Family Values

 

“The Chosen” has become wildly popular among Christian TV viewers. I am not so enthusiastic.

The premise of the series is to stick closely to the gospel, but dramatize the imagined backstories of the various figures. What was Mary Magdalene’s life before she met Jesus? What was the life of Nicodemus? These are “the chosen.”

The fact that it makes this assertion, or projects this impression, of strict authenticity, makes it more egregious when it tinkers with the text. I would have more tolerance for Kazantzakis’s “The Last Temptation of Christ.”

To be fair, I I am only in season one; but a recent episode covered the calling of Simon, Andrew, James and John; the first four apostles. And it is not as the gospels have it.

“The Chosen” has Jesus call on Simon and Andrew to follow him. And a discussion follows later between Simon and his wife, in which he points out how unreasonable it is for him to leave her, especially as her mother is ill. But she is adamant that he must go; he must answer the call of the Messiah; don’t worry about her.

In the case of James and John, the series has their father Zebedee insists they must go with Jesus. No need to worry; he assures them he can deal with the catch, and look after the fishing by himself from now on.

But this is not the story in the gospel:

Matthew:

While walking by the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon (who is called Peter) and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 19 And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.”[a] 20 Immediately they left their nets and followed him. 21 And going on from there he saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets, and he called them. 22 Immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him.

Mark:

Passing alongside the Sea of Galilee, he saw Simon and Andrew the brother of Simon casting a net into the sea, for they were fishermen. 17 And Jesus said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you become fishers of men.”[f] 18 And immediately they left their nets and followed him. 19 And going on a little farther, he saw James the son of Zebedee and John his brother, who were in their boat mending the nets. 20 And immediately he called them, and they left their father Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants and followed him.

Luke:

 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.”[a] 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.

John’s gospel does not include an account of the calling of the four.

In all three accounts, it is emphasized that they answered the call immediately. James and John simply abandoned their father in the boat. Simon did not go home and tell his wife. They dropped everything.

The makers of “The Chosen” obviously did not like how this violated “family values.” So they twisted the gospel to make it conform. Surely there must have been these intervening conversations? Surely it was a family decision? But this is not a fair inference; all three gospels stress “immediately.”

This is the Hallmark Christianity, the “happy happy joy joy” Christianity, the Christianity of plaster saints and pastel prayer cards that I despise. This is a false doctrine in which the name of Christianity is just co-opted to sanitize and justify whatever someone wants to do, or to support whatever powers be. There is no worse sin, for this is the sin of idolatry.

I see the same tendency in Pope Francis’s current “Synod on Synodality,” which clams to aim at a “listening” church. That is, a church that only echoes back whatever people want to hear.

Christianity is emphatically not about “family values.” When one man asks if he can bury his father before coming to follow Jesus, Jesus refuses, with the words “Let the dead bury their own dead.” James, John, Simon and Andrew are demonstrating this imperative. 

The appeal to family values is akin to the appeal to patriotism: it is as often as not, as Samuel Johnson said, “the last refuge of a scoundrel.”