Herod’s Song and adventures in missing the point
I’ve mentioned before that I have a love/not-quite-hate, on-again, off-again relationship with Jesus Christ Superstar. There’s one thing about the rock opera that never diminishes – my deep appreciation for King Herod’s Song. With lines like “Prove to me that you’re divine, turn this water into wine,” and “”Prove to me that you’re no fool, walk across my swimming pool,” and “Feed my household with this bread – you can do it on your head,” it captures King Herod’s attitude towards Jesus.
Check out Luke’s Passion narrative:
“Now Herod was very glad when he saw Jesus…
Luke 23: 8 (NASB), emphasis mine
because he had been hearing about Him and was hoping to see some sign performed by Him.“
One of my favorite performances of King Herod’s Song comes from an unexpected artist – Alice Cooper.
Cooper’s King Herod is an arrogant and smug rock star, demanding to be entertained by someone who was grabbing all the headlines. And then at around the 2:30 mark, he gets in Jesus’ face and asks, “Hey, aren’t you scared of me, Christ, Mister Wonderful Christ?” It’s a haunting turn of attitude. Cooper’s King Herod ain’t playing anymore.
Then he drops the mic – both figuratively and literally. He concludes the performance by strutting off the stage with a swagger that rivals Prince’s exit after his guitar solo at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Herod’s Song at the Hollywood Bowl
Not too long ago, there was a production of Jesus Christ Superstar at the Hollywood Bowl that gained some chatter online because of its all-star cast, including Adam Lambert as Judas, Phillipa Soo (the original Eliza in Hamilton) as Mary Magdalene, and Cynthia Erivo (Elphaba in the Wicked film) as Jesus.# I’ll admit, I didn’t really pay much attention to the online chatter because this live production was in L.A. Kind of tough to see live from all the way over here in Central Indiana. I didn’t really think much of it, honestly.
But the weekend of the show, I started seeing some discussion on social media that John Stamos – yes, good ol’ Uncle Jesse – was an emergency fill-in for Josh Gad in the role of Herod on opening night. I guess Josh had COVID and had to bow out last-minute. John was called with less than 24-hour notice. And put together this performance.
Not too shabby, eh?
Of course, after watching John Stamos’s performance, I had to watch Josh Gad’s performance from the following night.
Both were great in their own right.
Something hit me as I watched these performances, though.
King Herod’s circus
In this production, Jesus’ trial before Herod feels a whole lot more like a circus than other renditions of Herod’s Song. It’s a spectacle on stage. I half-expected jugglers and trapeze artists and maybe even some clowns to come out on stage making a full-blown spectacle while King Herod demands that Jesus join the show with a miracle-working magic act.
The stage stage full of performers pleading demanding that God perform some miraculous act for the masses. And with all of the hoopla and production of a circus-like atmosphere, Herod demanded that the King of Kings prove his worth as the miracle working King of the Jews. He couldn’t – or maybe he chose not to – recognize the royalty that was looking at him square in the face.
Herod completely missed the point.
Recognizing Jesus?
And then I thought, I wonder how many times we encounter Jesus and can’t – or refuse to – recognize his presence. How many times do we miss the Divine in the midst of our worship services, Christian concerts, rallies, and other planned public demonstrations of faith in America? There’s a lot of programming, spectacle, and entertainment in those experiences. Fog machines, and pyrotechnics, and laser light shows, and slick production value aren’t that uncommon.
And I wonder if we, just like King Herod at the Hollywood Bowl, have a tendency to completely miss the point – missing Jesus in the process. These words of Jesus have ben haunting me since I watched Josh Gad’s and John Stamos’s performances as King Herod.
Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many [s]miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; leave Me, you who practice lawlessness."
-Jesus
Matthew 7:24 (NASB), emphasis mine
How many things that are done in the name of Jesus are nothing but noisy gongs and clanging cymbals?
If I speak with the tongues of mankind and of angels, but do not have love, I have become a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and know all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. And if I give away all my possessions to charity, and if I surrender my body so that I may glory, but do not have love, it does me no good.
-Apostle Paul
1 Corinthians 13:1-3 (NASB), emphasis mine
How many things are done “for the cause of Christ” leave Jesus saying, “Who are you?”
"Then the righteous will answer Him, ‘Lord, when did we see You hungry, and feed You, or thirsty, and give You something to drink? And when did we see You as a stranger, and invite You in, or naked, and clothe You? And when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them, ‘Truly I say to you, to the extent that you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of Mine, you did it for Me.’"
-Jesus
Matthew 25:37-40 (NASB), emphasis mine
And many times do we ignore Jesus when he’s right there in front of us?
Maybe we’re just missing the whole point of it all.
endnote
# A lot of people had a lot of things to say about Cynthia playing Jesus. And I get it. But I’m not here to talk about that.
