I just discovered the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, a non-canonical mini-bio of Christ which dates to the 2nd century C.E. It may be short, but it packs a wallop — as does Jesus himself, who starts out as a malevolent child, a sort of cross between Patty McCormack in The Bad Seed, Billy Mumy in The Twilight Zone (the kid who turns you to into a stalk of corn if you don’t think happy thoughts) and Jack-Jack, that crazy baby in The Incredibles.
In fact, the Infancy Gospel brings Jesus to life in a brilliant way, by showing him as a little boy first discovering he has supernatural powers. Does he run around doing good works right out of the box? Of course not. He wreaks havoc. He turns playmates into corpses with a single zap. When the neighbors complain, he strikes them blind.
Had this book not been relegated to the apocrypha, I have to think Sunday School attendance would have risen exponentially.
Song of the Day: Stardust, Lionel Hampton and His Orchestra, 1947:
