About My Favorite Novella in Francine Rivers' 'Lineage of Grace'

I bet you can’t imagine the amount of sheer sorrow that filled the earth because of Jesus’ death.
Joseph, his father is said to have died before Jesus died. Bible scholars say this and scriptures give grounds to it, especially because Joseph was not heard of in any of the four gospel accounts at the point of Christ’s crucifixion. Francine Rivers portrayed Joseph to have died in deep grief over what manner of death his step son would face.
Jesus lived his life knowing that death was his destiny; Such a cruel, gruesome death as that on the cross. And this reality was not an easy one to live with, especially when almost everyone misunderstood him. It was a struggle to submit to the father’s will, we see this evidenced in his prayer at Gethsemane. Yet, in the end, he yielded.
Mary received the revelation by the word of wisdom that a sword would pierce through her heart. This prophecy came from the old man, Simeon whom she met at the temple when the Jewish sacrifice for firstborns was to be offered for Jesus. From the moment she conceived him, she faced rejection, hardship, and the course of her life took on turns she never would have preempted. But none of these could compare to the pain of watching her son suffer unjustly at the hands of unrighteous men. The crashing of her hope as she watched him hoisted on a cross, a dead man… Like any other. Wasn’t he the messiah?
The disciples left their lives to be with Jesus. Just take a moment to imagine the weight of despondency that must have taken over their souls when Jesus died.
All of these for sin. All of these for me.
The weight of the pain I’ve been trying to describe, thoroughly paled in the light of the triumph that came with his resurrection.
He rose. He conquered. He reigns.
Reading Unafraid, the last of the five novellas in Francine Rivers book, A Lineage of Grace, brought me in close proximity with the reality of the life of Jesus here on earth, and the lives of all those around him. Isaiah made no mistakes, when he said under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit that, he was a man of sorrows, he was indeed acquainted with grief.
Jesus’ story is a familiar one to most people, but Francine Rivers’ narrative brings freshness to an evergreen story; making it come alive with the pulse of dilemma and passion.
The pace of the story is quite fast; taking us through the account of Jesus life mostly from Mary’s stand point, although the start drags with a lackluster background story.
I strongly recommend this novella, and the other four novellas which tell the stories of four other women in the lineage of Christ; Tamar -the one that played the harlot for her father-in-law, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba. Even if you can’t read all five, make sure to read Unafraid.

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