The Man Jesus

 In the world He was, and the world came into being through Him, and the world knew Him not.  To His own He came, and those who are His own accepted Him not.

Johns Account 1: 10-11, Concordant New Testament 

One of the main reasons that I love The Chosen series is because of the life of Jesus and His disciples which the viewer gets to see.  For so long, I have lamented the fact that there is precious little scriptural documentation of the boy Jesus.  We have little record of the development and maturing of the boy Jesus into the man Jesus.  The chosen series attempts to bridge that gap.  Some might be offended by the Jesus which they see in this series.  Jesus with a backpack?  C'mon man!  But I say, why not?  People of His time undoubtedly found ways to carry things, right?  We know through history of the culture that people tied baskets to their backs, so why is it inconceivable that Jesus would have something such as this?  Of course, that was just one of the criticisms of this series.  But I believe that Dallas Jenkins, one of the creators, has done a beautiful job in this depiction of the life and times of Jesus.  The apostle Paul tells us that Jesus was born in the likeness of men {Paul to the Philippians 2:7}.  Paul also proclaims that the entire fullness of God dwells in the body of Jesus {Paul to the Colossians 2:9}.  The man Jesus, fully God and fully man.  So, how does knowing this Jesus help us?  Well, it helps us to understand that Jesus is as we are.  Despite having the deity of God, He was born in the flesh image of man.  I am as Jesus is.  Also, we have rarely seen the interaction between Jesus and His disciples besides that which we see in the scriptures.  It is obvious to assume that Jesus and His disciples talked, prayed, argued and wept together.  After all, Jesus spent a good portion of 4 years with these men in His life.  We can't assume that everything was perfect for them each day.  Jesus struggled with the belief of the men who followed Him.  Those same men vied for positions of prestige in the Lords coming kingdom {Marks Account 10: 35-45}.  This soon turned into a lesson in humility for James and John.  This was, and is, the Jesus His followers saw each day.  But why is it so difficult for some to see Jesus in this way?  I found the answer to this in a conversation I had with a friend the other day.  

For let this disposition be in you, which is in Christ Jesus also, Who, being inherently in the form of God, deems it not pillaging to be equal with God, nevertheless empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity, and, being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. 

Paul to the Philippians 2: 5-8, Concordant New Testament 

The other day I was in a conversation with a friend and the topic of the chosen series came up.  I expressed how much I liked its presentation of the relationship between Jesus and His followers, but my friend wasn't convinced.  He found it difficult to believe that the man Jesus would interact so fluidly with sinful man.  That Jesus, being our holy Savior, would have been more of an overseer to these disciples.  Of course, this represents the theology spoken by the mainstream church of the separation of God and man.  This is the lie spoken by the deceiver in the garden {Genesis 3:5-6}.  We're told that Jesus did not come to the world to condemn, but to save {Johns Account 3:16-17}.  Through our conversation, I was able to get my friend to consider the reality of Jesus.  Knowing that many consider Jesus to be holy is one thing, but to believe that He would not be in the presence of mankind is false teaching IMO.  We know that God presented Jesus unto us in the form of a man.  We know that Jesus, being fully human, lived His life as we do.  Again, it is for this reason that I love the chosen series.  It presents Jesus in a way few have seen before.  The everyday Jesus.  I believe that knowing this can also help us with understanding our own identity.  Jesus speaks to our union with Himself and the Father {Johns Account 14:20}.  We know that through Him all came into being {Johns Account 1:3}.  Jesus is indeed a part of us today.  We live each and every day as Him.  

~Scott~