On this day, August 15, 1965, The Beatles played to over 55,000 fans at Shea Stadium in New York City. The event later became regarded as the birth of stadium rock. It remained the highest concert attendance in the United States until 1973, when Led Zeppelin played to an audience of 56,000 in Tampa, Florida.
Beatlemania was at one of its highest marks at the Shea concert. Film footage shows teenagers and women crying, screaming, and even fainting. Despite the heavy security presence of over 2000 security personal, individual fans broke onto the field numerous times and had to be chased down and restrained.
Despite specially designed 100-watt amplifiers, the noise was so deafening that the band had to switch to the stadium amplification system. Still the noise was so loud that nobody heard much of anything; even the band couldn't hear each other and did not know how they sounded, or whether they were even playing in unison.
Beatles co-founder John Lennon was raised in the Anglican tradition in Liverpool, England. He sang in the church choir as a boy, and had some early exposure to the Bible in school. However, by his teens and early adulthood, Lennon had become skeptical of organized religion and the way Christianity was practised.
In March 1966, a London newspaper published an interview Lennon had given to British journalist Maureen Cleave. In it, Lennon said:
"Christianity will go. It will vanish and shrink… I don’t know which will go first—rock ’n’ roll or Christianity. Jesus was all right, but his disciples were thick and ordinary. It’s them twisting it that ruins it for me… We’re more popular than Jesus now; I don’t know which will go first—rock ’n’ roll or Christianity.”
The remark drew little attention in the UK at first, it caused an uproar in the United States when it was reprinted in the teen magazine Datebook in July of the same year. Backlash was so intense that Lennon issued a public apology at a Chicago press conference in August 1966, clarifying that he wasn't claiming to be better than Jesus, but commenting on the declining influence of Christianity among young people in the West compared to pop culture.
On the evening of December 8, 1980, John Lennon was shot and killed outside his New York City apartment building, The Dakota, by Mark David Chapman. Earlier that evening Lennon had autographed Chapman's copy of Double Fantasy, Lennon's latest album.
"For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?" — Matthew 16:26
"Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." — Galatians 6:7-8
Chapman was a 25-year-old former security guard from Hawaii who had been a Beatles fan from his youth who had become obsessed with Lennon. Idolizing Lennon, Chapman even tried to imitate Lennon's look and mannerisms. However, over time Chapman became increasingly disillusioned after Lennon's "more popular than Jesus" comment. He was angered by what he saw as hypocrisy, perceiving Lennon's lavish lifestyle that didn't match his peace-and-love image. By the late 1970s, this admiration had warped into a dangerous obsession: he both loved and hated Lennon, which psychologists often describe as a form of “celebrity worship gone malignant.”
"Can the rush grow up without mire? can the flag grow without water? Whilst it is yet in his greenness, and not cut down, it withereth before any other herb. So are the paths of all that forget God; and the hypocrite's hope shall perish: Whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web." — Job 8:11-14
John Lennon often criticized Christianity for straying from Jesus’s teachings, accusing churches of hypocrisy, materialism, and twisting Christ’s message. Yet, many have pointed out that Lennon himself did not live according to the example of Jesus he claimed to respect. While he admired Christ’s ideals of peace, love, and humility, Lennon’s own life was marked by contradictions, such as periods of heavy drug use, infidelity, material excess, and self-promotion. He spoke of rejecting wealth and possessions in songs like Imagine, yet lived in luxury apartments, collected expensive art, and enjoyed the privileges of fame. In this sense, Lennon’s critique of Christian hypocrisy mirrored a similar inconsistency in his own life: holding others to a moral standard rooted in Jesus’s teachings while falling short of that standard himself.
"Therefore thou art inexcusable, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest doest the same things. But we are sure that the judgment of God is according to truth against them which commit such things. And thinkest thou this, O man, that judgest them which do such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgment of God?" — Romans 2:1-3
John Lennon's story illustrates the importance of aligning one's life with the values one publicly champions. Lennon was correctly pointed out that Christianity often fails to live up to Jesus's teachings, but his own inconsistencies serve as a reminder that it is easy to critique others while overlooking our own shortcomings.
"And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but perceivest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Either how canst thou say to thy brother, Brother, let me pull out the mote that is in thine eye, when thou thyself beholdest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, cast out first the beam out of thine own eye, and then shalt thou see clearly to pull out the mote that is in thy brother's eye. For a good tree bringeth not forth corrupt fruit; neither doth a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. For every tree is known by his own fruit." — Luke 6:41-44
"Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity." — Matthew 7:21-23
"Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil." — Ecclesiastes 12:113-14
For Christians, his life underscores the need for self-examination, humility, and authentic discipleship—making sure faith is lived out in daily choices, not just spoken or sung about. It also highlights the danger of idolizing human figures, whether celebrities or spiritual leaders, since all people are flawed and capable of hypocrisy. In short, Lennon’s story invites believers to focus less on condemning others and more on faithfully embodying the principles of Christ in our own lives.