Contrary to the assertions of Mr. Repohl, Jesus was not the victim of "mass hysteria":
"Therefore doth my Father love me, because I lay down my life, that I might take it again.
"No man taketh it from me, but I lay it down of myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received of my Father. " (John 10: 17-18)
Contrary to the misunderstandings of many, Jesus is the Broad Way to salvation, but He is the only Way:
"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." (Matthew 7: 14)
7, the number of perfection, and then double that -- 7 + 7 + 7-- a trinity, a divinity of perfection. Jesus Christ, the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14: 6), He declares that the way to life is strait, not so much for its difficult, but for the fact that we receive it, and only by grace through faith. The offense for man has always been that either we must pay for our free lunch, or that we do not need such charity.
We cannot keep the law, we cannot perform our own righteousness, it is a free gift (Romans 5: 17). He comes to live in us by the grace of God, who remembers our sins no more, and by the Holy Spirit writes His laws on our hearts and minds (Hebrews 8: 10-12)
Contrary to the trappings and glitz of Andrew Lloyde Weber and Tim Rice, Jesus was not some hippie-drippy revolutionary. Jesus Christ Superstar is a super-blasphemy of the Son of God, who came to serve, not to be served (Matthew 20: 28). For Jesus to cry out "Heal yourselves",as the musical impresarios claim in one scene of the musical, is an offense and an affront. Nothing could be further from the truth. Fearing that Jesus did not want to cleanse him, a leper asked him if He was willing to heal him. Jesus replied:
"And Jesus put forth his hand, and touched him, saying, I will; be thou clean. And immediately his leprosy was cleansed." (Matthew 8: 3)
When his cousin John the Baptist was executed by Herod, fearful of his reputation, Jesus went away to be alone. When the crowds found Him, He did not dismiss them out of self-pitiful mourning:
"When Jesus heard of it [John the Baptist's death'], he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart: and when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities.
"And Jesus went forth, and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick." (Matthew 14: 13-14)
Jesus healed and ministered to all, rich and poor, elite and outcast, Pharisee and prostitute. For God, there are no manmade divisions:
"There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus." (Galatians 3: 28)
Man's mission to make conflict and root for one party or another is an offense:
"And it came to pass, when Joshua was by Jericho, that he lifted up his eyes and looked, and, behold, there stood a man over against him with his sword drawn in his hand: and Joshua went unto him, and said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries?
"And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the LORD am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my lord unto his servant?
"And the captain of the LORD'S host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy. And Joshua did so." (Joshua 5: 13-15)
Jesus Christ, in pre-incarnate appearance as the Angel of the LORD, would not choose sides, for as one fighting for the Lord, He is winner.
Jesus is not the man of the people, but who was given for the world:
"When Jesus therefore perceived that they would come and take him by force, to make him a king, he departed again into a mountain himself alone." (John 6: 15)
He will not be forced into the political machinations of man. He is King of Kings, Lord of Lords:
"And he hath on his vesture and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS." (Revelation 19: 16)
This title is granted to him by His Father, not by us. He does not need our support, He does not need the people to assist Him to His majesty:
"Which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places,
"Far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come:
"And hath put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church,
"Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all." (Ephesians 1: 20-23)
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