Special Edition: Obsessed - Dr. Gerry Lewis

Today’s special edition post is from Tova Dad, my favorite daughter and Virtual Assistant. She lives outside of Amarillo with her husband and their two daughters.

Have you ever heard someone say, “I’m obsessed with this…

[new beauty product/TV series/podcast]?” I’m sure you get the idea. It’s one of the newer versions of calling something ‘cool,’ ’awesome,’ ‘sweet,’ ‘radical,’ or ‘bodacious!’

It’s not uncommon for me to become obsessed with a book, play, musician, historical figure, or TV series. In fact, my husband filled out one of those ‘How well do you know your spouse’ lists on Facebook and very accurately said that one of my favorite things to do is research something and then explain it to someone in detail.

Well, I have a new obsession that I’ve been trying to recruit others to share. It’s the series “The Chosen,” found on Netflix (seasons 1 and 2), Amazon Prime, or with a free subscription to Angel.com (all 3 seasons currently available to stream).

(Here’s where I have to pause and throw out the disclaimer that I am not affiliated with this production company, other than my free subscription, and will not receive any financial compensation from sharing about this series.)

Now, back to the show!

Did you know that the words Messiah in Hebrew, and Christ in Greek, boil down to ‘the anointed, or chosen one’? So, the show is clearly speaking about Jesus.

However, it also carefully follows the lives of those who followed Him and called Him their Teacher. Each one was chosen by Jesus to be part of His ministry.

“The Chosen” doesn’t just show what life was like on the road with Jesus. It also spends time watching how all the backgrounds and personalities of the disciples interact with each other.

The portrayal of Jesus as 100% God and 100% man is the best I have ever seen. He’s a real person! He laughs, jokes, dances, cries, and cares for every individual He meets.

I recommend this incredible show to anyone reading this.

Now, allow me to tell you about a real world, contemporary example of the message of Jesus.

My husband and I are blessed to have 2 amazing daughters. They squabble from time to time, but most of the time, they interact with each other in kindness and cooperation.

Recently, I needed to trim some hang-nails for my youngest. Her fingers did not feel well and she really didn’t want me messing with them. She protested emphatically.

But suddenly in front of us, my older daughter appeared making silly faces, squawks, and jumping around. Immediately the nail-trimming complaints disappeared to be replaced by giggles and laughter, allowing my task to proceed much quicker.

Once I turned the little one loose, my oldest leaned over and said to me, “As long as she’s watching my face, she doesn’t feel scared or hurt.”

I was struck instantly by her words. It called to my mind the dynamic interactions between Jesus and Simon (Peter) that close out season 3 of “The Chosen,” (during which I was reduced to tears multiple times in the watching and retelling).

The story from which it is taken is in the Biblical account of Matthew 14:22:

“Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go ahead of Him to the other side, while He dismissed the crowd [of at least 5,000 men and their families who He had fed using a child’s offering of 2 fish and 5 loaves of bread]. After He had dismissed them He went up on a mountainside by Himself to pray. Later that night, He was there alone, and the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it.

Shortly before dawn Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. When the disciples saw Him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear.

But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I. Don’t be afraid.”

Now “The Chosen” takes on a little creative license with this event. In previous episodes, Simon (Peter) found out that his wife had suffered a miscarriage while he was on the road with Jesus. Simon is angry and hurt. He is doubting Jesus’s love for his own followers while healing so many others. He tells Jesus that if He’s really who He says He is, then He should make it possible for Simon to come out on the water and walk to Him.

Verse 14:29 of Matthew recorded Jesus answering Simon with a simple command: “Come.”

In the episode, Jesus gave an additional instruction: “Keep your eyes on me.” Simon stepped out of the boat and began walking to Jesus, but then Simon looked around at the waves and the wind and he lost faith in the abilities Jesus had given him.

He began to sink into the water and reached out for Jesus to save him.

Jesus did save Simon and dragged him back into the boat. Simon was clinging to Jesus and might not have heard Jesus’s command to the sea and the wind to be quiet. He was much more Obsessed with clinging to his Savior.

Wouldn’t that be an amazing thing, to be able to wrap your arms around Jesus in the flesh and feel his secure, loving arms around you?

The dialogue at the end of the episode was almost exclusively Simon clinging to Jesus, almost like a child, begging, “Don’t let me go, please!”

Jesus said, “I’ve got you. I have much planned for you, Simon, including hard things. Just keep your eyes on me. I’m here. I‘m always here.”

Even as a little sister can be calmed by the loving, silly antics of her big sister’s face, so can we cling to our savior and remember that, no matter what we’re experiencing, as long as we’re relentlessly focused on His face, we don’t have to feel alone.

We are with Him and He is with us.

That’s the best kind of obsession I can think of. Amazing!