Jesus Christ, Superstar

The Andrew Lloyd Webber musical "Jesus Christ Superstar" is one of my favorites. In that musical the chorus sings to Jesus: "Jesus Christ, Superstar...do you think that you're who they say you are? Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, who are you, what was your sacrifice?"

The song is from the point of view of an agnostic, someone who doesn't know what the "true" religion is or whether Jesus was really the Savior, the Messiah, come to save the world from its sins. There are many religions in the world, and though I am not as devout as my brother and middle son, I have come to see Jesus as the best of the bunch. Whereas Muhammad's life was an example in barbarism and evil, Jesus' life was an example of love, charity, healing and reconciliation with God. The God of Jesus is a loving God, a Heavenly Father, who loves all of his earthly children. It is possible to have a personal relationship with this God. He is approachable and knowable. The god of Muhammad, on the other hand, is cruel, capricious, cold, hateful, vengeful and unknowable.

Muhammad came to kill thousands with the sword; Jesus came to suffer a humiliating and painful death so that millions might attain eternal life. He was scourged until his upper body was raw meat, whipped and ultimately nailed to a cross. Muhammad came to kill, rob, rape and enslave mankind; Jesus came to save it, to heal it. Muhammad made a lot of people dead and lame; Jesus healed the lame and raised the dead.

Under Islam, people are today stoned to death for common human frailties, such as fornication or adultery. But when the Jews of old prepared to stone an adulteress, Jesus halted the execution with one suggestion: "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone." He then told the liberated woman, "Go and sin no more."

Jesus is the religion of love and life and reconciliation to God. Muhammad is the religion of hatred and death and eternal damnation.

Some of my favorite Bible stories include Jesus feeding the multitude with loaves and fishes, and the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus told the crowd to trust in God, to "observe the lilies of the field; they neither sow nor reap, but even Solomon, in all his glory, was not arrayed as one of these."

No matter what your belief, Jesus' life is a glorious inspiration to all mankind. He represents the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, life over death, love over hate, hope over despair.

Jesus loved mankind. He truly was a Superstar. Happy Easter everyone.