This past weekend my church group went to see a large-scale production of Jesus Christ Superstar. In light of the recent "findings of Jesus' tomb" it was very interesting to see this show about the life of Jesus. Not being familiar with the show, I was surprised to learn that Jesus Christ Superstar is actually quite different than any other telling of the Jesus story. You see, in the musical Jesus is not the Son of God but instead a simple carpenter who basically conned the rest of the world into following him. Because the story is told entirely in music it is sometimes harder to follow along but a closer look at what the story is saying Judas is the sympathetic character in the story, not Jesus. Also Jesus does not refuse to perform miracles for King Herod and Pilate but simply can’t. The ending of the show does not, as every other Jesus story does, end with the resurrection of Jesus but rather ends with him dying on the cross.
To say all this, after seeing the show it didn’t strike me as a revolutionary look of the life of Jesus. I was not stunned at seeing Jesus portrayed as less than holy. It seemed instead that this was just another version of the protested Jesus I’ve seen. What I mean by protested Jesus is that over the past several years, almost every time Jesus has been shown in the media it has been less than perfect. The biggest and most obvious example was The Last Temptation of Christ movie in 1988 and probably set the ball rolling for others such as The Da Vinci code and Dogma (both about descendent relatives of Jesus.) But now it is not revolutionary to see Jesus as less than perfect. In fact, I almost expect it. Movies from around the sixties show Jesus as flawless and perfect. Yet today when I go to see a Bible movie, I’m expecting a tortured soul. Even in The Passion of The Christ Jesus, while perfect, was still toured.
No longer is showing a conflicted Jesus a revolutionary idea. It now seams to simply be how our culture views society.
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I think a lot of that has to do with the progressive thinking that people are coming around to. They are becoming more and more aware of their own thinking and not as succeptible to persuasion as they have in the past. That's not to say there is a falling if Christianity or that what Christians believe is not correct, but I feel it is becoming more and more acceptable in society for other people to think outside of the box and against the norm. This is a revolutionary trait of our society, and it will either promote us into greatness, or destroy us. One way or another, it is sure interesting to watch.
i think the reason for this occurance is because society can no londer see any good in itself, therefore it is hard for us to imagine that a perfect being ever existed. i've been a christian my whole life and i know how hard it is even for me to accept this reality, much less for someone who doubts christianity in the first place.
Our own imperfection cannot allow us to wrap our minds around a perfect God, but I most certainly have faith that He was indeed perfect.
Bekka Joy
I did not get from Jesus Christ Superstar that his character was a con or an imposter. I saw the play several years ago. I don't know maybe I didn't pay attention enough, but to me, it showed Jesus as a man, scared for his life. Oh well.
The bible relates to us that Jesus was perfect and without blemish. It also says that he was tempted in all things just like a regular man. People seem to want to conjure up certain images and interperetations of Christ that are not biblical. This is possibly due to people who may have a grudge against the church or against religion in general. And it is popular with mainstream society because it reflects what's in peoples hearts.