Jesus Was The OG Wizard

We asked readers for the one thing they'd change about the Harry Potter stories. Dozens and dozens of you replied, "The author." Dozens more said the same thing only with different words. Of the rest of the answers, many were about romantic pairings. Several readers wanted characters to end up with different characters, and several more wanted characters to end up with them, the reader.

Andrew G. said, "The silly Willy Wonka-style names. I'm now supposed to be invested in the Brokeback Mountain romance between 'Dumbledore' and 'Grindelwald' that led to their ultimate confrontation. I'm just glad it isn't Sillypants and Puckerbutt." Said Linda C., "The Harry Potter books started my grandson to love reading. He was in 4th grade and not fond of reading. He's now 31 and loves to read as does my 29-year-old grandson. Not sure I'd change anything."

"Eliminate Christmas," said Justin D., since it appears that wizard beliefs about the universe aren't exactly consistent with Christian theology. This led other readers to discuss whether Christmas is just for Christians or is a Pagan festival or is simply a traditional British holiday that people of all backgrounds celebrate, but the most interesting idea came from Roland E.: "Jesus raised the dead, healed the sick, multiplied food, and walked on water. Obviously, he was magic."

Jesus also controlled storms (Metelojinx), miraculously caught fish (Carpe Retractum), spooked demons (Expecto Patronum), summoned money (Leprechaun gold), and magically created wine (Flitwick teaches this charm in book six). He sounds a lot like a wizard.

And that's not us trying to turn Jesus into a character from a '90s children's book series. Jesus was depicted as a wizard not long after his death, in art from the third and fourth centuries.

Art showed Jesus wielding a magic wand when performing miracles, such as when multiplying the loaves ...

... or using a wizard's staff to resurrect Lazarus.

Art from this period does not show Jesus holding any kind of stick when not performing miracles, so this wasn't just some cudgel or backscratcher. It was a magic wand. This was in line with the depictions of Moses using a staff as well as the general idea people had in those days of magicians. Jesus perhaps didn't need a wand to perform magic, just as he didn't need to use his hands to lift things, but it was a convenient way of handling matters.

So, Jesus was a famous wizard, and that's why Hogwarts celebrates Christmas (in case they needed a reason other than liking trees and presents). Looking at the ways the Potterverse has pulled in every known culture and bit of history through snippets online, we're kind of shocked that no official Potter website has already formally made this canon.

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