It Must Suck to Be Jesus: A Letter of Advice to JC

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While Christians are not being murdered for their faith in the United States it is clear there are death blows being made to doctrine and to the divinity of Jesus Christ around the world, amen. As we stand united in praise in the coming days my prayer is that Christians worldwide corporately begin to understand our circumstance not just in our community, but across continents.

Our prayers are needed and the more informed we are the more precise we can be for our brothers and sisters in prayer. How would you like it if your entire welfare, training, and career were in the hands of someone else, another influential person? This is the case with Timothy and the Apostle Paul. He offers advice on where to go, what to turn toward during times of great falling-away: Convicting you where corrections need to be made? The more time you spend in the world, the flesh and in deceit the more homage and reverence you will have toward it. Please look sincerely at your life, your daily routine.

Politics will convince you compromise is the way to get things done. Did the early church compromise and worship Caesar? And they knew it would bring persecution. Television will tell you tolerance is gospel. How open-minded was Jesus about buying and selling in the Temple? This is how He tolerated greed and excessive desire. Do you want to glorify the Name of Jesus Christ as a believer?

We looked first at Timothy and the thought of being under the authority of someone else. Jesus here gives the church at Philadelphia a unique personal assurance of who He is and what He is capable of doing: He is a key holder, a one-way door opener, a one-way door closer, and positioner. He not only says He opens and closes the opportunities afforded the beloved, but also places them where they need to be when they need to be there.

Remember the Good Samaritan? What a song of hope in a season of expectation; and Jesus holds the key. Here are some other biblical examples where doors are divinely opened. Not only was Jesus Messiah there then… Immanuel, He is here. Be of cheer my dear friends! Some folks will stretch, walk around a bit, grab a snack, or take the opportunity to seek restroom relief. Have you been there? Are loyal and faithful two words that people would use to describe you?

J.C. Philpot's Blog

When Jesus writes His letter to the church at Philadelphia in the book of Revelation these two words seem to represent the assembly. I almost see a team jersey in the works with the Names and city in this verse of victory. And what does that even look like? Are you sitting in the stands today?

How many opportunities to share what GOD has specifically done in your life have been missed? What I am trying to convey today is this: The gospel was not a spectator sport for them. There is a huge risk today of being a devotee and not a disciple, an enthusiast and not an evangelist. Philadelphia was a real church with a real time in history just like you and me. The walk that each of us has with the LORD today is just as real. There has been much talk among brothers and sisters this week of keeping ourselves unspoiled and it has reminded me of something the LORD shared me within the last year These six verses capture the time and experience of Nathaniel meeting Jesus what looks like for the first time.

And too as a result Nathaniel is able to see Jesus for who He is and led to proclaim His Sovereignty audibly, immediately, and passionately: You are the King of Israel! Are we standing reconciled with the King of kings or is Jesus perhaps calling us to spend some time under the fig tree with Him today?

I even detoured from filing taxes for a couple years. Where were my priorities? I can tell you with complete sincerity where they were not. They were not on things that mattered. Friends, the most important stewardship that we have is of our heart. Where is your heart? Are you avoiding sin or embracing sin? The first, and best step in avoiding sin is accepting salvation in Jesus Christ, amen. Praying for you and asking you to pray for me while GOD works this out is an opportunity to embrace His plan for our lives; prayer is a divine appointment.

My prayer this morning is that you be set free from avoiding the Truth and the Way and the Life that is Jesus Christ, accept Him into your life and be separated immediately from the penalty, continually from the power, and eventually altogether from the presence of sin, amen. Road kill, the highway remnants of a once healthy, happy, and unsuspecting herbivore? Friends, beloved, the birds of the air congregate and feast on the dead.

Would Satan, the prince of the powers of the air, congregate and feast on less? When your faith is dead who is feasting? This title means that Jesus is in possession of the very fullness seven being a Hebrew number of completeness of the Spirit of GOD and that all of the angels are under His authority. This might come as a surprise to some, but Satan is an angel, albeit fallen. Jesus continues in verse one to say exactly what needs to be said please pardon the paraphrase Triplett translation: Inside you are a mess! There were overcomers in the church of Sardis and this is what Jesus told them:.

The desire of the LORD is not for you to be engulfed in lifelessness, but firm in the fullness of eternal living, in Him. White clothes, Book of Life… these are incredible gifts; the most awesome promise to the overcomer in this verse for me is that Jesus will recognize you in the presence of GOD and the angels. Will you acknowledge Him, your Redeemer, today?

Have you ever written a letter; taken the time, sat down, gathered your thoughts, prepared for the task by gathering your pen, paper, computer, typewriter, or any necessary tools that would pass your message, your idea, on to your intended recipient? Why would you write a letter? Would it be because you are thinking about someone?

Jesus is giving each of us something of value here in the book of Revelation Jesus applauds the faithful for works, labor, patient endurance, despising evil, naming false prophets, serving Him, perseverance, enduring tribulation, poverty, and slander, honoring His Name, not denying Him even where Satan dwells, love, service, opening a door none can shut, having some strength, keeping His Word, and not denying His Name.

Jesus says remember your first love, repent, do not be afraid, be faithful until death, wake up, hold fast to what you have, let no man take your crown, and be zealous. Six of the seven churches were told to repent!

Other Place to Find Me

For me I have to ask myself now what I recognize in my life, my family, my local church, my nation… Is there room for improvement? Where can I start? I have some work to do. I can see that. A nation had been divided: The northern kingdom was now Israel and the southern kingdom Judah. Chances are we are familiar with the historical account: The custom of that day to mutilate themselves in order to serve or gain the attention of their gods really stands out to me today.

This practice begs me to ask of myself if there are idols in my own life, things in place of Christ that I go to for comfort: These words in red from Jesus Messiah to the church at Thyatira are absolutely sobering. Jesus says He is the one who searches minds and hearts. He is offering time to repent for any who are willing to accept the challenge. If there are strongholds in our lives today He wants them removed.

Jesus wants to be your stronghold; what you reach for in times of need, the special place, your Peace, amen. It reminds me of returning to the town where I went to high school. Upon returning it looked totally different. Nothing was the same. The buildings had changed. The streets had changed. I no longer recognized faces on Main Street. Maybe today is the day you invite Him back in or even into your heart for the first time, amen.

It had many earlier names and even has a different name today. Like the Son counters the daughter, so Jesus here distinguishes Himself from the sun god, Tyrimnas, the guardian or protector god of Thyatira, represented with flaming rays and feet of burnished brass. What the LORD brings into view in this letter, twelve verses in the book of Revelation, is pagan practices of the early church. He condemns them saying, "You tolerate the woman Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess and is teaching and seducing My servants.

So, who is this Jezebel and what does she have to do with pagan practices? Have you ever been told no and gone and done something anyway? Understand Jezebel was a real person, daughter of a king and wife to Ahab, the seventh king of Israel. She would be called cunning, daring, and unscrupulous. Are these qualities we can see today? Is it possible there are pagan practices, Jezebels, at work in churches, Christian homes, or even in our hearts right now? It is a valid question. For example we just celebrated a national holiday called thanksgiving. There was much giving thanks; for food, family, friends, safe travel, etc.

Friends, I am thankful for you. But know it is to GOD that I am thankful for you being in my life.

It is to GOD that I am thankful for your health and safety. It is to GOD that I am thankful you are beside me in the storms of life. Yes, it is a season for me of giving thanks indeed; giving thanks to GOD, amen. Here we have words in the oldest book in the Bible speaking of last things; redemption, assurance, second coming, and resurrection. Even while enduring extreme physical, emotional, personal, and financial crushing Job witnesses to Bildad proclaiming his Redeemer lives!

In ancient Israel a kinsman redeemer was a family member who bought a slave's way to freedom or who took care of a widow. Faced with death and decay, Job still expected to see GOD - and he expected to do so in his body! Job is not alone in company when it comes to severe emotional pain, and suffering. Jesus Himself met such extraordinary anguish as He shed blood on the Mount of Olives in an olive grove named Gethsemane.

Friends our freedom has been bought. Whatever we are facing today, however great the obstacle or terrible the grief, know that there is One, a Redeemer, who has come and been crushed for our transgressions, our sins will not determine our eternal home. It all comes down to acknowledging His work, His mercy, and His authority. Three simple words can change your life today. The Apostle Paul had many journeys while preaching the gospel to the early Church; times at sea, hikes over land, up, down, there and back again in many cases.

Communicating from Corinth Paul shares with the Thessalonians by way of letters. He had recently spent three Sabbaths there teaching in Synagogue and possibly stayed in the city a number of months. Harding Wood explains it this way:. Looking at his outline is encouraging and at the same time causes me to think of my own thoughts, actions, and prayers; what I have done, what I have failed to do. There is a thankfulness that blows through my mind for the outline of what is good in the eyes of GOD; His Word is fixed in my hands and daily before my eyes. He knows my stumbling and asks above all that I turn to Him when I fall.

There is a wake that follows each of us. We leave behind something everywhere we go and with everyone we meet. A servant called, confronted, and commissioned: Confessing the work of Jesus Christ in my life, amen. Comfortable would be a word I would associate with my lifestyle at the time. I knew what my next day would look like, where my next meal would come from, and where I was going to lay my head at night.

The LORD raised up servant leaders let me leave each one of those leadership roles in good standing as well; absolutely amazing is all I kept thinking. I understand Father GOD, my call is to love and to serve and to love again; feeding all You put before me. When something has locality it has a physical address, like a neighborhood or district. We each have locality of our own. Yes, we have a home in heaven, and yet we are pilgrims in this place; we have time and space we occupy right now on earth.

Satan is like us in this respect. He does not have the ability to be physically in more than one place at one time unlike the Bible illustrates GOD can Jeremiah While He compliments them they have not denied Him in this very evil of places, Jesus goes on to say that they have worshipped other gods too and repentance is necessary. Surviving evil in evil times and places requires the full armor of GOD fasten the belt of truth, put on the breastplate of righteousness, be firm-footed in the gospel of peace, take up the shield of faith, take up the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of GOD, be always praying and alert.

We are not lost, but have been redeemed, amen. The Father cared so much to send His Only Son that we might have eternal life in Christ and not chaos. What about the mind of man. Are our thoughts so populated at times with idols that strongholds have been constructed? I can offer with certainty that is not what GOD desires. Understand friends the test of a man is who he is and not where he is from. Even Pergamos has overcomers.

Know you are His. Trust He is preparing a place for you. Love Him with all you can. May the thoughts of Truth occupy our mind and the strongholds of deception be forever foreclosed upon. Friends understand there is a two-edged sword: It was in the beginning, will be, and speaks today. His Name is Jesus Christ. Pergamos, built upon a high rock outcropping, a natural fortress, is the third church in a series of seven to receive a personal letter from Jesus Christ.

Of the seven letters to seven churches in the book of Revelation five are earnestly advised to repent and Pergamos is one of them. Navigating through Scripture gives us an understanding of just what this two-edged sword is:. This two-edged sword comes out of the mouth of GOD, it is the weapon by which war is waged, it strikes down nations, it puts to death the unrighteous, it is the Word of GOD and it divides as it judges the very inner parts of man.

It is spiritual and physical. It transcends time and space. It existed in the beginning with GOD John 1: I am sorry for my sins. I am sorry for piercing Your perfect flesh with my unrighteousness. I resolve, yes I repent this day and seek to be an overcomer for Your glory. It has been described as the greatest missionary manual ever written 1 Thessalonians 2: In his letter we can see Paul reminding folks how he came and why he came.

This phrase is not uncommon in Scripture, used in gospel accounts usually relating directly to Jesus Messiah. As I trace the verses down I see baptisms, preaching, remembering the prophets, and healing. Do I sincerely come in the Name above all names? Or like Paul points out am I in it for the money, fortune, fame? Am I preaching what is most dangerous, truth? Paul was in it to win it for the LORD, nobody else. It wasn't about making people feel better about themselves. It was about knowing Jesus completely. No flattering talk, not seeking praise for himself, void of greed and polluted goals.

Salvation does not begin with giving up something, but with receiving someone. The Thessalonian letters carve out a prophetic hope that when applied drives one to personal holiness and evangelism. Paul explains how he turned to GOD from idols by hearing, listening, and doing.

We see the heart of missionary unfold on the pages of his letters. Do others see the heart of a missionary unfolding day after day in us? Are we bound to the LORD, to sharing that sins have been forgiven for all by the shed blood of a perfect sacrifice some two millennia ago? Are we hearing, listening, and following through like Paul? If not what might be standing in the way?

Is my witness effective? Are my friends, family, and partners in fellowship turning from idols, having changes of heart for the LORD? Great questions to spend some time with the LORD this week, amen. The expectation of the coming of the LORD should be the motivating factor in the life of Christian, not a motivating factor, but THE motivating factor. Why do Christians undergo trials? The bible is not silent on this. Therefore understand that GOD is not silent on the troubles of men.

The Jamieson, Fausset, and Brown Commentary says of trials: If you are tired of the lies, deception, dead ends, and death being glorified in your life There are dozens of trees of life throughout cultures that give legend to eternal life and Divine power. There is One Jesus Christ who was predicted, whose parentage, plight, and passion for every person ever born is documented inside and outside of Scripture. What I wish to frame here is the difference between myth and Truth.

Truth is free of myth. What is the circumstance of man today, but the same as the church at Ephesus; being deviated from Truth on a daily basis by new loves replacing or seeking to replace our primary love, the very Composer of Charity, Grace Manifest born of a virgin and become Man in the person of Jesus Messiah. In His letter to the church at Ephesus Jesus gives the readers a post script and an appeal: In eating of the tree of life the Church are not only offered an honor, but a reward, a return to everlasting life with the Father.

Jesus says hear Me, and I will give a special advantage that is the sustaining nourishment, the very Bread of Life, manna from heaven; the wisdom, strength, and character necessary to live a life free from the bondage of sin and deception. What happens when you renew your first love? Jesus promises restoration that is incredible to imagine. So why do I believe Him? I believe Him because of what He has already shown, lived out, proven through the shedding of His blood, dying and rising witnessed by hundreds of Jews, non-Jews — people that had no motive to support or deny His resurrected appearances.

I believe Him because He is incredibly alive today, right now bearing fruit in the hearts of the faithful; love, joy, peace, patience, gentleness, goodness, faith, humbleness, and self-control. Father I pray today to recommit myself to bearing fruit for the kingdom. Shall we assemble around that central tree? We cannot do so until we have assembled around the Cross. In the book of Revelation in the midst of seven letters to seven angels to seven churches a pattern begins to emerge, a pattern of sevens.

There are even seven verses in the first letter to the first church. But not only is there a numeric pattern there is also a pattern of graces illustrated to the church at Ephesus. It was the Apostle Paul who introduced us to faith that works, love that labors and hope that endures while writing to the Thessalonians and Corinthians and as we look at the accolade here spoken by Jesus Christ Himself to the church at Ephesus we can see this grouping of graces once again.

We see faith working, love laboring, and hope enduring in verse two and in verse three that number seems to taper to two; hope endured and faith without fatigue. It is quite an amazing setup for what comes next. Jesus is going over their report card with them and giving them the positives before He begins His coaching session on what needs improvement. Verse four is just that:. Nothing but the fervent love of the Bride can satisfy the Bridegroom.

This change shows that many years must have passed since the last communication of Paul to the Ephesian church. He desires to be my primary passion. As an overcomer I have a job to do, amen. This earth is not my home, heaven is. Likewise I have a job and it pays in kingdom rewards, not shekels or franks or dollars. Father, this day I approach the foot of the cross with a sorrowful heart where I have not kept my first love.

Faith, hope, and love: And like a pop-up book these words seem to rise off the pages and come to life when banded together. Some other places we see faith, love, and hope as united are Galatians 5: If your life is not distinct, made noticeably different by these three Do you think it should be? It can be right now, amen. Considering salvation this week under a new light was quite revealing.

I have always looked at salvation, being saved, as one dimensional, basically in a sense-past tense, a singularity event marking me forever His, amen. The verses I had in mind to this line of thought are:. Until this week while studying Revelation chapter 1 the tenses in Scripture verses had never been so visually or mentally stimulating. These verses from Ephesians eloquently illustrate having been saved from the p-e-n-a-l-t-y of sin. Some refer to this past tense of salvation as justification. What about the present tense? Some refer to this ongoing process, the present tense of salvation, as sanctification.

In the verse above from Romans we can see a future tense, the anticipation that our bodies shall be set free from the p-r-e-s-e-n-c-e of sin. Some call this coming salvation the redemption of our bodies or glorification. This whole exercise of thinking of salvation in more than one dimension has been of such benefit this week. I know my LORD was with me. I know my LORD is with me. With this type of assurance it sure puts any concerns or trials I might have into a better perspective. So often we see in Scripture a question and a near immediate answer provided.

Put Christ in it! We must take Scripture seriously. Father, hear the prayer of a child. You are at my center. Your Word lights my path. Every page of Your Testimony invites me to pursue Your countenance, encounter Your wisdom, power, and love, and hope for Your express return. Thank You, I love You, Abba, amen. GOD hears prayers, amen. Hannah became pregnant and gave birth to a son. GOD answers people, amen. Thank You, Father, for hearing and answering the prayers of the faithful. We are humbled in seeing so many examples in Your Word, our lives, and the lives of others of Your faithfulness.

Let us be of one heart and mind in the praying, seeking, and in the turning from transgression; to Your Truth, to Your Way, to life everlasting in Your Son, Jesus Christ, amen. Reading the book of Revelation this week has impacted me personally in making me a promise! What my heart hears the LORD asking me to do here is to remain faithful, honoring my position as betrothed and awaiting the bridegroom, for the time is at hand.

It reminds me of the parable of the ten virgins and the oil in their lamps. Half were unprepared and half were prepared, watchful, maintaining preparedness, for the coming of their anticipated husband. My heart rejoices at the opportunity to be vigilant for the coming of our LORD, amen. Let me not be foolish LORD. Father, thank You for speaking to me personally, for giving me the oil my lamp needs to shine for Your glory, sharing all that You have shared and for blessings yet to come.

Dear churches, please hear a worship servant on music in the Church When an assembly is reading words together seeing them on a screen on wide viewer , singing those words aloud proclaiming agreement in assembly , and those words are not biblical what is the assembly committing?

Please if this sounds at all familiar to you, confess, repent, make an about face in your worship for Who GOD Is, and what He Did; not who you are, your church is, or what you or your church is doing. If your worship consists of just following rules of the church or reading words on a screen because everyone else is doing it please consider this verse from Isaiah.

Find a quiet place, close the door, open your heart and ask the LORD what worship looks like. Her worship is all about Christ, who He is and what He has done for her, she is not affected by what everyone else in the room is crying I can't believe she is wasting that oil - that's a year's worth of wages - why is she just sitting there and not busy preparing food Father, I pray the hearts of the faithful turn from honoring anyone, but You, Father.

The glory is for You. The honor is for You. The praise is for You! If believing prophecy is real is a bit of a stumbling block for you let me share a verse from the Old Testament:. This verse is GOD giving account of Himself, testifying before men not only is prophecy real, but He has purpose for it, amen? For any ears that will hear these words my prayer today is not that you believe in prophecy, but that you believe in GOD and the One He sent to pay the price for every sin ever committed.

His name is Jesus. LORD, You declare the end from the beginning, amen. LORD, You put on flesh and bone, amen. LORD, You taught to serve, amen. LORD, You hold all things together, amen. LORD, You are coming soon, amen. When you choose to be an Ambassador for Christ number three of the Ten Commandments - thou shalt not take the LORD's name in vain , your stewardship of prayer, time, money, talents, loving like Jesus, and sharing GOD's Word becomes more than a goal, more than a priority, it becomes a quality of who we are in Christ. Your hunger is deeper; your thirst becomes greater for more of Him and less of you.

Is your love proving to them that you are a disciple of Christ? You are in my prayers, but more importantly understand you are in two very important hands; the hands of Jesus Christ and the hands of His Father. For me I hear a real model being setup here; the Church will be set free from slavery to sin by the death of the Firstborn. Father You bind the chains of Pleiades and loosen the cords of Orion.

All the heavens declare Your glory. Who am I but dust and yet fashioned in an image of holiness, hairs on my head counted, more precious than sparrows, thank You, Father, for Your love. You are faithful to pardon. You are faithful to heal. As far as the East is from the West I cannot be separated from Your love, my sins are forgiven by the precious shed blood of heaven's perfect Lamb, in whose mighty Authority and Name I petition Your hand in the restoration of the United States of America, I pray in Jesus' Name, amen.

Abram could add nothing to it; in no way could he violate the covenant, the promise was one sided, unconditional. They are different friends. Am I responding today with the unconditional agape love of my Father or trying to cut a covenant of my own, depending on Him or my own flesh? At first glance it may look like their offerings were a result of who they were or what they did for a living as Abel was a shepherd and Cain was a farmer.

However the reason one sacrifice was accepted and the other was not accepted is more the result of pleasing GOD. You see there was an order to the sacrifice, there was a prescribed way of presenting offerings to GOD and if accepted the offering would be consumed by fire as illustrated time and again throughout The Old Testament. Abel by offering a sheep was following the procedures which GOD had ordained, by the shedding of blood and offering a lamb which GOD had made, whereas Cain was doing it his way, offering fruits of a cursed ground, submitting an offering of his own works, his own labor.

Are my life choices bringing my Father in heaven glory or myself praise? Please pray travelling mercies Psalm Are we workmen approved? Will you consider looking at a man of GOD that labored in faith named Nehemiah with me? What were the leadership lessons of Nehemiah? Are those leadership qualities alive in this generation? Upon hearing the troubled state of his brothers and sisters in his homeland Nehemiah immediately fell into days of weeping and mourning.

What could have resulted in Nehemiah losing his position or even his life, this wisdom quality led the king to grant him passage, provision, and time away from work necessary for Nehemiah to accomplish what the LORD had put on his heart. When those that would not wish to see the walls of Jerusalem restored plotted to harm the people working Nehemiah defended against conspiracy. Speaking courage over the people Nehemiah led them in prayer and set guards to watch over the work night and day even picking up arms, laboring with one hand and holding weapons with the other.

In those days taxes had become unbearable driving families into slavery, brother unto brother. Nehemiah took council and brought charges in a grand assembly placing truth and hope on the table; the nobles and officials were silent and in the presence of witnessing priests agreed to right judgment, forgiving debts. Always GOD let Nehemiah see and understand the true heart and conspiracy behind these men and the prophetess desiring only to discourage his restoration efforts.

It was wonder and awe in GOD that kept Nehemiah and his entire house humble. Even though he governed Judah for 12 years neither Nehemiah nor any of his servants took land for themselves. It was reverence that drove the whole of Jerusalem to reconciliation, repentance, and to remembrance in keeping of the Feast of Booths Tabernacles. Devotion to GOD, piety even under pressure allowed Nehemiah to finish well; dedicating the wall, sealing a new covenant, and organizing the priests and Levites in the temple. When it comes to Nehemiah and lessons in leadership can you see the gifts of the Holy Spirit clearly being the foundation of his success?

Along with his friends, Daniel "purposed in his heart" that he would not defile himself. What did that mean for him and his companions? The LORD removed me from the penalty of sin as He rose to power in my heart; Daniel and his friends were removed from Israel, but not from Covenant as the Babylonian Empire rose to power. Through repentance and reconciliation the LORD calls me His own; the Babylonian court was reconciled to Daniel and his band of brothers upon seeing their physical and mental aptitude as superior to the others in the court which resulted largely in part to their faithfulness to keeping a kosher diet.

Just as Daniel and his friends were rewarded with freedoms and eventually a place in governing so too is my eventual reward, today my profit is the fellowship in the Body and under the Blood of Jesus Christ;. In , producer Robert Stigwood opened an outdoor production of the show in Hollywood starring the understudies from the Broadway production, Ted Neely and Carl Anderson — both of whom would go on to star in the film. Today many people don't like Lloyd Webber's work, but the composer of Superstar is a different Lloyd Webber from the one who wrote Phantom of the Opera. When he began his career thirty years ago, he wrote in the rock and roll idiom, a musical language he knew and loved.

No one can deny that he can still write a breathtaking melody, but his harmonic vocabulary is limited. Consequently, he excelled in the relatively simple, repetitive language of rock and roll with Superstar , but when he tries today to write in a more classical, more sophisticated style, his limitations show through.

What seems driving and primal in Superstar sounds merely repetitious in the classical European sound of Phantom or the pseudo-jazz style of Sunset Boulevard. His writing ability hasn't diminished, but when he changed styles, our expectations changed as well, and he couldn't meet them. His critics believe that, unlike other theatre writers, Lloyd Webber has not grown as a composer over time. Luckily, we can still enjoy Jesus Christ Superstar and Evita, both set on the cynical, literate, and provocative lyrics of Tim Rice.

Though that's not exactly what they ended up with, Judas still emerged as the protagonist, more important and complex than Jesus.

Judas is in an impossible situation; there is no easy way out. Tim Rice wrote, "We made him an everyman. He could see Christ becoming something he considered harmful to the Jews. Judas felt they had been persecuted enough. Judas is passionate, fiery, impatient, smart as hell and a real control freak.

Judas thinks this movement has accidentally evolved into one of those. And more importantly, is he? It leaves Jesus as a difficult character to define, but it makes the story infinitely richer, more complex, more human. He knows that the minute Jesus becomes famous, the authorities will clamp down on him.

He may be killed — they all may be killed. The perspective of the Jews, they were an occupied nation under the tyranny of Rome. Judas sees Jesus lessons of love and peace and brotherhood as a path straight to the gallows. The dichotomy between Judas and Jesus is a fascinating one.

Judas is the practical one, concerned with image, message, public opinion, money, etc. Jesus is concerned only with the Message. Like Judas, Annas is the practical one, trying to see the obstacles ahead, worrying about public opinion; while Caiaphas is utterly single-minded, just like Jesus. That central relationship shows us a mammoth tug-of-war between pragmatism, represented by Judas, and ideas, represented by Jesus. Each of them is missing what the other has.

Judas finds himself constantly frustrated and confused by Jesus' refusal to look at the practical side of their situation, as verbalized in "Heaven On Their Minds," "Superstar," and the fragment of "Superstar" at the end of the Last Supper. They fight because they both care passionately about the cause and about each other. There are three main arguments that break out between them, during "Strange Thing Mystifying," "Everything's Alright," and at the Last Supper — the second two set to the same music.

Judas acts as a kind of business agent and PR man, concerned over the political message they're sending out, at the perceived inconsistencies in Jesus' teachings, and the money wasted on Mary's ointments and oils. He believes in Jesus' philosophy, in his ability to lead, but not in his methods and his choices. The lyric to the chorus of the title song originally just repeated "Jesus Christ" every time the melody repeated. But before recording it, Tim Rice wanted to give the lyric some variety. The word superstar was just beginning to be widely used, mostly to refer to rock and pop stars.

Rice changed the second repeat of the chorus to include the word superstar because that's what Christ was, a superstar of his time, widely popular, complete with his own groupies who cared more about his star status then about his message. He was thronged when he went out in public, and like many rock stars today, he was considered dangerous and corrupting by the establishment. Jesus had a new message for the people, and they embraced it for a while, at least. Despite his intentions to the contrary, he became a controversial political figure as well as a spiritual leader.

The songs "Hosanna" and "Simon Zealotes" point out to Jesus the tens of thousands of followers who are hanging on his every word. Simon wants Jesus to use his power to bring about a rebellion against Rome; but Jesus doesn't want to be a political figure.

J C Philpot on experimental religion

From the biblical perspective, an important question is ignored: From the point of view of the Bible, the answer is that he was divine; but from a purely historical, sociological angle, there's more to it. Like our country today, the people wanted a new message, a change, relief from the tyranny of Rome. Jesus came at the right time with the right message, just as the Religious Right did in the U. As Jesus grew to adulthood, Galilee was in turmoil.

The region had been conquered by Rome and Herod Antipas had been installed as a regional governor or sorts. But the Jews suffered under the weight of incredible taxation, both from Rome itself and also from Herod, who taxed the Jews so heavily in order to build new cities.

Meanwhile, the rich got richer while the poor got poorer. The Zealotes emerged as a secret group of vigilantes, insurgents, revolutionaries, guerilla warriors, never hesitating to use violence, rising up to protest their oppression by Rome and its surrogates. Like Americans today, most Jews of the early first century wanted an alternative to the violence, corruption, and economic strangle-hold under which they were straining.

More and more, it was what the people wanted. But it made him dangerous. Other central characters in the story are never fully drawn in the Bible, but Rice had to thoroughly characterize them in the musical in order for us to understand them and their relationship to Jesus and Judas. Because secondary characters get very little "dialogue" in the Bible, those questions aren't really answered; but in Superstar , we see Mary as a complete, living person.

She just wants to comfort Jesus and help him relax; the only way she knows how to do that is by soothing him physically. She bathes him in ointments and oils, rubs his feet, massages his head and shoulders. But Jesus is different from other men. He and his followers treated women as nearly full equals — they ate together, discussed politics together, his women disciples performed their poetry at feasts, and in the most radical departure from the norm, the women were welcomed alongside men as serious students worthy of an education.

This was a movement worth financing. On a personal level, Jesus treats Mary with real respect, with genuine love, something almost unheard of. He appreciates her efforts. How does she respond to his treatment of her? Her first impulse is to return that affection physically, but she knows that's not appropriate.

She doesn't know how to express love without physical forms of affection; she literally does not know how to love this man. Judas hates her because he sees Mary and her relationship with Jesus as a PR liability. He also seems at times to be jealous of her. He is a man full of frustration, and one of the ways that anger manifests itself is in jealousy against the one other person to whom Jesus is that close. Mary cares about the movement but she cares about Jesus more; in contrast, Judas cares very much about his friend Jesus, but he cares about the movement more.

At least in the world of Superstar , Judas and Mary dance a spiritual, emotional tug-of-war over Jesus throughout the entire story. Pontius Pilate, the Roman governor, is a fascinating character, and is another person Rice and Lloyd Webber discussed writing a musical about, again with Jesus as a minor character. They also briefly tried a show about Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis. During his ten years as prefect, Pilate's tenure was associated with "briberies, insults, robberies, outrages, wanton injustices, constantly repeated executions without trial, and ceaseless and grievous cruelty.

It seems likely that he would have been eager to end the potential threat to the existing order presented by the subversive theology of Jesus.

The form of execution used — -crucifixion — establishes that Jesus was condemned as a violator of Roman, not Jewish, law. Like Judas, Pilate finds himself in a no-win situation in this story. The region is in turmoil. Several Jewish insurgencies have already been put down, thousands executed by the state. In the past, this had led to violent political uprisings.

Pilate needs to keep a lid on the unrest this year. And then this Jesus thing is dropped in his lap… The song "Pilate's Dream" paints a subtle portrait of Pilate as a politician trying desperately to avoid controversy, and more than anything, responsibility. In his dream he sees all that will happen, and knows that despite his efforts to the contrary, he will end up being blamed for Jesus' death.

He may even have an inkling that once Jesus dies, the whole thing will get ever bigger. In the midst of the hassles of Passover week, he is told that the priests have convicted Jesus of blasphemy. And since they have no authority to put him to death as they would like, they send Jesus to Pilate for execution. Pilate tries to pass the buck by sending Jesus to Herod; since Jesus is a Jew, he falls under Herod's jurisdiction, but Herod sends him right back.

Pilate doesn't really understand why Jesus is worth so much fuss; but the crowd has now turned on their leader and demands his crucifixion. Pilate even tries to convince the crowd that Jesus isn't worth their hatred. Again according to the UMKC website: Joseph Caiaphas was the high priest of Jerusalem and the chief religious authority in the land, with important responsibilities including controlling the Temple treasury, managing the Temple police and other personnel, performing religious rituals, and — central to the passion story — serving as president of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council and court that considered the case of Jesus.

Caiaphas was the son-in-law of Annas, high priest from 6 to 15 C. It is possible that Annas, as a high priest emeritus, might have served at the side of Caiaphas in the Sanhedrin called to resolve the fate of Jesus. Although little is known of Caiaphas, historians infer from his eighteen years as high priest that he must have worked well with Roman authority. For ten years, Caiaphas served with Roman prefect Pontius Pilate and the two presumably had a close relationship. It is likely that Caiaphas and Pilate had standing arrangements for how to deal with subversive persons such as Jesus.

High priests, including Caiaphas, were both respected and despised by the Jewish population.

Many Jews suspected the high priests of taking bribes or practicing other forms of corruption. In Brigadoon, Tommy assimilates. In Carousel , Billy can't so he dies. Neither Sweeney nor Frank N. Furter can, so they both die. In Superstar , Jesus can't assimilate, can't join the mainstream, so he must be removed — by capital punishment.

John Cleese’s “Letter to America”

Judas must be removed as well. But there are two sets of "friendly villagers" in this story — the apostles and the Jews at large. The apostles are a motley crew, uneducated, unskilled laborers, so average of intelligence that Jesus had to create all those farming parables to communicate complex ideas. These were common men and women. And yes, Jesus did have women apostles and he had a lot more than twelve. The crowd begins the show as Jesus' followers singing "Hosanna" , a group whose loyalty the priests don't want to lose.

The crowd is in the middle of a tug-of-war between the priests and Jesus. They ask Jesus to be healed, to be cured, to be fed; yet once the priests have condemned him as a blasphemer, the crowd turns on Jesus and demands Pilate crucify him. As it still does today, public opinion can swing quickly and unexpectedly from one extreme to the other. A contemporary example would be the American public who in ousted a Republican president in favor of a Democrat, then in gave control of Congress to the Republicans.

And now a reversal of that may be coming in The loyalties of the masses can change with the wind and this phenomenon was just as dangerous and unpredictable then as it is now. The change of the crowd's position is seen through a series of songs: The first is success and the power that comes with it. As the show opens, Jesus has found great success in his ministry.

A Barnabas Blog

He is reaching tens of thousands of people with his ideas and they are following him. Though his goal is not power, he finds himself becoming powerful enough to make the priests very nervous. The priests have great success and power as well. Their position in the church brings with it not only substantial wealth but also political power, which is now being threatened by Jesus.

As with any political struggle, including the current political landscape in America, there is a great battle fought for the hearts and minds of the masses. As the show opens Jesus is winning, but before the show is over, fortunes are reversed and Jesus ultimately loses the battle. Herod and Pilate are also men of great power; and Pilate represents the inescapable responsibility that goes with power. The other main theme in the show is choice and the removal of choice by the forces of politics and public opinion.

Throughout the show, characters make choices that will greatly affect the outcome of events. Jesus chooses to keep Mary by his side, despite her image, despite the fact that women were supposed to wear veils in public and were not to be spoken to check Leviticus for the ugly truth ; and this is one of the things that drives a wedge between Jesus and Judas. Judas repeatedly makes the choice to ignore the mistakes he knows Jesus is making and to stay with him anyway. Jesus' choices keep getting him deeper and deeper in trouble until finally, Judas must choose to betray him to the priests to stop the train from careening off the tracks.

Does Judas in fact have a choice or is he trapped into the events as they unfolded? If Judas had not betrayed Jesus, Jesus' role as martyr would've been subverted. Jesus knows from the beginning that Judas may betray him, that his ideas may be too radical, too dangerous even for his closest, most trusted friend. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus has serious doubts about what's he gotten into and he considers whether or not he can choose to stop, to get out while he's still alive.

He decides that the choice is not his. After Jesus' arrest, Peter chooses self-preservation over loyalty as he denies Jesus; but again, Jesus thought this might happen. Pilate tries to avoid making any choice at all regarding Jesus, but in the end the choice is forced upon him by the priests, by Herod, and by the crowd.

Everyone wants Jesus taken care of, yet no one wants to be the one who takes action. Rice and Lloyd Webber could not have written this show when they were forty. This material had to have the tang of youthful arrogance and rebellion to give voice to the radical, young activists Jesus and Judas. There is nothing in the score too complicated, nothing that requires much of the listener, but the music holds our interest nonetheless.

Lloyd Webber doesn't use literal reprises — repeated songs with the same or similar lyrics — except for a couple of fragments in Act II. MikePage April 23, Christine O Cheallaigh May 04, Popular posts from this blog D6 Zombies October 25, In honour of Halloween and the second season of the Walking Dead not to mention the soon-to-be-released Issue Three of d6 Magazine featuring material by yours truly , I thought it was time to revisit d6 Horror and share with you some of my designs for everyone's favourite brain-devouring, drooling masses of near-human monstrosities I love zombies and horror survival games.

It was a ton of fun, though admittedly I had to tweak the hell out of it to make it playable when my players realized that the zombies had the strength of Superman, and kept coming after being shot in the head four or five times, it really killed the excitement for them. All that tweaking eventually led me to the d6 system, which I also mangled to create a custom d6 Horror games some of the rules of which will be appearing in the a…. I usually end up on the DM side of the screen, which is cool because I generally enjoy it more anyway. But from time to time it's a nice change of pace to only have to worry about a single character instead of an entire world.

It's also fun to throw down and beat the living daylights out of some monsters. See here for why Clerics, especially 4E Essentials clerics, suck. And while we're at it, here's a good argument for the suckiness of Monks. Next I tried a Gnome Bard for a high-level Living Forgotten Realms game, but that turned out almost as bad as the cleric. Seriously, what was I thinking? For the new Encounters season, I almost made a Slayer …. There are some jobs that are just terrible. Cleaning industrial septic tanks. Being that kid with the drum at the front line of those old army battles.

Even working on a porno set, which one would think is the best employment in the world, has at least one position that downright sucks pardon the pun.

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