Pastor's Column for August 22, 2021

We welcome Rylie Jenkins into our Church and parish family as she was baptized last Sunday, and also Michael & Elizabeth Shue who are being baptized this Sunday. May they know the joy of being loved children of God forever.
With nothing else to report at this time as we draw near to the end of the summer months, I thought I’d share with you my impressions of a TV series on the life of Jesus and his chosen disciples that has recently been brought to my attention. It is called “The Chosen” as it reveals the story not only about Jesus but also his chosen disciples, including of course the 12 apostles but also the women whom the gospels tell us accompanied him during his public ministry, such as Mary Magdalene. I started watching it just a couple of weeks ago and am still surprised I had been unaware of it until then. It is different from the made-for-TV or movie theatre shows we have seen before about Jesus, both in its length and in its intention. I believe there is a plan for 7 seasons, and I am currently viewing the 2nd season and understand that filming is underway for the 3rd season. Each season has about 10 episodes and is financed not by a traditional film-making company or studio but by “crowdfunding” which depends on the contributions of those who wish to see it produced. It’s not difficult to appreciate how much money has already been raised for its production as it has millions of viewers who are understandably deeply appreciative of the way the story of Jesus and his chosen ones is being told.
Of course I have watched many such films & movies on the life of Jesus (and even was part of a play called “Godspell” when I was in the high school seminary during the 70’s). My favorite production is probably the one called “Jesus of Nazareth” which came out several years ago. But The Chosen is quite different from all of these which I have seen. Somehow it manages to highlight the humanity of Jesus and his disciples, without taking anything away from the Lord’s divinity. In fact the divine nature of Jesus seems to be even more obvious as his humanity is fully seen. But it is by far the very best production that I have seen and I will refer to it from to time in my homilies as it makes me think about things that I may have never considered before, despite my studies in scripture and the reading that I have done on the life of Jesus.
The director makes it clear that this series takes a lot of liberty in “filling in the blanks” with regard to what we don’t know from the gospels. It uses scripture and of course the gospels as its basis, but it also relies on what we now know about Jewish culture, the Jewish faith, and first century knowledge about the holy land that is available to us. So it appears to be based on not only imagination of how things were or might have been, but also on historical facts. And I appreciate the fact that a Catholic priest, a Jewish Rabbi and Christians from other traditions are consulted during the process (the director himself is an evangelical Christian). It certainly heightens my desire to visit the holy land next year.
You can download the app called “The Chosen” to your Apple or Android device and also view it and many videos about it (including conversations between the director/writer & actors) via YouTube. I hope you will find it as helpful to your faith as I have if you choose to watch it.