The Man Nobody Knows

A little boy sits in Sunday school in silent revolt. When his kindly teacher says: “You must love Jesus . . . and God” (ix), the boy looks at the picture of Jesus on the wall, which shows “a pale young man with flabby forearms and a sad expression” (x). The boy prefers the picture on the other wall that shows Daniel courageously facing lions. The boy likes Daniel, David, and Moses because they are winners. The boy wonders if David could whip the world heavyweight champion and knows that Samson could.

The boy does not understand why Jesus is called the “lamb of God.” He thinks the name sounds like “Mary’s little lamb,” in other words feminine and “sissified” (x). The boy believes that Jesus went around for three years telling people not to do things, so on Sundays it is wrong to laugh or be comfortable. The boy is glad when his weekly Sunday school hour ends.

When the boy grows up and becomes a businessman, he begins to wonder about Jesus. He realizes that only a strong, magnetic man could build one of the greatest organizations of all time (Christianity), which spread and prospered around the globe.