Jesus Christ, Superstar?

This blog entry was supposed to be about Jonah and his spiritual journey. Or at least the beginning of Jonah’s journey in comparison to Daniel. Then tonight I was asked a question that brought me to rethink that. So Jonah will have to wait another day.

The question was simple and innocent enough. “Was the woman at the well the same person as Mary Magdalene?” The answer is no, of course. Mary was from Magdala, hence Mary the Magdalene. The woman at the well was from Sychar. (Compare John 4 with Luke 8) Magdala was a small village near the Sea of Galilee. Sychar was in Samaria. But I digress.

Nevertheless, it is the source of the question that is distressing. The question came from the vile play Jesus Christ Superstar. I’ve never seen it, and probably never will. But apparently the insinuation or out right plot-line is that Mary and the woman from Sychar were one and the same. Here is the rub. Too many Believers today have a Jesus Christ Superstar theology. We receive our Biblical education at the hands of the Hollywood elite, who to a person hate the very existence of the light of Jesus Christ. We believe Indiana Jones when he says that the cup of Christ imparts ever lasting life—and that the eternal life spoken of is a fleshly life. We believe Dan Brown when he tells us that Da Vinci was some great potentate of the secreted truth and that “Christianity” voted as to whether or not we would believe in the divinity of Christ. We believe Peter Jennings when he tells us that the search for the historical Jesus proves that there is no proof of a resurrection.

We believe because we have a Jesus Christ Superstar theology. What kind of theology should we have, you ask? Let’s ask Jonah. (I can’t help but chase these rabbits and right now Jonah is one of them.) Jonah had a Jesus Christ Superstar theology. He cared more about what the culture thought than what God thought. Until, that is, the water flowed over his head.

Listen to Jonah 2…”When my soul fainted within me I remembered the LORD: and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple.” When did he remember the LORD, in the moment of his distress. Jonah chapter 2 has no less than 12 Psalms referenced. Jonah discovered a Biblical theology.

We need to get into God’s Word. We should study it to show ourselves approved. (Any AWANA leaders out there?) Then we won’t be dependent on Hollywood to teach us the Scriptures. When we make His Word a lamp unto our feet and a light unto our path, we will become like a tree planted by the river, that brings forth fruit in do season. Then we will be able to say, “'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.” How can we know His plans, when we don’t know His Words?