Read Time: 3-4 minutes
I am not opposed to crying, and often tell my son that there is nothing wrong with men crying. Granted, one doesn’t need to cry at the drop of a hat, but weeping can be very healthy.
For a couple of years, my close friend Kerr Howell has been telling me about The Chosen. It is available through an app, tells the story of Jesus Christ, and touts the claim: “Created outside of the Hollywood system.” As Kerr knows, I don’t jump out of my seat to watch things produced by and for Christians, because sometimes the “cheesiness” is sickening, just like the predictability and shallowness of contemporary Christian music that often plays on the radio (for those that listen to the radio lol).
However, this was so different. I watched the first episode this morning and the last five minutes broke me. I wept. I then watched the scene with Mary of Magdalene 15 more times, and wept more. I needed to wash my face to refresh my eyes when done, and for those who know me, not much moves me to tears except reflecting on my precious daddy’s tragic death and his loud absence since.
This morning I wept, and I welcomed it. If you have not watched The Chosen, download the app and try the first episode. The first 30 minutes was a little slow for me, and then the ball got rolling.
How did it impact me? Well, it is interesting that I finally watched this the day after a line in C.S. Lewis’ Out of the Silent Planet grabbed me: “Oyarsa sends for you.” An eldil, an angelic figure, speaks to Ransom and he finds out that Oyarsa, a God-like figure in Melecandra, was calling for him and had been drawing him for the longest time. And then today I watch The Chosen and the part about Jesus calling Mary by name, and it broke me in the most wonderful way.
Maybe the Lord is reaching out to me in a fresh way. Maybe the Lord is calling my name as he hasn’t yet done in this new season (unless I am missing something, which is often the case). I am not sure, and don’t want to get all sentimental for the fun of it. Yet, I believe that God calls our name in unique ways, and uses various means to knock on the available and buried doors of the heart. Emotion is good, and I welcome the Lord cracking open the emotional part of my being so that it too is sanctified, redeemed, and open for his impressions and glory.
Anyway, I hope that you go and watch the first episode of The Chosen this week. You won’t regret it.
BJ Condrey, Ph.D. 