Where’s Mary? Perhaps, she is chasing demons. In the village of Bethany she is known as stable Martha’s crazy sister. Calm one moment, and driven to spiritual flights the next, Mary is on a mission. In nearby Jerusalem a plot is afoot to kill both Jesus and Mary’s brother, Lazarus. When a feast is given to honor Jesus for raising Lazarus from the dead, Mary dances in and pours a pound of expensive perfume upon Jesus’s head. Has she gone mad, again? Jesus healed my soul, Mary would say. But, he didn’t take my visions. Mary sees all.The next day, Mary shaves off her hair. She gathers up the clippings and runs to Jerusalem so that she can throw them at Jesus. He only smiles and sends her home again. A few days later, she has the most frightening vision. Courageous Mary leads her family in a race to save Jesus from the cross. But, his followers are scattered. Each must follow their own path. Her pragmatic sister Martha’s approach to the Jesus problem involves a stout club and a bribe. Her brother Lazarus moves more deliberately, still recovering from recently being dead. Lazarus needs doubting Thomas to help him save Jesus.And then there is Judas Iscariot, with the long black hair. Mary is not alone in finding him attractive. Judas thinks he can deal with deceitful Caiaphas. But, how will Mary deal with Judas?Mary Sees All: The race to save Jesus from the Cross, is the first in a series of fast paced Christian novels set in the middle east during the first century. The little village of Bethany, near Jerusalem, is home to Martha, the pragmatic clan leader, Mary, the wandering mystic, and Lazarus, who as a zealous teenager had trained to be a terrorist. The books also introduce us to Mark, the African born refugee who witnesses the growth and struggles of the first Christians, and in time writes a best selling account of Jesus’s life. Thoroughly researched, this new telling of the passion story illuminates the historical events and social customs that make this time period so fascinating. Bill Kemp avoids cliches, church-talk, and dogmatic interpretations. He doesn’t expect the reader to know the Bible or even to be religious. Adventurous and surprising, this dramatic novel introduces the reader to a diversity of characters, as well as, to the rarely mentioned secret that Jesus’s first followers weren’t always in agreement about him. As a story teller, Bill seeks to follow in the footsteps of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien.
