Long title… high praise, right?

Seems a little too high for a Christian media project?

I thought so at first, too. 

Back in January, I got a Facebook ad for a random TV show called “The Chosen.” Naturally, I did what any film-loving Christian would do… and scrolled past it. I had just watched through all of the movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, was working on research for my first feature length film, and feeling on top of the world after taking an “intro to screenwriting” course. I was not about to engage with a TV show about Jesus marketed to Christians. I had been scarred too much by Christian media being more focused on being Christian than being good—I was not about to fall into that trap again. 

I got another ad for it a week later and this time I gave in. I decided to watch it purely to make fun of it. I was ready to laugh at a flimsy portrayal of Jesus, at white European actors playing first-century Jewish people, at boring cinematography and editing—because that’s what I had known from other projects. 

Boy was I wrong. 

I got five minutes into episode 1 and dropped everything to frantically research whoever was in charge of this show. It was one of the most brilliant pieces of media I had seen in my life. I was ready to laugh at how poorly made I thought the show would be but ended up laughing for joy at how it consistently delivered a brilliantly written, stunningly acted, and beautifully shot TV series. I watched all eight episodes in three days. I laughed, I cried, I prayed, and I experienced new dimensions to both my faith and my identity as a storyteller. 

Ironically, what makes this show about Jesus so good is that it’s not focused on being a Christian show. It’s not focused on tying up every episode with a campy moral lesson about how following Jesus is the best thing that you can do. It’s not focused around a character arc that promotes the blind acceptance of God as being the only valid form of faith expression. It doesn’t revolve around Jesus combating atheist professors in college classrooms to prove the existence of God. The show doesn’t push an agenda—instead, it leaves room for the audience to enter into that world and make up their minds for themselves. 

This approach of creating space to enter into stories is absolutely consistent with how Jesus himself taught. He taught through stories that were fascinating and strange and radical and confusing—as all good stories should be. He created a space for people to wonder and experience the presence of God. That is the power of stories—they provide us with a safe space to think about the world as it could be and as it should be. The Chosen very much follows in this tradition that Jesus started. 

Part of what makes this show so brilliant, too, is the fact that it is so ordinary. It focuses on the real, messy, human, and complex lives of the people who knew and followed Jesus. There’s marital tension. There’s sexual assault. There’s oppression by governmental authorities. There’s complex family relationships. There’s poverty and cuts and scrapes and bruises. There’s laughter and joy and drinking and dancing. The characters struggle with doubt and fear and then are filled with hope at encountering God. In short, these characters are just like me. This show is a portrayal of what authentic human life might have looked like during the 1st century—and especially the authentic, human life of God in Jesus. It is deeply relatable in a way that most other faith-based projects aren’t. 

In short, please go watch “The Chosen.” I need more people to rant about it with.