Book Review: The Clown of God
Rating: 
The Clown of God is beautifully-illustrated, well-written retelling of a French legend. The orphan Giovanni achieves great heights of fame through a juggling act that culminates in a rainbow of colored balls, with a golden ball representing “the sun in the heavens.” At the height of his fame, some monks tell him his juggling “sings of the glory of God,” to which he laughingly retorts, “I only juggle to make people laugh and applaud.” As the years pass, Giovanni’s popularity wanes until he is forced to stop juggling and beg for food. He returns home and falls asleep in the corner of the monks’ church, awakening to see the Christmas Mass, as the townspeople bring gifts to lay before a statue of Mary and Jesus. When the church is empty he approaches the statue and performs a juggling act for Jesus. When he gets to “the Sun in the heavens,” his heart stops and he dies. The monks, finding his body, discover that the child is holding Giovanni’s golden ball and smiling.
As a Protestant I am certainly missing some of the meaning in this Catholic story, but the main point seems to be that our gifts and talents are to be used for God’s glory. Even though the monks’ statement that “if you give happiness to people, you give glory to God” goes a bit too far, Christians are called to care for others as an expression of our love for God (Matthew 25:40; 1 John 1:4:11-12). Although Giovanni defies this calling, seeking only personal acclaim, at the end of his life he devotes his talents to an act of worship toward God.
The main element that biblically-centered Christians may want to supply when they read this story is to make it explicit that God will accept our gifts only when we trust in Jesus’ death, which opens the way for us to come to God (Hebrews 10:19-22). As the story of Cain and Abel illustrates (Genesis 4:3-5; Hebrews 11:4), only gifts motivated by this faith will be accepted. Apart from faith in Jesus’ sacrifice and genuine repentance from our sins, no gift can be accepted (Psalm 51:16-17).
This qualification aside, The Clown of God is a beautiful story for your Christmas basket or any time of the year.
Categories: 4 Stars, Age 04-08, Books That Build Character, Classicalhomeschooling.org
Tags: Aging, Catholicism, Christmas, Death, France, Gifts, Holidays, Juggling, Legends, Miracles, Old People, Pride, Repentance, Vanity, Worship
Posted on August 11, 2009
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