Jesus Christ Superstar

Probably my all time favorite movie is Andrew Loyde Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar. I have the album, but my needle has broken on my stereo so it's been awhile since I've heard the music. I finally had the chance to catch the last hour of it on the Sundance channel. It was early evening so my children were also able to get a idea of their mothers quirky tastes. I love this movie. It has always drawn me closer to God and brought me to my knees in tears over my unworthiness of His love. I never questioned the "off" parts of the story. I just looked beyond them-until now. I had to have a running dialogue with Tansy (10) and Becket (8) about why Herod looked like a drag queen with bikini clad dancing girls surrounding him. Hmmm, never thought much about that before. Why were there reporters asking questions of Jesus as he was being led to Pontius Pilot etc. I also had to explain the biblical correlation to the story. So throughout the movie I was explaining about Judas, why he kissed Jesus, why was he running, why was he throwing money and finally why he hung himself. Becket watched in horror at the scene of Judas suddenly flinging himself from the ground with a noose around his neck and dying. I chose not to censor anything. Andrew (2) had been watching with us, listening and pointing to Jesus while saying, "Jesus" in two year old language. At one point Jesus is standing in his ragged clothing and is transformed into beautiful white robes with darkness surrounding him. His arms are outstretched. Andrew puts his hands out mimicking Jesus then walked up to the TV and proceeded to embrace the television. He was embracing Jesus and kissing him. I was so moved by his innocence. I thought, "wow! he gets it..."
We continued watching as he was beaten, then finally hung on the cross. In the end the movies ends without the resurrection. Tansy felt let down by the abrupt ending. Herman used the opportunity to talk further about the apostles and how they must have felt when Jesus died, how they too must have felt let down to say the least. All in all, both kids loved the music and understood they used "hippies" to portray the people so there really weren't girls wearing skimpy clothing in Jesus's time. I was pleased they didn't label me as a dork for liking something so dated. I was pleased they were shocked and saddened by the death of Judas. I was pleased they saw Jesus being beaten. I was pleased they seemed to be moved from the experience. Becket was talking about it again today. It must have left an impression. I do hope, though, that he won't be left with an image of Herod looking like an overweight drag queen every time he hears the passion story. I've always pictured Jesus looking like Ted Neely. Tansy will be able to separate the artistic license from the truth. And I think Andrew will see Jesus as he did on the TV. Not as a superstar being played by an actor but as the loving Jesus he knows. Someone who he will never be too embarrassed to hug, even if it means hugging the TV.