The Robe

I recently finished The Robe, by Lloyd C. Douglas. Douglas spent the bulk of his life serving as a minister, and his writing reflects his religious commitment. However, it is not preachy, nor does it appeal to an exlusively Chrsitian audience; it spent a year at #1 on the NY Times Best Seller list when it was published in 1942.

The novel is the story of a wealthy Roman tribune, Marcellus Gallio, who was at the crucifixion of Christ, casting lots for and winning the robe that Jesus wore.

After this terrible event, Marcellus falls into a deep depression, tormented by the memory of killing an innocent man. Utterly inconsolable, he flees his post in Minoa and, with his slave Demetrius, heads to Athens to try and recover. Finding no respite, he decides to end his life, but Demetrius had cleverly hidden his dagger beneath the robe that symbolized "that horrid affair", and upon touching it he finds himself comforted and utterly "unencumbered by the weight that so long oppressed him." Admiring what he knew of the man Jesus, and feeling the power of the robe, he and Demetrius head off on a journey that will take them through Galilee and back to Rome in search of answers about who Jesus was.

The book is beautifully written, and brings vividly to life what it must have been like for Romans, slaves and Jews alike as the Christian church was birthed. It's wonderfully constructed, as we learn about Jesus as people must have then - in bits and pieces, and through the voices of the people who knew him. I appreciate too that it is not the stories of the miracles that draw the characters, but the changed lives of the people who he touched with his teachings. Sort of convicting for us now: do our lives make people want to know about the man who changed them?

I love the earthiness (for lack of a better word) of the characters that we meet that are already familiar to us. We are introduced to Peter as "the big fisherman" and Stephen as somewhat of a discontent about the new ecclesia, far removed from the glowing Renaissance images that we are all so familiar with. And it also adds depth to the characters we have villainized: for example, the drunken Romans who did the act are driven to drink because they see no other way to get through the killing of an innocent, not because they are just particularly brutish and revelling in the torture of another.

I could go on, but as this is getting a bit long, I won't. I obviously loved the book, and think it would be a good read for anyone interested in the person of Jesus, whether for historical or religious reasons. No matter what you believe, it's an intriguing story full of politics, romance, mystery, betrayal, and everything else that keeps you turning pages.