Jesus the Greater Tom Sawyer

“Arguably, much of the life of Jesus is taken up with a Tom Sawyer-like ministry in Israel. When he was twelve, he began debating with the teachers of the law in Jerusalem and gave his parents the slip after the feast (Lk. 2:42-50). The Pharisees and Priests and Scribes really are a bunch of Aunt Pollys and Sunday School superintendents. And Jesus walked through their world defying all their superstitions and legalisms and taboos: plucking heads of grain, healing on the Sabbath, eating and drinking with sinners, walking on water, not washing for dinner, pushing over the tables in the temple, staying out all night, calling names, and ultimately coming back from the dead and bursting out of a guarded tomb alive forever.”

– Worldview Guide Adventures of Tom Sawyer, 17.