An Emotional Jesus

I had an interesting back-and-forth on X/Twitter recently and it inspired a blog post. It was an exchange around a criticism that someone expressed about The Chosen portraying a Jesus that was 'overly emotional'. Here is their criticism in their own words (aimed at The Chosen series):

"The crucifixion of Christ is not a cinematic experience meant to stir emotions, it's the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes (Rom. 1:16). It's not a moment for dramatized sorrow or performative grief. He died, was buried, and rose, defeating death and bringing eternal life. We're not meant to weep like spectators, we're called to believe and proclaim the Gospel. Emotionalism doesn't equal faith. Truth does."

Starting with what I agree with - yes, emotionalism doesn't equal faith and yes, we are certainly called to believe and proclaim the Gospel in response to what Jesus has guaranteed and secured for us on the Cross (the forgiveness of sins and eternal life)...but to suggest that emotion is not involved at any point in the story of Jesus, to me, is absurd. Not only was Jesus an emotional person but I believe the writers of the New Testament were, at least in part, engaging their own emotions when conveying the life and deeds of Jesus AND asking us, the readers, to engage ours.

An Imperfect Show

I talk about this show all the time - I think it's a wonderful show. Is it flawless? No. Do I disagree with some of their theology? Yes. Do I think they are portraying heresy? No. If I thought that I wouldn't watch, much less have my kids watch it, and I also wouldn't recommend it to anyone else. I will say - their depiction of Jesus is a little over-the-top emotional for me, but I also recognize that the New Testament gospels portrays Jesus as a man with a lot of emotions: sorrow, frustration, joy, anger, sadness, and compassion...all emotions which Matthew, Mark, Luke and John record for us to read ourselves. In keeping with that, The Chosen's portrayal of Jesus in the series is a character with a wide variety of emotions.

An Exhortation to Constant Use and Training

The initial draft of this was pretty harsh. As I was mulling it over, I read James 3 which is about the power of the tongue and so I rewrote this, coming at it from a different angle. My heart is this: to see more fruit, both in my own life and well as in the lives of other believers I know. What I see in myself, at times, and in many others around me, is a lack of intention and seriousness - this bears itself out in Biblical illiteracy and theological laziness...Peter has a very straight-forward exhortation in 2 Peter 3 which reads, "But set Christ apart as Lord in your hearts and always be ready to give an answer to anyone who asks about the hope you possess." It is with that in mind that I write these things - to encourage us all to search out the Scriptures so that we might have an answer for those who ask.

The Premise

The Bible can be read, in English, by anyone and be understood at a surface level. I believe that even at a surface-read level, it has the power to change a heart because it is the very words of God himself. Having said that - simply reading through the words of Scripture is milk. The author of Hebrews says, "Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil." (Hebrews 5:13-14) I think the important part of those verses is the section that says, "who by CONSTANT USE have TRAINED themselves." Our faith requires something of us, and in order to properly understand what we are reading, we are likely going to have to work (i.e. train).

I want to give some examples of some of the ideas I see on X/Twitter (and other places) that are a result of shallow understanding.

Paul is Against the Law - Fallacy

I've seen and heard this idea many times and it's that Paul (and some even say Jesus himself) was preaching against the Law of Moses. If you read Deuteronomy 12:28-13:18, Paul and Jesus would be considered false witnesses if that is what they were teaching (punishable by death). Jesus was falsely put to death on these grounds, and so was Paul, but in a less direct way. There isn't some new standard that is suddenly applied when Jesus comes on the scene. Paul is not rewriting Torah and making up stuff as he goes...he would have been considered a Biblical expert (which is to say, Old Testament expert) in his time and everything he says is fully informed by the Tanakh. If it appears he is saying that the Law of Moses is not longer in force, then either a) we have translated his message poorly and have mixed up what he is saying or b) we are misunderstanding him.

The Justice of God

I'm reading through The Great Divorce (C.S. Lewis) again and came across this quote:

"That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, "No future bliss can make up for it" not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backwards and turn even that agony into glory."

This reminded me of a thought I had some time ago. Justice seems like a pretty strong theme throughout Scripture. I did just a cursory Google search on the subject and it returned many verses, from Genesis to Revelation, here are just a few:

- Deuteronomy 32:4 - "The Rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are justice. A God of faithfulness and with iniquity, just and upright is He."

- Job 37:23 - "The Almighty - we cannot find him; he is great in power; justice and abundant righteousness he will not violate."

- Psalm 33:4-5 - "For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the steadfast love of the Lord."

Isaiah 30:8 - "Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all of those who wait for him."

Isaiah 61:6 - "For I the Lord love justice; I hate robbery and wrong; I will faithfully give them their recompense, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them."

Micah 6:8 - "He has shown you O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly, to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

Here is the thought I was reminded of: our earthly concept of Justice, I want to argue, is just a shadow of what actual Justice is. Take, for example, murder. If someone commits murder, we say that the murderer is "brought to Justice" when they are arrested, tried, convicted and sentenced for their crime. There is a rather bombastic state's attorney in the county that I live in and he like to release press bulletins when a  particularly heinous criminal is 'brought to justice' through a conviction and prison sentence.

Is that justice though?

Sharing a Thought

I was thinking today - the Jewish people (the religious ones anyway, not speaking about atheist Jews) may not believe that Jesus is the Messiah and they may even go so far as to hate Jesus and denigrate Him. BUT, they are trusting in the same promises of God that we Western Gentile Christians are. Namely - that God is a) going to one day release the World from the Curse He placed on it, b) restore/renew all things, including our right relationship with Him and c) do away with Satan, evil, sin, suffering and death forever. I don't mean to minimize the seriousness of denying Jesus and the Cross, but I do mean to underscore the fact that the very roots of our faith are the same as theirs. To say that it's a different religion is to miss the large areas of commonality between the two.

One more thought, related to that - in Romans 11, Paul says, "I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. As it is written: "The deliverer will come from Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob. This is my Covenant with them, when I take away their sins." (Romans 11:25-27). Imagine how quickly the hearts of those believing Jews who currently hate Jesus will turn when they see him return in Glory. Because they are already believing in the promises of God, made to their forefathers, won't their hearts instantly turn (mixed with the pain of regret, I imagine, as well) when they see Him? Food for thought.

An Italian Experience

I'm starting this post the morning after having returned from nearly two weeks in Italy - so pretty jet-lagged and a little emotional.

What I Loved:

Italy is an objectively beautiful country. We flew into Rome, spent a couple of days there, then went to the Tuscany region for five days and then to the Amalfi Coast area for four days. In Rome you have the history and the art. In Tuscany, you have the beauty of the rolling hills, the quaint villages, and the wine/olive oil, and in Amalfi you have the beauty of the ocean next to the mountains. Every region we went to was very different, but all of them were beautiful in their own ways. My favorite was Tuscany - Tuscany is like the Napa Valley region of California, but covers a much larger area and has a much deeper history. I loved the small villages and we were fortunate to see many of them (Lecchi, San Sano, Gaioli, Radda, Montepulciano). There is a charm and quietness to them that is unlike anything I've seen here in the US. For example - when we arrived in Florence, we did a little exploring there and then drove to where we were staying in the Tuscan countryside. We needed some basic groceries and just happened to stop in Lecchi (it was unplanned). The small village grocery store was open and then gentleman who owns and runs the store, Paolo, was incredibly helpful and welcoming. We probably ended up spending more money there than we were expecting, but he was patient and offered us samples of all the meats and cheeses he recommended, and it was all fresh. It was such a pleasant experience that we drove specifically to visit his store again later in our trip. In that same town was a wonderful little restaurant called Malborghetto - the owner himself took my reservation and then it felt like we were eating in someone's backyard while we were there. Excellent food, wine and atmosphere. There are a lot of stories like this from our time there.

I loved the pace of life there as well - at first I was a little taken aback by how long some of our meals took, but I came to like that pace...just a lingering and an enjoyment, not the rush and urgency I so often feel here in the US. A lot of the places also close middle of the day - open for lunch, closed mid-afternoon, and then open again for dinner. I think I need to remember this takeaway, especially with family -- to enjoy a meal that just lingers...and really, to make space for it; to not rush to clear the table when people are done eating or to rush to the next thing, just sit and enjoy time together.

Word of the Day: Decorum

As much as I try and stay away, I'm wired in such a way that I find politics interesting. It's ultimately folly and a 'chasing after the wind', but be that as it may - its interesting. So, I watched President Trump's speech yesterday (3/4) to the joint session of Congress and I couldn't help but think about the word 'decorum'.

From Merriam-Webster

Decorum: "propriety and good taste in conduct or appearance" - "the conventions of polite behavior" Synonyms: decency, dignity, gentility

I've watched many such speeches over the years, delivered from both sides of the political aisle, and in many ways they are predictable spectacles. Republicans stand and clap for Republicans, Democrats stand and clap for Democrats, the opposite side sits, I get all that, and to a degree, I understand that. What I saw last night, however, was a lack of decorum -- and it's a direction our political elite have been sliding in for awhile.

During Trump's procession into the address, there was a Democrat congresswoman standing there holding a paper sign that read, "this is not normal". Not a few seconds later, the sign was snapped from her hands and thrown into the crowd. Throughout the speech, the democrats were holding up auction-style signs that read, "false" or "Elon Steals" or "Save Medicaid". At one point, Al Green, the congressman from Texas was kicked out of the hall for standing there and yelling, interrupting Trump's speech. At one point in the speech, Trump acknowledged a young man who had beaten cancer and who had aspirations of becoming a police officer, who Trump then surprised by making an honorary secret service member and the democrats continued to sit there. Who is so consumed with hatred that they can't set aside their political feelings in that moment to acknowledge a child that has beaten cancer?

On the Republican side, you had characters like the classless Marjorie Taylor Greene showing up in a MAGA hat. There were also repeated sophomoric chants of 'USA' throughout. Trump, despite being mostly restrained in his remarks, also let loose a few barbs that seemingly had no other spirit than that of the mean kind.

Thoughts on Immigration

This post represents an honest attempt to reconcile my personal responsibility as a Believer with what I believe our Federal policies should be, as it relates to immigration. These are muddy waters to be sure, but I am a huge fan of nuance and so this felt like a good time for a blogpost.

I simultaneous hold these two beliefs:

a) As Christians, we are called to love our neighbor, to care for and provide for the poor and for the widows among us (using the terminology of Scripture).

b) A sovereign nation must uphold border security laws as well as regulate Immigration because a nation with no borders (or border security) is not a nation at all. To be considered "sovereign" necessarily means that a country is enforcing border laws, because it implies that there is a border and not just an imaginary line.

What I'm For:

I am 100% in favor of legal immigration and I believe our country should absolutely support those who immigrate to the United States through legal channels. We should offer them all of the public assistance that we are able to, to aid their start here in America, especially those coming here to escape oppression and persecution. We are one of the most generous countries in the World and it is because our people are, by and large, very welcoming of immigrants in this country.

What I'm Against:

I'm categorically against illegal immigration, that is, immigration NOT through legal channels. I don't believe our country should offer illegal immigrants any social programs and if our government can find them, I think they should be deported (if you are deported, current US Law forbids you to return for 10 years). Additionally - if someone immigrates to this country legally but then commits a felony here, they should also be deported. Being given a visa or residency status in the United States is not right, but a privilege and requires something of the person receiving it, namely adhering to the laws of our land. I assume this is the case in every other country in the World.

Where this Clashes:

At my church, I'm involved a care ministry that ends up serving a number of immigrants. It wasn't necessarily something that we set out to do when we started the ministry, but because our area is a location where World Relief ends up housing many immigrants and asylum seekers, this is a subset of the community that comes to us for assistance. I love serving in this ministry and I have enjoyed getting to know people from this community as well as serving them on a monthly basis. Many of them have harrowing stories to tell about how they came to the United States, fleeing real horrors in the countries they came from.

In our last leadership meeting, a few people mentioned that this community is fearful right now, particularly of deportation. While the knee-jerk reaction might be to blame President Trump, it was actually President Biden that signed an executive order, on July 4th, 2024, which put an end to the legal process of seeking asylum. What IS different about President Trump's administration is that they are actually actively deporting illegal immigrants and this is the reason for the fear on the part of asylum communities. Regardless, this community is living in genuine fear of deportation at the moment.