The Chosen: A Review of American Discipleship vs. Biblical Discipleship

Over the last few weeks my family and I have started watching The Chosen, the historical drama television series billing itself as the first-ever-multi-season TV show about the life of Jesus. So far we have watched 4 episodes (WARNING minor spoiler alerts below from those 4 episodes) and have found them quite enjoyable. While there are minor biblical inaccuracies and quite a lot of creative license is taken concerning the back stories of familiar biblical characters, so far the main ideas have been right on point. Jesus is “humanized" in a good way, the acting is excellent and perhaps the highest praise I can give is; it doesn’t feel like “just another Jesus movie." And yet there is one thought that has risen in my mind above all others as I have watched this show and tried to imagine along with its creators, what must it have been like to be one of Jesus’ early disciples? And what does that mean for me, a disciple today?

Throughout the early episodes of The Chosen we are introduced to a very different Simon (he is not yet Peter) than the one with which we are all familiar. Almost every representation I have ever seen of Peter has painted him as the strong, well meaning but slightly bumbling simpleton. In many ways similar to Holmes’ Watson who follows around the famous detective (or Messiah) declaring, “Amazing!" at every turn. The Simon Peter (I shall use Peter moving forward for clarity) of The Chosen is altogether different. He is a loud mouthed and brash brawler who foolishly gets himself into trouble and then keeps digging, never knowing when to shut up. If I am painting this Peter as unlikable, he is not altogether unbiblical – it is a refreshing take on a character who otherwise has been over-done in previous depictions. And yet I fear this depiction is taken too far, leading to a fatal flaw in the show.

Peter and his brother Andrew owe the Romans taxes (who didn’t?). A lot of taxes. They are in danger of losing their fishing boat, their home, and their dignity – wait scratch that last one, Peter is already without. And so Peter makes a deal with the Romans to betray his fellow Jews, reneges on his deal, ostracizes his friends and family, and finds himself out of options. Thus we as the audience are left with the understanding, “If this dude is going to follow Jesus, Jesus is first going to need to clean up his mess and make discipleship financially possible." Well don’t worry audience, that’s exactly what Jesus does!

Do you remember the scene at the beginning of Luke 5 when Jesus helps Peter catch a lot of fish? If you don’t, take a few minutes to read it and remind yourself. It becomes important. Because in The Chosen the fish do not merely represent a miracle, they are not merely a reminder that Jesus is the Lord of creation; they are financial provision – a way for Peter to pay his taxes! Jesus provides for Peter – a man who has exhausted every available resource – so that now it is financially viable for him to become a disciple. “Follow me, Peter." “No problem Lord, I can now because you have cleared my debts!" I would call this American discipleship. Jesus is the savior who we turn to when all else has failed and he makes all our problems go away. We sacrifice nothing to follow him because we have nothing left to sacrifice. The mantra becomes, “What have I got to lose?" The implication is, if Jesus lets me down I will drop him like everything else and try whatever’s next. This is not biblical discipleship.

Biblical discipleship involves sacrifice. Biblical discipleship is about giving up other, good options. “Do you want to leave me?" the biblical Jesus asks the biblical Peter (John 6:67). Notice that Peter does not answer “We have nowhere else to go." He doesn’t say, “We’ve burned all our other bridges, and all that’s waiting back there for us is Romans and taxes." What he says is, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life." (V. 68) Yes, Dr. Phil is an option, sure Joel Osteen makes me smile, absolutely I could return to my family and my job…but I don’t want to! You are better Jesus, better than the other good options available to me. I chose you Jesus. I chose you over and above the other options available to me. That, that my friends is biblical discipleship. In The Chosen, it is clearly spelled out to us that Zebedee, the father of James and John will take care of the miraculous catch. He will make sure the fish end up at market and the proceeds are used to square Peter’s debt. His boat will be taken care of and new workers will be found to keep it operational…how American. The biblical narrative is far more uncomfortable. “When they had brought their boats to shore, they left everything and followed him." (Luke 5:11) What about the fish??? What about the money??? Where is the business model and strategic plan!??! Apparently biblical discipleship is not so concerned with those things. Apparently biblical discipleship is a lot simpler…and a lot harder, “Follow him."