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.