Jesus the Superstar

Without a doubt, the greatest superstar to have ever graced the face of the earth is Mr. Jesus Christ. No man has been quite able to leave behind the legacy that he did. A world religion (with countless denominations) is named after him, A large section of the Bible is devoted to his teachings, large numbers of people carry crosses around with them, and many still recite his most famous prayer: "Our father..." Of course, there is some question whether the ancient messiah was more than a man, but I'll save such a discussion for a later date. The point is, no one before or since Jesus has been able to match up to his position as a lasting influence on society.

Would it be wrong to suggest that he, or He, is the most marketable person in history? Absolutely not. Christianity has admirably tried to follow in his footsteps and used (in sometimes very questionable ways) his name to rake in impressive amounts of donations. I'm also certain various non-religious ventures have capitalized on his name.

One industry that has done so is show-business. Yet, for all the talent and ability in Hollywood and Broadway, it would be difficult to call any one of the movies or plays depicting Jesus as a main character an accurate and convincing affair. In some cases, like 1965's The Greatest Story Ever Told directed by the great George Stevens, everybody's favorite Son turns out to be a cardboard caricature of humanity's greatest ideals. To put it plainly, he's an absolute bore; completely uninteresting.

That's a shame because Jesus was anything but boring. He had a mission to accomplish and he didn't hold anything back. When he thought people were doing wrong, he simply told them. Unlike politicians, who would have backtracked and beat around the bush to avoid offending anyone, he went up to the nice, respectable people and said, "prostitutes will get into the kingdom of God before you" (Matthew 21:31). How is this boring?

However, there's more to the character of Jesus than forthrightness. He's a man who spoke in symbols and images shrouded in mystery. In this manner, he gave away very little, as he knew it was not yet time for him to speak "plainly of the father" (John 16:25). Since when has mysterious symbolism been boring?

Hollywood clearly dropped the ball there.

Then there's the other side of Jesus depictions. Common belief is that Mr. Christ had long hair reaching down to his upper back and a beard to go with it. Also, the version of him people like most can be called the "Prince of Peace." Wait a minute...guy with long hair, a beard, and is a big fan of world peace. Hippy!

I want peace...like now, man.

With portrayals like this one, how can you blame anyone for calling Jesus an ancient hippy? I don't know about you, but last I checked hippies don't (or didn't) go around telling people that prostitutes have a better chance of reaching heaven than your upstanding members of society. They are generally a bit softer in their approach. It must be said, though, that Andrew Lloyd Webber's rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar makes use of this image of Jesus in an interesting fashion (whether you think it blasphemous or not). 

Maybe the people behind the 1925 and 1959 versions of Ben-Hur got it right when they decided only to show the hands of Christ as he gave water those in great need of hydration. The upcoming re-make (2016) does not appear to be following this mold, as Jesus is listed as a major character and has an actor set to play him. 

In any case, the question must be asked. Can a group of sinful (we're talking show-business, peeps, so that's polite for sometimes very loose and scandalous) people put together an excellent and authentic portrayal of sinless Jesus?