Jesus Christ Superstar – 25 March 2009

I like the film of Jesus Christ Superstar.  I like the songs, the anachronistic placement of modern items in the set and the occasional spiritual insight.

When it came out, the film was quite heavily criticised by Christians, because it focuses on Jesus’ humanity, not his Divine nature.  The film ends at the crucifixion, so it is certainly true that it stops way short of delivering the gospel message.  But I think if you watch it knowing who Jesus really is, there is some insight into his purposes.

In one scene, Jesus is walking through a ravine, and lepers appear from the rocks. They start singing “see my eyes, I can hardly see, I believe you can make me whole, see my skin I’m a mass of blood…” Gradually more and more lepers bring their various ailments to Christ.  Eventually Jesus is mobbed, and disappears beneath this mass of people, with the crowd still shouting “Touch me Jesus!” This vivid depiction of the demands that were placed on Jesus for healing during his ministry on earth brought home to me partly why Christ had to die and give us the Holy Spirit. Jesus was limited in who he could help as a man, but by his Spirit he is available to us all.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Counsellor to be with you forever— the Spirit of truth. The world cannot accept him, because it neither sees him nor knows him. But you know him, for he lives with you and will be in you. I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.  John 14: 16-18 [NIV]

I often need to remind myself that Jesus is accessible, even more so to me by his Spirit than to those who wanted to meet him when he walked the earth.