Young Adult
Spoiler alert: This column includes details from the just-released Season Four of “The Chosen.”
I’ve recently and belatedly hopped on the bandwagon and started watching “The Chosen.” In case you missed it, “The Chosen” is an ongoing TV show based on the Gospels. It fills out the details of the backstories and the characters in the Bible with some fiction in hopes of bringing the reality of Jesus and his work to life for us.
In what I’ve watched so far, there are some things that are distracting or annoying to me, but there is also a lot about it that I find beautiful. Overall, I think its greatest strength is being always centered on and directed to personal relationship with Jesus.
I’ve been watching a little out of order — I haven’t seen Season Three, but I have seen Season Four, and of the episodes I’ve watched so far, the one about the raising of Lazarus was easily my favorite. The writers made the choice to juxtapose the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead with the recent death of one of his beloved followers and the loss that his other followers, Thomas in particular, are still grieving.
The episode is full of poignant images of grief. Mary of Bethany falls, weeping at the feet of Jesus and crying out to him, “Lord if you had been here, this wouldn’t have happened.” Jesus weeps at the sight of his friends in pain. And Thomas — still broken by the death of his friend — watches Jesus raise someone else from the dead. The searing pain of confusion, even of feeling betrayed, compounds with his grief. All these portrayals of grief reflect a reality that comes with following Jesus.
“The Prosperity Gospel” is a nickname for the belief that faith in Jesus will lead to material prosperity and well-being. It’s our modern version of the same expectation that ancient Israel had of the long-awaited Messiah. They looked for a political leader who would throw off their Roman oppressors and restore Israel to material freedom and prosperity. Jesus came and established his kingdom, and it looked nothing like they thought it would. A man crucified by their Roman oppressors was not the idea they had of who the Messiah should be. It’s an attitude that’s all too easy for us to adopt as well. Because God is good, all-powerful and wants good things for us, it is easy to extrapolate the conclusion that he will use his power to grant our wishes and enact our plans for our lives. Christ came that we might have life and have it more abundantly, but life that is abundant and new comes through the Resurrection. The Resurrection comes through the Cross.
The makers of “The Chosen” do a good job of illustrating this “prosperity gospel” perspective as the prevailing one of the time. They also show it as the dominant influence in the attitude of Judas. Judas, in the show, is ecstatic at the raising of Lazarus, sure that this will be the definitive weapon in their overthrow of Rome. He is dismissive of the grief and confusion of Thomas and the contrast between the two characters in that moment is one of the most powerful images that “The Chosen” has yet painted. Blinded by his own vision for what Jesus’ victory should look like, Judas misses the reality that the other disciples are wrestling with: The Kingdom of Heaven on earth is marked by grit and grief as well as by grace.
Jesus, meanwhile, meets Thomas in the depth of his pain, undeterred by the anger flaring up. Jesus tells Thomas, “It’s OK that you don’t understand yet, but please, Thomas, stay with me.”
Thomas stays with Jesus, but he is not consoled. The reality of grief is not simply prayed away, and it is possible to be angry with God and to remain faithful to him at the same time. Every beat of these portrayals of grief rings true, to my experience at least. The weight and confusion and pain, the invitation to stay close to Jesus, and the reality that — even in relationship with Jesus — the answers aren’t easy. With much encouragement and guidance, I’ve learned how to be angry with God in prayer. It’s a confusing and, honestly, an exhausting way to pray. But also, in the years since anger has become a recurring part of my prayer, my relationship with God has undeniably grown deeper, more real and more intimate.
It remains to be seen how “The Chosen” will lead us through the story of the Cross and the Resurrection. For many of us, it remains to be seen how Jesus will lead us through the daily crosses he gives us. But the invitation portrayed in “The Chosen” is the one Jesus offers to each of us — stay with me.
I wasn’t able to join the recent Eucharistic Pilgrimage through Milwaukee. The pictures I saw of familiar streets filling up with pilgrims following the Eucharist were deeply moving to me: Jesus, sacramentally present on the streets of my city, in the company of my friends. My friend Carrie, who was there, told me about the experience of being a part of the pilgrimage and the feeling that, “I’m really not alone. There’s a kingdom here.”
