Top clergyman and Sun columnist Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, discusses the diverse line-up of TV talent show Superstar

Top clergyman and Sun columnist Dr John Sentamu, the Archbishop of York, discusses the diverse line-up of TV talent show Superstar

And the line-up of hopefuls could hardly be more diverse, with a Pakistani and a black contestant among those aiming to be the new stage Messiah.

Here, the Archbishop of York and Sun columnist John Sentamu explains why it doesn’t matter what Jesus looks like â€" it is his message which really counts.

OVER the centuries, since Jesus Christ was on earth walking among men and women, amazing them with his wisdom and his miracles, people have tried to capture what he was like in words, music, paintings and poetry.

But how do you capture the reality of someone who was both human and divine?

And now on our television screens we are about to see a whole line-up of very different individuals vying to put their own interpretation on the character of Jesus.

Of course, when Jesus was alive, growing up as a Jewish boy, physical representations of God were forbidden.

But the Psalms and the rest of scripture told the story of God’s love for his people. Jesus was that love in human form â€" God with us.

But how can we grasp the reality of such a person?

Medieval painters depicted him in iconic form, faces without expression, but images of great and distant beauty to help people with prayer. Later, painters and sculptors began to interpret what they knew of Jesus by displaying emotion and character in his appearance.

The traditional image of Jesus with a beard and long flowing hair comes from the work of Renaissance painters.

The image on the Turin Shroud, which some believe was the burial cloth of Jesus Christ, has also influenced the conventional bearded image of Jesus.

But as the Hebrew people knew, it is often dangerous to try to capture what God â€" even God in the person of a human â€" looks like.

In trying to depict the holiness of Jesus, he is often shown as impossibly distant, or tame and sanitised. In trying to depict the humanity of Jesus, we portray him in our own terms, make him so much like us, and lose the mystery of God in human flesh.

A few years ago, the United Society for the Propagation of the Gospel (USPG) produced 35 wonderful pictures of Jesus, called The Christ We Share.

These showed Jesus in the image of all the cultures of the world, and in every mood â€" angry, laughing, in pain, in gentleness. For Christ is everyman, everywoman, but he is also more than that. Jesus Christ is welcome in all cultures but at home in none, because of cultures’ tendency to try to domesticate him.

Now, in TV show Superstar, a new line-up of men from different cultures and backgrounds and of different appearances will make us wonder again about what Jesus the man might have been like.

Painting cannot tell us the complete story, nor can even words.

As the Apostle John said: “Jesus did many other things as well.

“If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.”

The musical Jesus Christ Superstar gives us another interpretation of Jesus. But the questions remain.

“Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ, Who are you? What have you sacrificed? Only want to know, Only want to know, Only want to know, now, Only want to know.”

So cries Judas in his anguished song in Jesus Christ Superstar.

He is trying to understand the friend he betrayed, trying to explain his own actions. Throughout the stories of Jesus in the Gospels, there are people asking: “Who is Jesus?” Today, many people are still asking who Jesus is. What sort of a person is he? “He’s a man, he’s just a man,” Mary Magdalene sings.

But is he?

Listen to what he says about himself in John’s Gospel. He says: “I am the door of the sheepfold... anyone who comes into the fold through me will be safe through and through.” What?

He says: “I am the good shepherd and I lay down my life for the sheep.” He says: “God the Father knows me and I know him. The Father loves me because I am willing to die for others and will receive my life back again.”

What â€" is he nuts?

He says he’s the door to safety, he says he’s a shepherd who will guard his flock with his life, he says he’s willing to die for others and thinks he’ll come back to life. Even Superman doesn’t try this.

And, oh yes, he says he’s the Son of God!

How do we find out what he really means? First, we have to listen to the voice of the shepherd.

We have to enter in through the door, then we receive more and better life than we ever dreamed of from the son of God.

Fans of today’s stars buy their pictures and their music and copy their fashion and their behaviour. Some even change their faces to look like them. That’s what followers of Jesus try to do too â€" they try to be as like him as possible.

But the change is from within. It’s a radical transformation as Jesus forgives us our past sins and gives us new life in the present and hope for the future.

He does for us that which we could not do for ourselves.

Jesus Christ Superstar is a marvellous show with wonderful music. But there is even more to the real Jesus.

If we came face to face with God and asked him: “Who is Jesus Christ?” the answer would go something like this: “Jesus Christ is exactly like me, the God you can’t see.

“He is superior to all creation. I was pleased to live fully in him. He died on the cross. He is the first to be raised from death.

“He made it possible for human beings to become friends of God.

“The life he lived is freely given to all who trust in him.”

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SUPERSTAR may be a new reality show â€" but some of its stars may look strangely familiar.

On tonight’s show viewers will recognise the cherubic face of singer Jonathan Ansell, who shot to fame on The X Factor with opera quartet G4 in 2004.

The baby-faced blond causes a stir when show judge Jason Donovan recognises him â€" and points out he is already starring in a different musical.

Big-voiced Jonathan, 30 â€" who came second with G4 in the first ever X Factor, losing out to Steve Brookstein â€" begs the Aussie singer to let him through and tells the judges: “I’m delighted to have got through and to be here today” before launching into Queen’s Somebody To Love.

Jonathan, left, toured the world with G4 and sold thousands of albums before they split in 2007. And his is not the only face reality show fans may recognise.

Several other wannabes â€" including Ben Forster, John Moses and Afnan Iftikhar â€" also tried out for the Simon Cowell telly talent contest. And burly rocker Nathan James from BBC1 singing show The Voice also puts in an appearance. Some of the contestants from a variety of countries and backgrounds are pictured on the right.

A source said: “Most of this year’s wannabes have a background in music already and you can hardly blame them.”

RELIGIOUS leaders from all faiths have thrown their weight behind Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new reality show, he insisted last night.

Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “The majority are very, very pro this show. One senior person said, ‘I’d walk across my swimming pool to see it’ â€" which I thought was great.”

The musicals guru told The Sun he was prepared for any backlash from devout Christians â€" but suspected there would be little.

He added: “There’s nothing in the Bible that says what Jesus looked like.

“The only certainty â€" and we still can’t be 100 per cent sure â€" is that he wasn’t a woman.

“We actually had some women trying out for the show but, rather disappointingly, there wasn’t anyone who passionately believed Jesus was a woman.

“They just wanted to meet me and casting director David Grindrod and audition for other shows.”

Lord Lloyd-Webber said: “On the show we have the most varied bunch I’ve ever worked with â€" they cover every single gamut of ideas.

“We have an Arab boy, a black boy and one who looks a little bit like Jesus from a stained-glass window.”

The traditional view of Jesus as a bearded, long-haired Mediterranean is a thing of the past, Lord Lloyd-Webber believes.

He said: “Thirty years ago people would have a more conventional view of what Jesus looked like. Now we’re not in the same place and, when a lot of the young look at Superstar, they’ll go for the best singer and best charisma.

“The look won’t be that important. I have not got the slightest clue where the public will go on this.”