On Palm Sunday my daughter Abby found my DVD of Jesus Christ Superstar and we gathered in the living room to watch the rock opera by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. I love this movie and over the years I have watched it many times and listened to my parent's copy of the album too many times to count. I saw the play twice: one professional production at the Benedum in Pittsburgh; the other a high school production at South Park High School. Both plays were amazing.
However, it was the first viewing I will never forget. It was 1973, I was nine years old I remember waiting in line with my parents at a movie theater in Morgantown. I heard the adults talk about this new movie being controversial, because some people thought it blasphemous to use rock music to tell the story of Jesus. The line outside of the theater was long, but we were finally seated and soon the last days of Jesus' life unfolded before me. Even though I went to church with my grandparents and I went to Sunday School and summer Bible School, I was not prepared for the Crucifixion of Christ.
My parents probably thought I knew how the movie was going to end. Doesn't everybody know? So, there I sat, all innocent and sweet, munching on my popcorn while Jesus was scourged at the feet of Pontius Pilate. I couldn't believe what was happening. "I'm sure someone is going to save him," I thought, "The good guy can't die. The good guy never dies." Apparently, I was the only one in the movie theater who didn't know that Jesus was going to die. I started to sob uncontrollably when the Roman soldiers nailed him to the cross. When Jesus died I was so devastated that my father had to carry me out of the theater.
Yes, the Jesus Christ Superstar experience was traumatic, but I am thankful for it. To me it was a life-changing experience. To see the story unfold in this way was more powerful than any sermon or gospel reading. The music and the images made me understand Jesus' experience on the cross. I never forgot it and I never will.
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