Some thoughts from viewing The Chosen

Happy Monday morning to you!

As I have mentioned in previous posts the past few months, Russ and I are catching up on The Chosen and now I see that our church will be doing a sermon or several based on the series.

So this morning I just want to share a few observations and I hope if you are watching them, have watched them or are talking with someone who is telling you about it, you will take a few of these thoughts into your heart and those conversations.

First off, I absolutely am loving the series. It is on point as far as being Scriptural HOWEVER…and this is huge…a lot of the story line is fictional. I am assuming it is based on other writings from the period as well as a study of the culture and times, but the story lines for the characters are not actually documented in Scripture.

That being said, they add so much to our understanding and they certainly support the truth of Scripture at every turn, but we do not know these as factual accounts of the various backgrounds of the disciples, close followers, Roman soldiers and officials, pharisees, and those who received healings from Jesus’ ministry.

And here is where I say that we absolutely MUST not base our faith and theology on these fictional accounts. We MUST go back to the Gospel writers and read those accounts and get those into our heads and our hearts.

We must be very careful to not stand on the imagination of how the lives of the people might have looked, and instead use the gift of the imaginings to apply Jesus’ teaching to our own stories and lives and ministries.

So my second point is that in these story lines we can see the total misunderstanding of the disciples, Jewish leaders and Roman officials as to what Jesus was about. And in these we can look at ourselves and the world around us and say that we are of the same fleshly cloth as they were.

Often in the episodes, the disciples are excited because they believe the Messiah will break the rule of Rome over them and restore them as a nation. Jesus repeatedly is trying to tell them that His Kingdom is not of this world, but they don’t get it.

Last night we watched both Roman officials and Jewish leaders separately striving and plotting and planning about what to do with this emerging Jesus. The Pharisees feel He is a false teacher leading the people astray. The Roman leaders in the area are trying to thwart a political uprising that will make them look bad in Rome.

Both of these parties are politicizing Jesus and again, totally misunderstanding what He is doing.

His friends are trying to push Him to move faster and more boldly. His enemies are trying to shut Him down and get rid of Him.

And He continues to move at the will of His Father. He continues to take time to go off and pray, to heal individuals, to deliver those who are held in spiritual prisons.

I see so much of us in this. Many times we are pushing Jesus to move, act, DO SOMETHING instead of acknowledging our need of Him in situations and circumstances and then waiting on His timing. I also see how we can be guilty of “politicizing” Him.

It has been on my heart for many years that we have made an idol of democracy and I often feel conviction as I read through His teachings. He says over and over that while we live under the authority of governing rulers here, HIS KINGDOM IS NOT OF THIS WORLD.

This reminds me that I even set up little kingdoms myself.

I sit typing “my post” in “my office” that is in a guest room in “our house. I have plans today for this little kingdom I have built in my mind. I have hopes and dreams and while they are all flowing from a heart that loves Jesus and wants desperately to be in His will hour by hour, I will most likely hold out my scepter at various points today and try to demand my rights over this space and time in which I exist for only a short season.

The Chosen has been a visual reminder that my Lord and Savior is patient with me in those moments, but He is LORD and He is Sovereign over all that He has given me.

Finally I wanted to share about something that struck me in last night’s episode. We happen to be on Season 2, Episode 5 and as we often say when watching sports, the wheels came off a bit last night for some of the characters.

Mary Magdalene, who we have just loved so much, encountered some serious ghosts from her past and as a result (spoiler alert) she took off and left the group near the end of the episode. No one realizes she is gone until it is dark and she has already made her way back into the comfortable dark places of her old life.

Peter goes to Jesus, who is off working on what will be the Sermon on the Mount, to tell Him she is gone. Jesus sends Matthew and Peter to find her. Now we can be certain whether it is in the show or whatever happened when He walked planet Earth, Jesus knew full well everything going on.

He had just cast out a demon in the story, did it often in Scripture and had cast out seven in Mary herself, so He wasn’t caught off guard.

He could have stopped her, He had sent someone to check on her just before she left. He could have gone Himself and had her back in a heartbeat.

But He sends Simon Peter and Matthew. A hot head and a former tax collector, who don’t get along in the show and probably, now that I think about it, had a lot of clashes in real life.

He sends them off to find her in some town, equipping them with the word of God that says there is no place so dark you can go that He is not with you.

And it occurs to me how often in Scripture He would do that. He could have done 100% of all the work, but He was raising up His Church. So that when He left, they would do the things He had done with the power of the Holy Spirit.

So in the way we gradually hand over responsibilities to our children or employees in training, He sent them off at times.

When the crowd was hungry and the disciples were clamoring with concern and ideas, He said…You feed them.

And so He does with us at times.

Sometimes He comes in with a miracle and we cry out in joy. We beg Him the next time we are in a hard place and He says, no…you do it. I am with you, but you must do your part.

And that is the walk and the work of the journey, my friend.

As we meet with Him daily, and by the hour, we are in communication in His Spirit to know we ought to pray, how to pray, when to wait, when to act.

We don’t always get it right, and He knows that. It is not our perfection but our obedience and desire to move in step with Him that is the goal. He meets us where we fall short, as we attempt to do the work of bringing His Kingdom here on earth.

Blessings on your day and on the path you walk with Him, as we …. journey onward <3

Share and Save: