Spoiler Alert: The Chosen Holy Week

Note: There is a spoiler alert for season 5 of The Chosen contained below.  I spoil as a public service so nobody else will be unexpectedly stranded on the edge of their seats when the series starts streaming in June. Forewarned is forearmed.

For about the last year, Jan and I have been slowly devouring the different seasons of The Chosen, the excellent historical series about the life of Jesus by Dallas Jenkins.  We didn’t binge, preferring to allocate the four seasons as episodic treats.  We were excited when in late March we bumped up against Palm Sunday at the end of Season 4.   We checked online and discovered Season 5 would be offered in theatres first, parceling the episodes into three movies available at Regal Cinemas.

We envisioned three movies to coincide with Holy Week to give a little extra visual excitement and wonder to our observance of the Biblical tragedy and redemption. We watched the Regal App attentively for listings. Three weeks before Holy Week, the first movie was released, with the second and third to come in the following weeks.

We saw the first movie at the Opry Mills big screen, and it was a wonderful experience.  The best thing about The Chosen has been bringing the Biblical characters to life visually.  I already had a good sense of Jesus from scripture, but Jonathan Roumie’s portrayal brought a new, more nuanced appreciation.  The bonus was the fleshing out of the apostles as people rather than mere characters in the greatest story. Dallas Jenkins takes some liberties with the scripture to give the apostles more backstory than we have been told in the gospels.   

There is a reason Thomas doubts, and Judas betrays.  Hopefully, nobody will find anything blasphemous as I did not. 

For example, the unnamed woman in Mark 14:3, who poured perfume over Jesus at the home of Simon the Leper, is identified as Mary, sister of Lazarus and Martha.  This is a combination of John 12, 1-8, who also identifies Mary as pouring the Nard six days before Passover, but on his feet and wiping with her hair. Jenkins gives Mary a preceding back-story scene where she purchases the perfume.

There are characters who are not in the Bible, but they help the narrative.  The best is a Roman officer and spy named Atticus, who sometimes speaks in modern phrases that clatter on the ear and makes one smile.  I guess he speaks in the NLT rather than King James.   He is a conduit for the Roman point of view and his conversations with Pontius Pilate are funny because his contempt is so real.

There is also the scene at the Temple where Jesus thwarted the moneychangers and released the sacrificial animals that had some added theatrics.  We had just completed a Lenton study where the “whip” Jesus used was explained as little more than a riding quirt.  Yet, here was Jesus wielding a bullwhip as expertly as any matador. No people or animals were harmed in either the Bible or the movie.

A great example of The Chosen bringing a dose of “being there” is Jesus proclaiming the “Woes” to the scribes and Pharisees.  The words are of course powerful on the page, but you get no sense of passion.  To have Roumie/Jesus reciting them in an almost rhythmical, booming voice with fire in his eye leaves the written word pale. 

I think my favorite of the three movies was the second one, because of two scenes utilizing the same custom.  One was at the Last Supper, where Jesus and the disciples went around the table in a Jewish tradition manner new to me.  Jesus started with “If God had only led us out of Egypt, it would have been enough…”  Then the next man followed with something like, “If God had only brought the plagues to Egypt, it would have been enough…”

Jenkins then exercises creative license and has Jesus eat another meal, but with the women around the table.  Present at the table are Mary, his mother, Mary Magdalene, Martha and sister Mary, Salome and Peter’s wife, Eden.  They go through the same exercise, except substituting Jesus’ deeds rather than God’s.  I’m afraid I teared up during that exchange.

There are likely some Chosen fans who will fault me for not paying enough attention to the fact Season Five is subtitled “The Last Supper”.  I didn’t get the Cliff’s Notes, and so we were excited to see how The Chosen presented the climax of Holy Week in the third movie as we launched into the actual week ourselves.  We went to the Regal Theatre in Mount Juliet on Tuesday, excited to see the trial, Crucifixion and Resurrection.  There were three episodes contained in the final movie.  Plenty of time!

Alas, this is where I spoil things.  The third movie is excellent, so good we were outraged when it ended with the most-high drama kiss in history.  We were not done with this story! We will have to wait for the movies that will contain the episodes for Season 6 next year to get all the way to the Resurrection. 

At least I hope we get to Resurrection in only one season.

I mentioned one of the pluses for the series is getting more personality and motivation of the apostles that allows them to exist outside the page.  This is nowhere more evident than Judas Iscariot.  I had mostly understood the motivation for Judas was greed. I was introduced during Lenton study to another motivation for Judas, the possibility of Jesus not being the Messiah he signed on to follow.  The Chosen attributes this motivation to the greatest villain in history and I believe the sandal fits.

In the book we studied during Lent, “Fight Like Jesus”, by Jason Porterfield, he also attributes Jesus’ undoing to him not being the Messiah the Jewish leaders and people were seeking.  They were seeking a champion, a second David who could liberate them from the yolk of Rome. Jesus was not what they were expecting.

Porterfield made a point in his book even pastor Jeff Streszhoff had never heard…that Barrabas, the criminal spared instead of Jesus the Christ, was himself named Jesus.  Jeff did some scripture checking and this does appear in ancient manuscripts in Matthew 27:16-17, and in some present versions of the Bible. It doesn’t appear in all Bibles because this fact was taken out by a third century Christian Scholar who thought two Jesus’ would be confusing.

So why would this matter?

Barabbas’ is a combination of “Bar” (son of) and “Abba” (father).  So, you have Jesus Barabbas, son of the fathers, or Jesus the Christ, Son of God, the true father.

I had not delved deeply into Barabbas, mostly remembering a movie from the 1960s with Anthony Quinn in the role.  I remembered him as a criminal, but Porterfield points out Mark identifies him as a rebel and murderer.  If he was a rebel, then he was rebelling against Rome and that landed him in prison and a sentence to Crucifixion.

Jesus Barabbas was exactly the man the Jews sought, and they chose him over the Messiah who espoused peace, Jesus Christ.

Every Christian says they are following Jesus, but Porterfield asked the question: Which Jesus are we in reality following?  Jesus Barabbas still has a following 2100 years after he went free. Our world still tilts toward violence, war and mass shootings are like the poor, always with us.  Many who profess as Christians scorn the poor and the powerless, smugly secure their sins are forgiven by the sacrifice on the cross, even if the Jesus path they follow leads to Barabbas.  Maybe they are right.  

The Chosen left me wanting in a theatre seat, but thankfully there was no despair.  I saw the rest of the story acted out in a solemn Good Friday service where candles were extinguished one by one to coincide with the ways Jesus was let down by his apostles. The blowing out of the last candle made one realize He actually departed this world.

Then I attended a joyous Easter Sunday service that paid homage to his return with the promise of Resurrection.  The day culminated with a glorious family celebration with easter eggs and a great meal.

So, we got the rest of the story!

The Chosen gives me some comfort to see the apostles, puzzled by Jesus’ teachings and struggling to follow Him, even with the advantage of His physical presence.  In trying to follow Jesus myself, I often use the old WWJD, “What would Jesus Do?”  I have come to suspect He would do all those things I don’t want to do. Be patient.  Be kind.  Love my neighbor as myself.  Recognize a neighbor as everyone, even those with whom I may disagree and dislike.  

I realize now the crowd took the easy way out.