Jesus Christ Superstar Worksheet



In the movie, Jesus Christ Superstar, the character of Jesus is one of low Christology. His human characteristics are shown in many different ways. One big human characteristic is anger, and Jesus displays this twice in an extreme way. The first time is when he gets angry at those who use the temple for pleasures and money. He yells and flips tables. The second time was when Jesus got mad at Judas for betraying Him. At the Last Supper, He yells at him to get out. Another human characteristic Jesus shows in this movie is pain. This was when He is getting whipped by the orders of Pontius Pilate. You can see Jesus cringe and he obviously has human slashes with blood on his back. Jesus also shows some human love for the opposite sex. In the beginning, He is with Mary Magdalene lying down and he is stroking her hair. This seems like a very sexual love connection. Also, Mary seems to love Jesus through the whole movie. All humans get overwhelmed and stressed with things in their lives, and Jesus definitely feels this when a bunch of handicapped and sick people come to ask for His healing. Two more human emotions Jesus shows in Jesus Christ Superstar are doubt and fear. These are shown a lot in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is talking to God, His Father and says things like, “Why then am I scared to finish what I started”, “Why should I die?”, and “Can you show me now that I would not be killed in vain?” The last and most obvious evidence to Jesus being of low Christology is the fact that he looked like everyone else.

There are three major beliefs of Jesus that I can see clearly in Jesus Christ Superstar. One is the belief of non-violence. This is shown in two places. One is when Simon Zealotes tries to convince Jesus that they need to attack Rome so that Jesus will get power and glory. Jesus replies that none of them even know what power is. The other is at the Garden of Gethsemane. Peter and the apostles say they would fight for Jesus. Jesus said, “Why are you obsessed with fighting? Stick to fishing from now on.” Another belief of Jesus is the sacredness of the temple. When He sees the people using the Lord’s temple for pleasures and money, He gets extremely angry. He says, “My temple should be a house of prayer, but you have made it a den of thieves. Get Out!” The third belief of Jesus is the importance of the Kingdom of God. When He is with His followers He says, “There is not one of you who can not win the kingdom.” Also when Jesus is talking to Pontius Pilate He says, “There may be a kingdom for me somewhere. If you only knew.” These three beliefs are just the major ones in Jesus Christ Superstar. There are many more.