Stephanie, my sister, and I went to see Jesus Christ Superstar at the Starlight theater last night. Still an amazing show, not the best production I've seen (it's hard to beat Broadway!), but still good. And it still makes me think...
The most poingant characters are Pilate, Judas, and Jesus. However, what struck me most was a line from Mary Magdelene in "I don't know how to love him". She's says, "He's just a man". Later, in one of the most stirring modern stage songs ever, in my humble opinion, Pilate says "He's too small, not a king at all". And, in the most powerful depiction of Jesus, i think, in all of entertainment history, Jesus in the Garden prays to let the cup pass from him. Prays passionately, violently.
With the help of Mel Gibson, post-modern Christians have turned the focus away from sacrifice and towards martyrdom. We tend to think that Jesus was a willing participant in the activities of the cross. Jesus, silently, took the pain of flogging and cruxifiction for the sake of his people. And he wouldn't have it any other way.
It makes people feel good to think about Jesus in this way. As the hero who runs into the path of an oncoming truck just before its barrels down on us, the kids chasing our ball, pushing us out of the way, and taking on the truck himself.
Gethsemenie (religion major, don't know how to spell that!) paints a different picture. Jesus very much did not want to die! He pleaded with God for any other way to get the message across. Prayed with such force that blood came from his pores to let the cup pass from him. JEUS DID NOT WANT THE CROSS!!!! Here is not a man who wants to die for his cause, but rather a man so devoted to his God, that he carries out God's will, even to the point of death. Maybe the language should change from Jesus died for us to Jesus was killed for us. Jesus is not a martyr; he was a man with a family and friends and who happened to love his life, but loved his God more.
I love my life; I wonder, if the chips were down, if I could love my God more.
b
Tuesday, July 12, 2005
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1 comment:
I think Pilate actually says, "He looks so small, not a king at all." There is a theological distinction between "He's too small" and "He looks so small." On the one hand is an ontological statement about who Jesus is. On the other hand is a statement about our perceptions of Jesus.
Don't forget that orthodox doctrine teaches that Jesus was not only a human being, Jesus is God incarnate, even though he may have seemed to Pilate to be small.
Now, I am not advocating Docetism, but this is the path that the Docetics took - Divine Jesus only "seemed" to be human. This is heresy: Jesus did not just "seem" human, he WAS human.
But to Pilate, and by extension to us, Jesus clearly looked so small, though in the end, he most definitely was not.
By the way, Mary is a heretic, also for saying "He's just a man." You cannot say that without also saying, "He is God."
Living in the middle of both/and,
Andy B.
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