Following Jesus’ story with The Chosen at this Passiontide

This Lent, my husband and I started watching The Chosen streaming series again. We are working through Season Four, although Season Five is already available.

The Chosen is the first multi-season series based on the life of Jesus. It is the brainchild of Dallas Jenkins, a conservative Evangelical, who, along with Angel Studios, crowdfunded the first series. Since then, it has been available on changing platforms and is currently on Amazon Prime. After a time, all of the series are available for free on the dedicated app.

It is easy to be sceptical about Christian entertainment. We are all used to the bad wigs and even worse delivery of lines that characterise films and other adaptations of the life of Christ.

I am not claiming that The Chosen is perfect. It is very much a twenty-first-century adaptation of the Jesus story. But it has excellent production values and high-quality acting.

I was lucky enough to meet some of the cast in January 2024, but I missed a scoop captured by Victoria Johnston of Spirit Radio. Jonathan Roumie, the Catholic actor who plays Jesus, has a mother from Monaghan and an Irish passport. I got that part, but missed that he had played in a bar band and toured around Ireland.

Think of the headline I missed. Jesus played in Irish bars.

Vital

All joking aside, the person who plays Jesus is vital to the success of the series. Jonathan Roumie is excellent in the role, but just as importantly, he believes with all his heart in the person that he portrays.

When I asked him about the danger of being typecast or losing out on roles because he had been pigeonholed as a believer, his answer was quiet but definite. He said he had long ago given up worrying about his career and had surrendered it all to God.

Not all the cast are Christian, of course. Shahar Isaac and Noah James, who play Simon Peter and Andrew, are both Jewish. In fact, the cast modelled their accents on Shahar Isaac’s Israeli accent.

Both are very comfortable bringing their Jewish heritage to the series. Noah James was asked to lead Shabbat prayer and launched into Hebrew, only to be asked for it in English.

It was fascinating to see how closely the episode stuck to the original words for the actual miracle, but also included some different, non-biblical aspects”

“For that, I need a script,” he replied.

Recently, I had just been at Mass, and the Gospel was the raising of Lazarus from the dead, which happened to be the next episode of the series.

It was fascinating to see how closely the episode stuck to the original words for the actual miracle, but also included some different, non-biblical aspects.

The moment of tension after Jesus calls Lazarus to come forth, and when the body wrapped in burial cloths appears, really emphasises how extraordinary the moment would have been, as do the cries of terror from onlookers.

There are some intriguing additions. In the series, Thomas has been bereaved, and James, the son of Alphaeus, has a painful disability. Both are portrayed as grateful for the salvation of their friend Lazarus, but also honestly struggling to understand why they have not received the same level of blessing physically or emotionally.

This is a question with which we all have to wrestle. I have known of events happening to other people that I could only describe as miraculous, particularly in the area of healing. Yet the question inevitably arises, why did others not receive miraculous healing but perhaps instead experienced intense bodily and spiritual pain?

We know that God does not will suffering, but He does permit it to touch those whom He loves. This is a profound mystery. We can only cling to the understanding that Jesus, too, was not spared from suffering.

This is portrayed very well in Season Four. We see Jesus in dread and even anguish, aware of what is going to happen to him. We also see frustration with the disciples, who again and again fail to grasp what Jesus is telling them.

The disciples are a human, flawed bunch, who bicker, jostle for position and sometimes are dense. Paras Patel plays Matthew. He and the production team chose to portray Matthew as on the autistic spectrum, which has resulted in thankful letters from parents of children with autism. Children rarely see this condition represented. This was a brave choice, although it is not found directly in the Scriptures.

Passiontide

This Passiontide, you could do worse than to watch some of The Chosen. While you can jump in anywhere, journeying with the disciples from the beginning leads to a greater appreciation of the growth they experience as characters.

Catholics often bemoan the low standards of the media. That is why it is important to support well-made content when we can find it. While it can never replace reading the scriptures, it can help to illuminate them.