

What would you ask if given the chance to interview Jesus? In 1986, Bantam Books published “Jesus: An Interview Across Time” by Dr. Andrew Hodges, one man’s imagination, together with copious amounts of Scripture, of what Christ would say.

A psychiatrist practicing in Birmingham, Ala., Dr. Hodges delved into Jesus’ personality in a book that has sold nearly 100,000 copies and was recently reissued by Kregel Publications. Dr. Hodges was interviewed last week by religion reporter Julia Duin.

Question: What was Jesus’ personality like?

Answer: He was the most fascinating personality in history. I study personalities and human development and I was amazed at how he handled the Apostle Peter, the opposition, even the kids. Imagine being someone who would walk out to his disciples on the water.

It took boldness to say, “I am the light of the world” or “There is one in your midst greater than Solomon.” He was unpredictable; he was certainly brilliant because he was always turning the tables on the Pharisees. He was a master teacher, very tough. He’d tell the Pharisees they were not only fools, they had destroyed the prophets. He was heroic and at the same time loving to children. There was an integrity there. He was very streetwise. He never defended himself. He was complex. He didn’t back down.

Pilate saw something in Jesus. Pilate sensed authority, because Jesus was the most confident man in history. He was guaranteeing salvation to everyone before he carried out this most difficult deed.

Q: So you wanted to write a book connecting the dots: How Jesus knew who he was and when he knew it?

A: Jesus knew who he was by the age of 12. There were different levels of discovery. First he had to learn he was the Messiah. Then he had to learn what the Messiah would do. That is what he was working out [during that visit as a child] at the temple. He was learning he’d be a suffering messiah. Then he got the revelation of what the sacrifice was about. He realized he was God; that God was his biological father.

Q: Isn’t one of your theses that the Bible, like “The Da Vinci Code,” contained encoded messages for Jesus, enabling him to figure out his identity?

A: The Gospels communicated specifically to Jesus who he was. It said where the Messiah would be born, what tribe he’d be from, the fact he lived in Egypt — you eliminate 90 percent of the Israelites who did not fit that criteria.

My training enabled me to see encoded messages he would have seen. Much of the Bible contains code that points to Jesus. The Trinity left its signature all over nature. The number 3 is all over the Bible. He died at 33, Peter denied him three times, he has three close disciples, he dies on the third Passover in his public ministry, etc.

I think Jesus was led to his 40-day fast through the Scriptures because Elijah and Moses also fasted for 40 days.

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