It’s Easter Sunday, so why not a look at the life of Our Lord and Savior through the eyes of the person who knew him best: Jesus’ childhood pal, Biff.

The Gospels of the Bible is not the most complete record of Jesus’ time on Earth, notoriously leaving out the events of Jesus’ life between the ages of 13-30.   Finally, the speculation can be put to rest as Christopher Moore chronicles these missing years in JC’s life as he travels the world in search of enlightenment.

The first problem, as the Python’s noted when they tackled “Life of Brian,” is that the life of Christ is hard to make fun of… he seems to have been a pretty decent guy and his teachings are hard to argue with for the most part.  Christopher Moore gets around this by providing a supporting cast that has no shortage of faults.  His best friend Biff, while being completely devoted to Jesus (or Joshua as JC is properly called in this book), is lustful, sarcastic and unambitious.  His goals in life are to get laid as often as possible (since the messiah can’t know a woman, Biff volunteers as his surrogate and knows as many as he can, that the savior might remain pure), invent new uses for sarcasm, become a village idiot, and marry either Joshua’s Mom or Mary Magdeline.

The 12 apostles are equally flawed, often unable to understand the figurative meaning behind the messiah’s parables.  The angels are incompetent, as are the Pharisees that would see Joshua killed.  In fact, Mary Magdeline is the only supporting character that isn’t a complete goof-ass.

So, the first question: is this book funny?  Well, Christopher Moore hasn’t let me down yet.  With Joshua the messiah as the “perfect” straight man and a supporting cast of morons, Biff is free to practice his newly invented sarcasm with reckless abandon.  Some of the situations that the duo find themselves in, for instance learning Kung-fu during their stint at a Tibetan monestary, or Joshua’s early attempts at resurrecting the dead, lead to more laughs.

The second question: Do I need to know anything about Jesus to get this book?  Christopher Moore has done his research, and some of the jokes may require a little more than a passing knowledge of the Bible and Jewish history (my father is a Sunday School teacher, so I kinda have this part down).  But, for the most part “Lamb” doesn’t rely on biblical scholarship for it’s comedy.  The foibles of the cast are universal.

“Lamb” does not stoop to sacriledge for comedic effect.  While some would say that the life of Christ is off-limits, Moore has kept the heart of Christ’s teachings of compassion and understanding intact.  Joshua is a human who must learn to be divine, and this is that journey.

Of course, the ending of the book is going to be a bit of a downer.  Moore does however have a few twists in store as the messiah heads toward crucifixtion with Biff desperately plotting an elaborate scheme to fake the death of his dear friend.

“Lamb” is a book that raises the spirits with biting wit, absurd characters, while preserving the noble intentions of his subject.  You may laugh your ass off, but Jesus can probably heal that.