Book excerpt: Who was Jesus and what was His mission? The Gospels present us with an obvious but profound and compelling thought, that the eternal Word of God became a real man of particular weight and height, with a specific temperament and particular traits of character. He was a Jew, part of a small village community. He became hungry and tired. He felt anger and was moved to compassion. He had a mother and friends. His name was Jesus. How are we to understand this mystery of Jesus being fully God and also fully man? How do we correctly speak of the real Jesus without falling prey to the skepticism that marks the so-called “quest for a historical Jesus”? In The Jesus We Missed, pastor and scholar Patrick Henry Reardon travels through the Gospel narratives to discover the real Jesus, to see him through the eyes of those who knew him best—the apostles, his community, believers who vividly portrayed him in stories filtered through their own faith. Through these living, breathing accounts, we contemplate who God’s Son really was and is—and we understand how he came to redeem and sanctify every aspect of every human life. “In an age that has too often turned Jesus into a symbol or an abstract doctrine, we are long overdue for a reminder that the Lord of history came to us as a humble carpenter from Nazareth.” — BRYAN LITFIN, Professor of Theology, Moody Bible Institute “In his inimitable style, Patrick Henry Reardon surprises us with insights into the humanity of Jesus drawn from the Gospels and made lively by careful attention to historical and literary detail. Here is a piece that joins together critical awareness, theological fidelity, refreshing wit, and manifest devotion.” — EDITH M. HUMPHREY, William F. Orr Professor of New Testament, Pittsburgh Theological Seminary