"Jesus Christ, Superstar" In Review
In late October a British rock opera was given its premiere playing in America. The musical album is selling for about ten to twelve dollars in most stores. The title of the production is "Jesus Christ, Superstar."
Tim Rice wrote the lyrics and Andrew Lloyd Webber composed the music. One of these young men stated in a tape-recorded presentation on WFLA, Tampa, Florida, that the theme of the opera is as follows:
"Basically, the idea of the whole opera is to have Christ seen through the eyes of Judas — Christ as a man, not as a God, and that Christ himself is just as mixed up and unaware of exactly what he is as Judas is."
Again, one of the young British producers said,
". . I think as the years roll on in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, less and less, people are going to see Christ as a God. . . I don't see him as a God at all . . ."
Without going into the pros and cons of rock music as such, and without discussing whether or not a rock opera is an effective means of communicating some kind of message to today's youth, I want to illustrate the kind of message that is offered in "Jesus Christ, Superstar."
Mary Magdalene
The opera places Mary Magdalene over at Bethany anointing Jesus, obviously confusing her with another Mary, the sister of Martha, who did the anointing at Bethany. The Bible is careful to explain that it was "that Mary which anointed the Lord with ointment," not Mary Magdalene. (John 11:1-2; 12:1-9.) In addition to confusing Mary Magdalene with Mary the sister of Martha, her character is confused with that of the sinful woman who anointed Jesus on another occasion earlier in his ministry. The fact that Mary Magdalene is mentioned in Lk. 8 following the account of the anointing by the sinful woman in Lk. 7 does not prove that Mary Magdalene was that sinful woman! The author of the lyrics of the opera handles Bible facts carelessly, not with accuracy.
[Roman Catholics formerly maintained that the sinful woman of Lk. 7 is the same as Mary the sister of Martha, and is also known as Mary Magdalene. (Cath. Ency., 1910 ed., Vol. 9, p. 761.) "Most modern Catholic Scripture scholars consider this penitent woman of Galilee and Mary of Bethany to be three distinct women." (A Commentary on the New Testament, Catholic Biblical Association, 1942, p. 253.)1 Mary Magdalene is with Jesus on Monday of the week of the crucifixion in the opera. Jesus is represented as saying,
"And I think I shall sleep well tonight Let the world turn without me tonight."
Immediately Mary Magdalene says,
"Close your eyes close your eyes And forget all about us tonight
I don't know how to love him What to do how to move him
He's a man he's just a man And I've had so many men before
In very many ways He's just one more.
Should I bring him down should I scream and shout Should I speak of love let my feelings out
I never thought I'd come to this — what's it all about
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Yet if he said he loved me I'd be lost I'd be frightened
I couldn't cope just couldn't cope I'd turn my head I'd back away
I wouldn't want to know He scares me so
I want him so I love him so."
What does all of that sound like to you? Does it sound like a love affair between Mary Magdalene and Jesus? It certainly does not portray either Jesus or Mary Magdalene in the same light that the Bible presents them. And did you notice that Mary Magdalene is made to say, "He's a man he's just a man"? He's just a man! The writer of the opera is anxious to leave the impression that one of Christ's most devout followers did not see him as God, but just a man! This is the real theme that runs throughout the whole production.
Judas Iscariot
In the introductory composition, Judas is represented as questioning the Messiahship of Jesus; yea, more than questioning, he is rebuking Jesus for claiming to be Divine. Judas is made to say,
"If you strip away the myth from the man
you will see where we all soon will be Jesus!
You've started to believe The things they say of you
You really do believe This talk of God is true.
'
You have set them all on fire They think they've found the new Messiah
And they'll hurt you when they find they're wrong I remember when this whole thing began
No talk of God then — we called you a man."
Those are but a few of the lines showing how Judas is supposed to have scoffed at the Messiahship of Jesus. Yet the Bible says nothing akin to this. Where is there any hint that Judas Iscariot chided Jesus for claiming to be more than just a man? True, Judas loved money and betrayed his Lord for thirty pieces of silver, and I have no desire to make Judas look better than he was, but all of this testimony that is put into his mouth against Jesus' being the Christ — like the testimony of Mary Magdalene that he was just. a man — leaves the impression that people closely associated with Jesus did not believe his deity!
Near the end of the opera, after the deaths of Judas and Jesus, the voice of Judas is heard again as if speaking today. (One of WFLA's disc jockeys referred to this as the "reincarnation" of Judas.) Judas says,
"Everytime I look at you I don't understand Why you let the things you did get so out of hand
You'd have managed better if you'd had it planned Why'd you choose such a backward time and such a strange land?
If you'd come today you would have reached a whole nation Israel in 4 B.C. had no mass communication
Don't get me wrong — I only want to know."
This nonsense denies that Christ had a plan, and implies that he died because he let everything get out of hand. Then Judas is made to say,
"Tell me what you think about your friends at the top Who d'you think besides yourself's the pick of the crop?
Buddha, was he where it's at? Is he where you are?
Could Mahomet move a mountain or was that just PR?"
The opera carries Judas' imagined doubts of the Deity of Jesus down to our own day and has him asking if Jesus is really any greater than Buddha or Mohammed. This is typical of the infidelity in the production. When radio station WFLA was preparing to air "Jesus Christ, Superstar," seven preachers of various religious groups were invited to hear sketches of the opera and look over the lyrics, then make comments. I was the only one in the group who spoke against it! Unfortunately, my comments were edited, some eliminated, and the ones put on the air were scattered between sections of the opera so that they were not as effective as I had hoped they would be. More than two hundred people called the radio station after the two hour broadcast to give their personal opinions. The station reports that the calls were eighteen to one in favor of the opera!
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