‘Wicked’ Star Set to Play Jesus Christ

Several years ago, an ex-girlfriend gave me a copy of the book” Nasty”. If you don’t know by now,” Wicked” is a retelling of the” Wizard of Oz” mythos from the viewpoint of the Wicked Witch of the West. And it appears that the” Wizard of Oz” mythos never get old. However, that deserves another column’s complaint. I threw the book on a shelf there even though I was also a Lefty because I simply found it to be moderately interesting. In some cases, I believe, it finally lost. Since my interest in pop culture may be expressed in millimeters, I didn’t care with the movie and did not see the level version. Maybe nanometers. &nbsp,

My knowledge of what’s hot and what’s not away, Breitbart noted that Cynthia Erivo, who plays the main character in the film type of” Nasty”, is prepping for a new function– in this case, the titular role in Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s stone theater” Jesus Christ Superstar”. For those of you who have never seen the original stage production, the 1973 film, or the multiple iterations that have followed over the years,” Jesus Christ Superstar” is meant to portray Jesus as the rock star of his time and, as such, a man beset with troubles, doubt, and angst. Judas Iscariot sings” Heaven on Their Minds,” which begins the opera by promising to” strip away the myth from the man.” He then goes on to criticize Jesus for allowing the movement to grow too big and foregoing his celebrity status. &nbsp,

As Christ awaits crucifixion in order to taunt him one last time, the ghost of Judas even makes a comeback with an angelic choir. &nbsp,

To be fair, the music is fantastic, and Carl Anderson stars in the movie as Judas, who is amazing. The only redeeming aspect of the movie is that Anderson’s performance surpasses everyone else’s and adds a complexity to Judas that would make most theologians at least reevaluate it. Although Judas is portrayed as a larcenous opportunist in the Gospels, there is a lot to be unpacking in his story.

All liberal Christians, including my parents, have been mesmerized by the production since it first appeared in the early 1970s. They saw it as a brilliant portrayal of Jesus ‘ human side and a re-imagining of The Passion. Conservative Christians, of course, loathed it. I recall reading a pastor’s commentary where he claimed that the film depicted Jesus as a “fornicator and a fool.” &nbsp, And despite the ripping score, Jesus comes across as a whiny, conflicted, small-minded man who cannot extricate himself from the consequences of his self-inflicted celebrity. Scarce mention is made of Christ’s divinity, and the show ends with his dead body on the cross. The Resurrection is not shown or even referenced. Whatever the intellectual elites may think of the program, it does in fact attempt to strip Christ of everything but a flawed human nature. Instead of the Lamb of God removing the world’s sins, he is a misguided malcontent who grew too big for his biblical britches. &nbsp,

Additionally, it is important to point out that many productions of the show, especially the 2000 film adaptation, had distinctly and overt anti-Semitic imagery and staging. Even in the 1973 film, the Pharisees are portrayed as egomaniacal, power-hungry peacocks. In reality, many of the Pharisees were likely caught between a rock and a hard place trying to strike a balance between the Roman occupiers and Christ’s popularity. It is one of those instances where historical context is useful. &nbsp,

I have never seen Ms. Erivo perform, so I cannot comment on her abilities as an actress. However, it is reasonable to extrapolate that she was chosen for the title role in” Jesus Christ Superstar” for the same reason that the production was made, namely to deconstruct Christ. One can almost hear the producers giggling about how they will offend the straight, white ( mostly male ) evangelicals. Of course, the problem with that is one that most people forget: Christianity started as a Middle Eastern religion. Before it made landfall in Europe, it had already established itself along the Mediterranean and on the African continent. The early Christian services did not have any sound compared to the typical Sunday morning K-LOVE cover worship band. They probably sounded like this:

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Like Rice and Webber before them, none of that likely matters to the new producers. Their goal is to strip Christ of his divinity. After all, trans women are women, right? Reality is whatever suits them at the moment, so Christ can be whatever they want him to be, particularly if that portrayal assists in the deconstruction of Christ and, by extension, Christianity. &nbsp,

However, Christ does not offer the option of creating him in our own image. As C. S. Lewis wrote:

We must not say that in particular. A man who only spoke the words of Jesus would not be a good moral teacher. He would either be a lunatic ( at least to the extent of the claimant’s innocence ), or he would be the Devil of Hell. You have the option of calling Him Lord and God, throwing Him in the air, or killing Him as a demon. But don’t bring any patronizing nonsense about how great a human being He is. He has not left that open for us. He had no idea what to do.

The Left and its supporters in the entertainment sector lack the capacity and desire to deal with transcendence’s perilous nature. It is dangerous because transcendence forces us to question our very nature and make us question the desires and clamorings of the basic matter we are made of. They fear transcendence because it teaches them that there is something greater than themselves hiding beneath the surface of a veil that is at once terrible and beautiful to behold. And so, out of that fear, they make Christ a liar, lunatic, a great teacher, or even a sullen rock star of indeterminate gender in order to manipulate him. However, to refer to him as Lord is to reject their own demands, which are too great.

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