The first concern was with the arrival of Philip (the Apostle) in Episode 2 when in a dialogue with Matthew he said something along the lines of “Jesus doesn’t care for religion much…” The first comment I got was “typical evangelical attack on institutional Churches.” To me, the show is accurately picking up that Philip had been a follower of John the Baptist who was critical of everyone – especially Jewish leaders and teachers who had in fact done much to give Judaism a bad name. There are spoilers ahead, so just be forewarned. But I thought I’d share a few thoughts and responses to some people’s questions for Season 2. That alone would seem to make it obvious that there will be things that Christians from different denominations will view very differently. I don’t plan to be a “The Chosen” apologist, because in short, it’s a television show, written by some pretty devout Christians who’ve explained their process and approach to providing “extra-biblical stories” that are plausible to help bring scriptures to life in our day and age. (Haven’t been called a heretic in a while…) Some politely concerned and asking sincere questions to some, well let’s just say “extremely worded critiques” not only questioning the creator’s motives but my own priesthood. Having been a loud and vocal supporter I’ve gotten more than a few messages. So I wasn’t prepared for some of the negative reactions from fellow Catholics that have emerged this season. And true to their “get used to different” motto/mantra they announced that episodes would not be released on any announced schedule but “as soon as they were finished.” Which thankfully episodes 2 and 3 of season 2 came out only a couple of weeks after Episode 1 (with episode 3 being a “surprise” coming minutes after episode 2 completed…) It seemed perfect that Season 2 would premiere on Easter Sunday. Watch their vlog updates as they were prepping and then filming season 2… Been buying DVDs to give out to friends, other gear as gifts, “paid it forward” as they continue to raise funds for future seasons. In any event, if you can’t tell, I’ve gone full fanatic for this show… Follow all their social media. That’s coming from someone who wasn’t moved during Les Miserables and was almost rooting against the main characters… but that’s for another time. Even after multiple viewings of every episode, I am still moved to tears. This is one of the most creative, moving, and ground-breaking depictions of the life of Christ I’ve ever encountered. I ended up staying up very late into the night/early morning watching three more episodes which all brought about similar reactions at different points for varied and different reasons. Thankfully this friend of mine intervened, at a time when I had just gone through a difficult few weeks (who didn’t in 2020?) “You really need to watch it.”Later that night, I found myself watching episode 1, wondering what exactly was I watching? Who were these individuals? Where was this in the bible? Oh and by the way, where’s Jesus? (No spoilers here) When Jesus did appear, and the way that episode ended, I found tears flooding down my face in a way I don’t ever recall happening before watching a TV show. But having been burned before by these “you gotta see this thing about Jesus” reviews, it didn’t seem likely I’d “waste” some hours watching 8 episodes of a show about a story that I know intimately well. So when “The Chosen” was first recommended I politely listened. There’s a list (that I won’t make) of all kinds of forms of “dramatic” presentations (plays, movies, youth group productions) that have left me bored, embarrassed, or just frustrated. It’s hard to tell if people recommend these things thinking “he’s a priest, and it’s about Jesus so he should love it.” Hate to break it to you, that’s not necessarily the case. It was last July when a priest friend said to me, “you really need to watch this” as he handed me a DVD of “The Chosen.” Full disclosure I had heard about it from some students who were pretty enthusiastic about it in the midst of being in quarantine.
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