I've alway struggled with the image of Gentle Jesus, Meek and Mild, chasing the moneychangers out of the Temple with the power of his perfectly-groomed beard...
“Who do you say that I am?”
I wonder if Peter ever wondered how he seemed to always end up in these situations: on the receiving-end of some hard question or seemingly impossible command…
From the outside, it’s pretty obvious: Peter couldn’t contain his enthusiasm. He volunteered for most of the hard questions… He volunteered to step out of the boat…
Sometimes, I’m like Peter: my enthusiasm puts me out here on the limb, answering hard questions and fending off critics… And today, the Master is asking me that same hard question that He asked Peter…
“What about you, Tim. Who do you say that I am?”
You are the Messiah… The Only Son of the Most High God…
“So, how do you think that Superman shirt looks on me?”
I confess, I’ve never really understood the controversy of the Superman shirt in Godspell… It is Jesus’ traditional costume in the show… It sets him apart from the rest of the players.
So, I had someone spell out the argument for me… It goes like this:
Jesus was the Humble King… He was always Clark Kent and never Superman. He described Himself as “meek and lowly” and he never set Himself up as the Hero. The people in that time were looking for a Hero to overthrow the Romans, but that was never Jesus’ intent. His humility was His defining virtue and He never put on any show of strength…
You get the idea… and for my part, I see that Jesus was all of those things, BUT He also did some things that set Him apart as the Hero:
Jesus questioned the Pharisees… Moreover, He refused to answer their questions and even rebuked them publicly. Normal Jewish people in the first century didn’t ever do that…
Jesus threw the money-changers out of the Temple… He went to worship and found people selling sub-standard sacrificial animals in the Temple court. He picked up a whip and went to work, turning over tables and chasing the scoundrels out into the street…
Of course, anyone with enough zeal and cheek could have done these things… It wouldn’t take Superman…
But then He healed the sick, brought sight to the blind, made the lame walk… He even demonstrated that He was empowered to forgive sins…
Then there was that whole scene of raising Lazarus from the dead…
Sounding more and more “super” to me all the time…
He also said some incredible things about Himself:
“If you’ve seen me, you’ve seen God.”
“I am the Vine, you’re my branches.”
“I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, no one comes to God except through me.”
And as if just for dramatic effect, Jesus took 3 of His followers up the mountain and revealed Himself in His radiant glory…
My concern is that the Superman shirt is too weak as a metaphor… It never crossed my mind that the comparison might be too strong.
I think that it is an over-simplification to say the Jesus was always Clark Kent… Jesus is and was fully God and fully man… A complete representation of Jesus will show Him to be both human and divine:
Jesus humanity is more apparent in Godspell than His divinity… It’s not that His divinity is denied – it’s established at the very beginning of the show… But the theme of Godspell is the community that Jesus built around Himself and His teaching, so it’s His humanity that is emphasized.
A small, visual reminder of the power He is containing seems appropriate to me.
So, what do you guys think about the Superman shirt? Does it represent Jesus?
NEXT UP: The Chief Clown… Why dress Jesus up like a clown? Is there a point to it?
