THE CHOSEN:If Jesus Was God, Why Did He Need to Prepare His Sermons?
Among the most puzzling realities about Jesus Christ is that He was simultaneously both fully God and fully Man, what theologians refer to as the “hypostatic union.” It’s not unlike being both black and white at one and the same time. It violates the Principle of Non-Contradiction in philosophy.
There are multiple moments in the wonderful Internet series “The Chosen” that show Jesus doing things that seem inconsistent with what He claimed to be, such as having to prepare beforehand his sermons.
In the following 9:19 video, Dallas Jenkins, producer of series, talks with Rabbi Jason Sobel, Bishop Robert Barron and Dr. Doug Huffman, about how the script deals with these questions and dilemmas that can also be challenges for believers:
This was my biggest problem so far with The Chosen. I am not God but I don’t need to prepare my sermons. The Spirit gives me what to say and when to say it as I speak to individuals and sometimes, large crowds, even gathered in churches. A video of me was released by the Saints Unscripted Youtube channel on July 20 that was 26 minutes of testimony with no discernible edits, as the Spirit supplied every word. So I don’t think Jesus needed to write or rehearse any sermon.
For Dallas Jenkins to portray Jesus as needing to rehearse his sermon means that he fails to understand that Jesus, in his humanity, had made himself dependent on the Father for everything he said and did.
John 12:49-50. “For I did not speak on my own, but the Father who sent me commanded me to say all that I have spoken. I know that his command leads to eternal life. So whatever I say is just what the Father has told me to say.”
The fact that Jesus was fully man did not mean that he suffered lack in his understanding. He did not need Matthew’s help because his Father gave him the words to speak through the Holy Spirit. He did NOT lay aside his deity but only the privilege that accompanied his deity.
What really raises my hair is his joking comment to his mother that she shouldn’t be proud of him yet since he might mess up before the crowd!
I’m not trying to throw a wet blanket over The Chosen but I plead with Christians who are watching to exercise discernment. I find that the least criticism of this production makes people very defensive. It’s OK to question and to be like the Bereans who studied the word to see if what they heard lined up with Scripture.
Well said.