Exploring The Chosen: Jesus

No exploration of The Chosen could be complete without examining the show’s portrayal of the most important person who ever lived: Jesus Christ. With our previous examinations of The Chosen’s characters, I’ve shared what we know as fact from the Bible, versus what is added to the story by the show’s producers.

With Jesus, we will have to take a slightly different approach. If I were to write everything we know about Jesus from the Bible, it would be thousands of pages long – the entire Bible is the true story of His love for humankind and His plan to rescue us from eternal death row by paying the penalty for our sins! We just have to accept the pardon that He offers! (You can get a 40,000-foot view of the overall grand Bible narrative in my podcast here.)

Instead of viewing facts about Jesus, I’d like to explore how The Chosen portrays His character and how it lines up with Scripture.

Fully God, Fully Man

Jesus is God’s Son, the second member of the Holy Trinity. He is fully God and fully man (Philippians 2:6-8). How Jesus can have two distinct, yet inseparable, natures is a great mystery of our faith, but the very fact that He laid down some of His Divine attributes to come to earth as a human baby, live a perfect life (the only person ever to do so), and then die a gruesome death to pay the debt for the sins of those who believe in Him alone for salvation, proves His love for us. We saw Him as a suffering servant in His First Coming. When He returns in His Second Coming, He will be a conquering King and will come to judge those who rejected Him.

Many dramatic representations of Jesus in shows and movies struggle to capture Jesus as fully God and fully man. Many err on the side of His Divine nature, portraying Him as aloof or distant from man. Others lean too far into his manhood, even showing Him to sin (which is heretical.) Yet, Scripture shows us He was fully man who experienced hurt and happiness, joy and pain. He wrestled with and conquered temptation, living a completely sinless life. He also experienced fear at His impending crucifixion, knowing He would be separated from God the Father for the first time as He took on our sin to pay the debt that we could not pay.

One thing I appreciate about The Chosen is its portrayal of the humanness of Jesus, while still honoring His Divinity.

Friend of Sinners

It’s one of the earliest truths we learn as children. “Jesus loves me, this I know. For the Bible tells me so.” Sometimes we forget the beauty and magnitude of this simple truth. Jesus loves you. The Creator of the Universe loves you and desires a personal relationship with you. One thing I’ve enjoyed about Jonathan Roumie’s portrayal of Jesus in The Chosen is seeing Jesus’ compassion for the people He meets. He lovingly meets each person where they are, gently drawing them from their sin into redemption. He is their friend and their Messiah. I’ve enjoyed watching some of my favorite accounts from the Gospels come to life on the screen. It’s a great reminder to believers of His love, and I pray it will draw nonbelievers to seek out His love in their own life. Jesus desires all to be saved and come to the knowledge of the Truth (1 Timothy 2:3-4).

Forgiver of Sins

I often hear people talk about how Jesus was nonjudgemental and how He surrounded Himself with sinners. While it’s true that Jesus wholeheartedly embraced sinners, he didn’t leave them in their sin. He didn’t accept their sin as part of who they were. In fact, in two accounts, Jesus says “Go and sin no more” (John 5:14; 8:11). The Chosen does show that Jesus came to seek and save the lost and that His main purpose was to provide a pathway for us to reconcile with God by paying the debt for the sins of anyone who will believe in Jesus alone for their salvation. The show also does a good job of showing the disciples’ confusion that He did not come to free the Jewish people from the oppression of the Roman Empire, as many at that time were hoping that the Messiah would do then. At times, I wish The Chosen would show more of how Jesus required His followers to turn from their sin, but at least the show has not fallen into the trap of portraying Jesus as someone who accepted sin.

The Main Thing

There is so much about Jesus’ character we could talk about here, but here is the main thing you need to know:

Jesus is God’s Son. He is fully God and fully man. He came to earth as a baby and lived a perfect, sinless life. He willingly sacrificed Himself to a horrific death on the Cross for the atonement of your sins, taking the punishment you deserve. He was buried for three days, and then rose again (seen by over 500 people), proving his dominion over death, that He is God, and then ascended to the right hand of God the Father, proving that His sacrifice for our sins was acceptable to God the Father. Jesus is God, and He loves you. But it is not His love that saves you, it is His grace. You are separated from God because of your sin and sentenced to eternal separation for God -- there is nothing you can do to earn your salvation. However, Jesus’ free gift of salvation is waiting for you. All you have to do is receive the gift He is offering and truly believe in your heart that Jesus is your Savior and God’s Son, and that He paid the debt for your sins that you couldn’t pay (John 3:16; Romans 10:9-13), and desire to turn from your sins and have a personal relationship with Him. You can be saved by God’s grace, through your faith in Jesus Christ alone, not by works, doing a bunch of religious stuff, and just trying to be nice. You can’t earn or contribute to your salvation (Ephesians 2:8-9).

If you’ve never accepted God’s free gift of salvation by placing your faith in Jesus alone to save you, or if you are not 100% sure that you will go to heaven when you die, please email me at larry@larryodonnell.com. I would love to share more about how to trust in Jesus alone as your Lord and Savior.

You Can Know Him

I could write hundreds of pages about Jesus and barely scratch the surface of who He is. But reading what I have to say will never replace the joy of getting to know Him personally yourself! That is the beautiful, miraculous thing about coming to faith in Jesus – you get to have a personal relationship with Him. You can learn about His character by reading His Word, praying, and listening to Him. You don’t have to wonder what Jesus is like and you don’t have to take my word for it. You can know Him intimately, closer than a brother. Christianity is not a religion, it is a personal relationship with the Lord. And it is the most important relationship you will ever have.

If watching The Chosen has piqued your interest in knowing more about Jesus, you’ll be excited to know you don’t just have to know about Him. You can truly know Him, because He is alive, and those of us who trust in Him have the Holy Spirit indwelling us now, and have 100% confidence that we will dwell with Jesus forever. Not because of anything we did, but because of what Jesus did for us! God’s plan to save us from eternal separation from God is truly Amazing Grace! It truly saved a messed-up sinner like me! (Yes, I still struggle with sin). It can save you too!