WHEN JESUS SMILED

Jesus undoubtedly smiled under various circumstances, as one can gather from reading between the lines of the Gospel. But we know that smiles, like words, acquire a real concrete sense only in the context in which they are expressed, signifying at different times a whole panoply of diverse feelings, from condescending benevolence to warmhearted compassion, from tenderness to solidarity, from surprise, utter amazement and wonder to the subtle and almost imperceptible humorous wink, from open-hearted good will to the smirk of irony. Giorgio Conconi – a highly acclaimed prize-winning author of several Italian novels and surgeon by profession – has managed to capture and examine in this book the divine smile, selecting from the Gospels a series of passages in which the smile of Jesus almost becomes the key to reading his sentiments as he is confronted by the wide variety (and at times unpredictable conduct) of men. The author first of all places the reader in touch with the Gospel text and then underscores those traits in which – like an ineffable counterpoint to human affairs – the face of Jesus lights up with a smile. He presents us with a reading of the sacred text which is highly unusual when compared to other almost excessively erudite and solemn – even at times rhetorical – ways of approaching the Gospels: a reading that is off the cuff and familiar, but not for that reason less true. And, indeed, it may even be truer to the text to the extent that it tries to capture and communicate faithfully the humanity of Jesus as it is manifested by the four evangelists. The reader is invited in this short work to meet and applaud the men and women of the Gospels who made Jesus smile.