The Chosen – Episode One – Reflection

---

The Chosen opens with a father teaching his daughter to memorize Isaiah 43:1 –

But now, this is what the Lord says – he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel:

“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you. I have summoned you be name. You are mine!”

---

We soon learn the girl is Mary Magdalene, and in her adult life she would suffer from demonic possession (Luke 8:2 says that she was delivered from seven demons). Mary becomes the featured storyline in the first episode, but other colorful and complex characters are introduced as well, including Nicodemus, Matthew, Peter, and Andrew. Colorful and complex – as characters, they certainly have those qualities in common. Too often, when we read the gospels, we don’t take time to imagine what the lives of the characters may have really been like. Other films about Jesus, usually limited to two or three hours, rarely spend time developing characters other than Jesus Himself. As a result, the biblical characters can seem distant and difficult to relate with – almost as if they are in black and white, in such a different world. In my opinion, one of the great strengths of The Chosen is that it develops each main character to have a colorful, complex, and downright compelling storyline. While the characters are indeed in a very different world (first century Israel is not 21^st century America), we are drawn to them because we are reminded of how very similar their life experiences and emotions are to our own. And then, we see Jesus coming for them – as He does for Mary in the first episode – and we are reminded of how Jesus comes for us as well. He comes for the one troubled like Mary. He comes for the one lost in religion like Nicodemus. He comes for the one hated like Matthew. He comes for the stubborn and scheming ones, like Peter. He says to them and to each and every one of us, “You are mine.” He who created you, He who formed you, He longs to redeem you, and He calls you by name. He knew their names, and He knows ours. He is coming for us, and He isn’t flinching.

 

The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God – children born not of natural descent, nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God. – John 1:9-13