Hope and I watched the first episode of The Chosen. This Bible-inspired
show is designed to work like a TV series. It is being live streamed each week.
The actual episode is only about an hour long, but there is a lot of talking
before and after the episode if you watch the free live streamed version (which,
after being live streamed, remains available on You Tube here). The episode itself
begins about 22 minutes into the live stream, and imho you won’t miss too much
if you simply forward ahead to the episode.
What we loved about it
We loved the way they told the story of “Mary
Magdalene, out of whom he had driven seven demons” (Mark 16:9 CSB17). She is
the focus of the first episode. We don’t know how Mary came to be oppressed by
demons, nor does the Bible tell us how or when Jesus met her and delivered her.
But the creators of The Chosen do a good job providing a fictional account that
powerfully portrays Mary’s pain, God’s promises (an Old Testament passage is beautifully
woven throughout the story), and the love and power of Jesus that leads to her
deliverance.
In 2016 I preached a message on this same Bible story. In
it, based on biblical teaching, I discussed what it might have been like for
Mary to be oppressed by seven demons. I think you will find that this 20 minute
clip from the sermon complements the way Mary’s story is presented in “The
Chosen”:
Delivered from 7 Demons
One thing we didn’t like so much
(warning: spoilers ahead)
Neither of us really like the way they are portraying
Peter (and to some extent, Andrew) so far. From the Bible we know that Andrew
was a disciple of John the Baptist prior to meeting Jesus (John 1:36-42). We also
know Peter wasn’t with Andrew when he first sees Jesus, and we don’t know for if
Peter had also been following John the Baptist prior to meeting with Jesus. I’ve
always imagined that, prior to meeting Jesus, both Peter and Andrew were
basically godly Jews who were seeking to live their lives pleasing to God and
were looking forward to the coming of the Messiah. The Chosen is presenting
Peter as someone who got in fist fights to make money from betting (with the
help of Andrew!), who blatantly ignored the Sabbath prohibition on working
(this is far different from the nit picky complaining of the Pharisees about the
disciples’ actions on the Sabbath, in the show Peter really does violate what
was clearly God’s law for the Sabbath at that time), and even is prepared to
turn in some fellow Jews to Roman authorities in order to avoid a big tax problem.
Can I say for sure that Peter wasn’t like that before he became a follower of
Christ? No, but I’ve never imagined him to be like that and it doesn’t feel
right to me. Does this ruin the show? No, as long as you are able to keep
separate in your mind the fictional parts and the directly biblical parts.
Conclusion and Prayer
I pray that God will use The Chosen for great good. Based
on the first episode, I feel like the show has a lot of potential to be used by
God for good purposes. Despite the parts that we didn’t like as much, overall,
I think the first episode was a powerful and moving presentation of some deep
biblical truths that have potential to encourage and help those who watch. The
show opens with a screen describing the show’s relationship to the Bible and
encouraging people to read the Bible (see a screen grab photo below). If people
do read the Bible, and if they keep in mind that fictional accounts of Bible
characters can be used to powerfully convey God’s love and truth and yet the
fictional elements should not be treated as historical fact, then I think the
show can do a lot of good. At least that’s how I feel after the first episode.
I look forward to watching the second episode next week.
Some related blog posts (mainly dealing with the issue
of demonic oppression):
Hebrews 13:16 And do not forget to do good and to share with others . . .
