I am going to do something I don’t normally do, and that is apologize upfront. So I’m sorry in advance that I am about to make many of you mad, and that by the end of this column, I may succeed in ticking most of you off. Or maybe all of you. But that’s what makes for horse racing, right?
A photograph has surfaced from behind the scenes of the set of The Chosen. In case you have been living in a mountain redoubt with no electricity, The Chosen is a popular crowd-funded series that has taken off among Christians of all stripes. The photograph clearly shows a small but prominent Pride flag on the set. Not the Bee had the tweets from Jon Root from Turning Point USA and the responses from The Chosen.
Hey @thechosentv,
Can you explain why there’s a Pride flag on set? pic.twitter.com/U8WUsXgOHW
— Jon Root (@JonnyRoot_) May 29, 2023
honor the authentic Jesus. We ask that audiences let the show speak for itself and focus on the message, not the messenger, because we’ll always let you down. (2/2)
— The Chosen (@thechosentv) May 30, 2023
It’s easy to see why people tune in to The Chosen. The actors are talented and deliver compelling performances, and the series’ attempts to fill in the “gaps” in the Gospel narratives are intriguing. We don’t know everything that Jesus said and did, and John plainly says so at the end of his gospel. As an interesting aside, the reason for this is that the Gospels were written in the popular biographical style of the time. Writers would cover a person’s birth and death (and in this case resurrection) and concentrate on all of the important events in between, not always in chronological order.
So apart from the Gospels and the work of other historians such as Josephus, we know very little about the life of Jesus. There are some who embrace the esoteric side of things and claim that after Jesus’ family fled from Herod, Jesus studied in India and also learned from Egyptian mystics. But no one who is serious about theology or Christology gives these ideas any credence.
And then there is the matter of content. I blanched a little at the scene in which Jesus seems to ask Peter what He should say during the Sermon on the Mount. I know there are several ways one could interpret that scene and I also know that one of the goals of the show is to show the more human side of Jesus. And yes, Jesus had a sense of humor and irony, and he was warm, witty, learned, literate, and compassionate. Twentieth- and 21st-century atheists and humanists tend to think that those qualities do not predate the invention of the steam engine. But there is a risk of making Jesus so human and so relatable that we inadvertently throw out His divinity.
Jesus was a wise teacher. But He also claimed to be the Messiah and the Son of God. One cannot accept Jesus’ wisdom while ignoring His claim of divinity. One accepts Him for who He is, or one does not. Others have taken issue with the fact that bits of Mormon theology have been woven into the story, in some cases in the forms of statements or ideas that are not found in Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John. For any Mormon viewers, that may be fine. For some non-Mormon viewers, it may not be anything to worry about. But for some, it has been a deal-breaker for the series.
Many people have found The Chosen to be a faith-promoting program. I have heard Christians from denominations across the board sing its praises. I suspect that this is due in large part to the aforementioned way that the show makes Jesus relatable. Jesus becomes what we want Him to be. Moreover, the Pride movement is at its heart all about drawing attention and acclaim to oneself. Something that the Bible and Jesus in particular rebuke. Consider this from Matthew 20:
Then the mother of Zebedee’s sons came to Jesus with her sons and, kneeling down, asked a favor of him.
“What is it you want?” he asked.
She said, “Grant that one of these two sons of mine may sit at your right and the other at your left in your kingdom.”
“You don’t know what you are asking,” Jesus said to them. “Can you drink the cup I am going to drink?”
“We can,” they answered.
Jesus said to them, “You will indeed drink from my cup, but to sit at my right or left is not for me to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared by my Father.”
When the ten heard about this, they were indignant with the two brothers. Jesus called them together and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their high officials exercise authority over them. Not so with you. Instead, whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first must be your slave—just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.”
Or this from Luke 8:
Then he said to them all: “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will save it. What good is it for someone to gain the whole world, and yet lose or forfeit their very self? Whoever is ashamed of me and my words, the Son of Man will be ashamed of them when he comes in his glory and in the glory of the Father and of the holy angels.
The concept of pride, whether it has to do with sexuality or not, is antithetical to Jesus’ words. Many consider the story of Jesus and the rich young ruler in Matthew 19 to be a rebuke of the wealthy. It isn’t. The rich young ruler went away depressed because he could not part with what he cherished: his wealth. Had the rich young man chosen to set his desires aside, then salvation would have been within his reach. Jesus says as much:
Then Jesus said to His disciples, “Assuredly, I say to you that it is hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven. And again I say to you, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God.”
When His disciples heard it, they were greatly astonished, saying, “Who then can be saved?”
But Jesus looked at them and said to them, “With men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
For the rich young man, his wealth was a stumbling block. Other stumbling blocks can be lust, drugs, ambition, alcohol, politics, and yes even pride, rainbow, or otherwise.
So why was there a Pride flag on the set of The Chosen? Probably because the person who put it there made the same mistake that people have been making since Jesus walked the roads of Israel. They want a Jesus who is full of blessings, affirmations, good vibes, positive thoughts, and warm fuzzies. And the occasional miracle. And plenty of people have found Jesus’ message to be a tough one. He was very direct with the woman at the well. And we often forget His words to the woman who was about to be stoned for adultery, “Go and sin no more.”
The Pride flag is probably there because someone wants Jesus on his own terms, not on Jesus’ terms. The person in question may want a Jesus who will bless and condone everything that he does, something of which many are guilty. And at that point, Jesus becomes a waiter, not a savior. But Jesus will accept no terms other than His own, and the world does not like that. That is not easy to deal with. If it were, so many Christians would not be horribly persecuted across the world. And many churches would probably look very different from the way they do now.
As we stumble into the month of June, the sin of pride will no doubt be discussed on many conservative outlets. But in the case of The Chosen and the Pride flag, I believe that the sin of pride stems from the fact that the producers may have come to believe that their message is more important than the messenger.
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