“Each of us has an idea of who Jesus Christ is, what he was like, some of his personality traits and more,” a colleague recently wrote to members of an on-line discussion list. “Would any of you care to share who Jesus is to you. What is his nature, and how does he express that to you?”

My first reaction was to run from the question. After all, Jesus is a mix of contradictions: god and man; and lamb and lion; to cite the most obvious. So how can one even answer such a question?

Then, remembering that many of us view Jesus through the lens of our biological father, I thought about how my dad was a wonderful teacher, storyteller, and advocate, but not particularly affectionate. Is that the way I view Jesus?

Maybe, but something’s still missing.

Then, I thought about how J.K. Rowling, the author of the “Harry Potter” series, has often talked about the Christian themes throughout the seven books.

“To me [the religious parallels have] always been obvious,” Rowling said in 2007. “But I never wanted to talk too openly about it because I thought it might show people who just wanted the story where we were going.”

The Bible doesn’t have much to say about Jesus’s upbringing, and the Harry Potter series certainly isn’t the Bible. But given the parallels between the two stories, I wonder if the Potter series offers some insights into Jesus’s teenage years.

“Certainly not!” some conservative Christians might protest. “Harry lied. He got into fights. He broke rules. He disrespected authority figures. He was sarcastically angry. He needlessly led his friends into danger.”

But was Jesus really the goody-two-shoes type while growing up? He certainly wasn’t as an adult, according to the religious leaders of his time.
And Harry, like Jesus, understood their unique mission: to destroy evil. But as Harry discovered through the series, people on the side of good are flawed, and people on the dark side have strengths.

This contradiction, combined with Harry’s Christ-like nature, explains much of his “wrongdoing.” Harry lied and fought to protect his friends, including Ron and Ginny, from the Muggle-loving family; Hermione, the mudblood; Neville, the fearful; Luna, the oddball; Lupin, the werewolf; Hagrid, the half-giant; and Dobby, the house-elf. He broke rules and put his friends in danger in his efforts to battle evil. Often, the behaviors of authority figures he disrespected ranged from cluelessness to cruelty. With Hermione’s assistance, he harnessed his sarcastic anger to training Dumbledore’s Army for future battles.

While far from perfect, Harry is just a bit better than his peers. He thanked people (and house-elves) who helped him. Many of his friends were outsiders, and he found ways to support them when they were discouraged while sometimes accepting their support and advice. He accepted the overly-harsh consequences of his rule-breaking with minimal complaining. He didn’t gloat over his victories against Draco Malfoy, Professor Umbridge, and Lord Voldemort; indeed, he risked his life to save Malfoy’s. He converted his anger into positive action while most around him grumbled. He quickly forgave Ron for his disloyalty in Book Four and desertion in Book Seven. His instincts and ability to read people were better than most, which made it possible to navigate through the morally ambiguous situations that appear throughout the series.

I wonder if, like Harry, Jesus developed into a leader of misfits while growing up. Or, being God, were these skills perfectly programed into Him so that all He had to do was to follow the path already laid out for him? Or does some middle ground exist? While I’m no theologian, instinct suggests that He couldn’t be truly With Us if He didn’t have to walk along the sometimes difficult path of behavior change.

So who is Jesus to me? A bundle of contradictions that understands, loves, and supports me so that I can change my bundle of contradictions to be more like His perfect nature. Sometimes, He waits. Sometimes, he talks quietly. Sometimes, He shouts or does something more dramatic. Sometimes, I hear Him. Sometimes, I clearly understand Him. and, less frequently, I follow His call.

I still sense that something’s missing, but that’s OK, as meditation and time tend to make things more clear.