Bob Tamasy
Who’s your favorite actor or actress? (I know some consider ‘actor’ the proper term for both genders, but I’m using both terms since we might have both a favorite male and female in the acting profession.) Anyway, why is that individual your favorite? Is it because of that person’s excellence in being able to take on very different roles, or because he or she seems to be such a likeable person regardless of the role being played?
Over the years I’ve admired certain actors and actresses, sometimes thinking, ‘Wouldn’t it be cool to be able to hang out with him (or her)?’ It can be hard to separate their screen presence from who they really are – or might be – in person.
Sometimes various sources reveal that what we see on TV or in the movies is definitely not what you get in person. I think of one popular crime series we watched in which the guy and gal seemed like such a perfect match; later it was divulged the two actually loathed one another when off the set. Disillusioning, right? At least they did a great job of acting as if they liked each other.
In a very different sense, I wonder if some folks might feel this kind of disconnect about Jesus Christ. People say, “God is love” (quoting 1 John 4:16) so often it’s practically become a meaningless cliché. Envisioning a grandfather-like deity who tolerates any and all misdeeds with an “Aw shucks, kids will be kids” sort of attitude, they extend that image to Jesus, the Son of God. He’s perceived by some as a good buddy, an all-accepting Savior who can and will overlook sin in any form, all in the name of “love.”
This isn’t a new phenomenon. We’ve had songs like “What a Friend We Have in Jesus” (written in 1855 by preacher Joseph M. Scriven) for a long time. It’s encouraging and heartening to know we can enjoy a growing personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ. But if we examine the Scriptures, we see He didn’t just come to become our best friend.
Intended or not, this perception of Christ as “Mr. Nice Guy” may have been advanced by the acclaimed, highly successful video series, “The Chosen.” (Of which I’m a great fan, by the way.) In its first four seasons, we often see Jesus (admirably portrayed by Jonathan Roumie) in ways rarely depicted on the screen. He’s having fun at times, teasing and joking a bit with His followers, dancing, and being the kind of person described above – someone we’d love to be able to hang out with.
In the Bible we do see occasions in which Jesus seemed to use subtle humor. Whether He danced or not, the Scriptures are silent on that. We wouldn’t be out of order to conclude He enjoyed having a little fun. When Jesus walked on water, as recounted in the gospels of Matthew, Mark and John, He demonstrated His divine power. But it also might have been a “Surprise!” moment with His followers.
Season 5 of “The Chosen,” however, is presenting a very different side of Jesus. It’s the end of always regarding Him as “Mr. Nice Guy,” which might be somewhat troubling for some viewers. Much like finding out a favorite actor or athlete isn’t exactly what we presumed.
In an early episode we see an angry Jesus overturning the merchants’ tables at the temple, an event recounted in each of the gospels. “Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. ‘It is written,’ He said to them, ‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making a ‘den of robbers’” (Matthew 21:12-13).
Definitely no more Mr. Nice Guy. On numerous occasions in the gospels, and represented in “The Chosen,” Jesus confronts the self-righteous, hyper-religious Pharisees and Sadducees, including soon after literally upsetting the apple carts at the temple.
He chastises them with “seven woes,” making no effort to soften the blows of His condemning accusations. Jesus starts off, “Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites!” a phrase He uses seven times. Then He proceeds, “You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces. You do not enter, nor will you let those enter who are trying to” (Matthew 23:13-14).
Jesus continues, specifying other ways their ritual hypocrisy serves to honor themselves but does nothing to honor or glorify the God they claim to worship. Jesus declares, “You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean” (Matthew 23:25-26).
This is a different side of Jesus from what we see earlier in the gospels as He goes about teaching, healing the sick, raising the dead, and performing other miracles. However, there’s no contradiction. He’s God incarnate when demonstrating great compassion, kindness, mercy and love, and He’s God incarnate when demonstrating other important dimensions of God’s character – including His justice and truth.
Exodus 34:6-7 describes this well, recording an interaction between God and Moses. “And He passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, ‘The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet He does not leave the guilty unpunished; He punishes the children and their children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation.”
We can be thankful for God’s mercy and grace, embodied in Jesus Christ. But we must never forget that He is also just and a hater of sin in every form. As C.S. Lewis, in his fantasy series, “Chronicles of Narnia, stated about the Christ figure, Aslan the lion, “He’s not safe, but he’s good.”
There might be times when we discover that a beloved celebrity isn’t the person he or she appeared to be; they’re sinners just as we are. But not so with the God of the Bible. He is love, as the Scriptures declare, but He’s also holy. There’s no separation between the two.
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Robert J. Tamasy is a veteran journalist, former newspaper editor, and magazine editor. Bob has written, co-authored and edited more than 20 books. These include ”Marketplace Ambassadors”; “Business At Its Best: Timeless Wisdom from Proverbs for Today’s Workplace”; “Tufting Legacies,” “The Heart of Mentoring,” and “Pursuing Life With a Shepherd’s Heart.” He writes and edits a weekly business meditation, “Monday Manna,” which is translated into nearly 20 languages and distributed via email around the world by CBMC International. The address for Bob's blog is www.bobtamasy.blogspot.com. His email address is btamasy@comcast.net.