Rachel Bulman – Word on Fire Blog –
As a general rule, I avoid most religious dramatizations, finding them often too kitschy or heavily pretentious. But the recommendations to watch the television series The Chosen became too many to ignore, even as I found them a bit confusing. It’s not on any primetime networks? It’s not on the popular streaming apps? How odd!
So odd, in fact, I had to check it out. After finishing the first season, I am positively surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to watch something new, beautiful, and good.
The heavy responsibility of doing right by salvation history’s pivotal players is challenging enough, but competing with the stubbornness of the subjective imagination makes the task downright daunting, especially when it comes to the person of Jesus Christ. Through artwork, literature, or Scripture, the image of Jesus has become vastly subjective, even individualistic. In our fear of misrepresenting Jesus, we run the risk of stripping him of his humanity and rejecting all depictions of him in any medium that we deem as insufficiently holy or majestic…
The Jesus Christ of The Chosen is altogether human and divine. If you watch the series you see him turning water into wine, conversing with the Samaritan woman at the well, healing the paralytic, and asking wayward fishermen and a tax collector to follow him. You also witness him making jokes, stacking cups while telling vivid stories to children, and even engaging in a bit of sarcasm. As played by Jonathan Roumie, the characterization of Christ is captivating, enthralling, and heart-wrenching.