03.30.25 "A New Chapter in Our Religious Revival"

Two days ago a long awaited event occurred. Season #5 of the phenomenally successful television series *The Chosen* had its theatrical premier. They’re calling Season #5 *The Last Supper,* which gives you some idea about where they are in the Gospel time line. I spoke about *The Chosen* last year when Season 4 was released. There is projected to be a 7 season story arc for this series. Each season has 8 episodes and each episode is about an hour long. What that means is the story of Jesus from the Bible, is about two-thirds of the way through a 56 hour long treatment. While there have been inspirational films about the life of Jesus before, nothing compares to this big budget, inspired, evangelical, 56 hour long story development.

I have been thoroughly delighted with this series which isn’t just about Jesus. A lot of time on character development is spent for the group of people who circled around him. The inference is that all of them have been chosen in some way to play their important part. They all are the chosen. Of course this means the apostles and their families. It also means the formal Jewish ruling priesthood, the Sanhedrin. There is also a lot of time spent on the Romans and the delicate balance of power that existed between the occupying Romans government and Jewish people for which the Romans were being the overlords. There’s a lot of high drama potential here that forms the basis for the narrative.

Since it was Jesus who dictated ACIM to Helen Schucman, this depiction of the life and times of Jesus can hold quite a fascination for the ACIM student. The earlier seasons focused a lot on Jesus’ famous miracles: the water into wine at the wedding in Cana, the feeding of the 5,000 with 2 fish and 3 loaves of bread, the healing of the man lame for 38 years at the pool of Bethesda, walking on water and calming the storm on the sea of Galilee, and of course the big show stopper, raising family friend and the societal noteworthy person Lazarus from the dead. Since our spiritual discipline trains us to be miracles workers, I was especially interested in these depictions in the earlier seasons. I found these portrayals to be very well done and mostly consistent with our ACIM teaching.

The current offering in the theaters, which is the first 2 episodes of Season 5, focuses on Jesus triumphant ride into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday and the overturning of the money changers' tables and the releasing of the sacrificial animals at the Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus has references to Palm Sunday and Holy week in ACIM. "This is Palm Sunday, the celebration of victory and the acceptance of the truth." (Tx.20.1) And also, "This week begins with palms and ends with lilies, the white and holy sign the Son of God is innocent." (Tx.20.2) I received some insights from watching this first installment that I had not had before about Palm Sunday and its relation to the money changers / Temple incident. For this I am grateful. I will share them on Sunday.

The bigger story though, is the success of *The Chosen* is part of a profound religious revival going on in our world. It is estimated that 280 million people have watched at least some of the 34 episodes of *The Chosen* that have currently been released. (Just 22 to go.) That’s quite an audience. Faith based entertainment is bigger than ever, and this is the biggest faith based entertainment success story there ever has been. I talked a few weeks ago about how we are seeing high profile government officials making public statements of their being centered in religious faith: Secretary of State Marco Rubio making public statements while showing off a prominent Ash Wednesday ashes cross on his forehead. Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt occasionally wearing a Christian Cross pendant around her neck. Attorney General Pam Bondi has also done this, and she has a history of defending her right to do this in the courtroom.

I believe a tide has begun to turn in the direction of religious values. For a long time many ACIM students have attempted to downplay the fact that Jesus is apparently the author of ACIM. Some have talked about how Jesus is merely a symbol. Many speak about the universality of the message and the fact that it comes from such a well know religious leader as almost irrelevant, and maybe at times more of an hindrance than a blessing. It is not a hindrance that ACIM comes to us from Jesus. It is not a dismissible point of information. It is an important characteristic of the teaching itself.

If our thinking at times makes Jesus irrelevant, let us remember this, "Jesus has led the way. Why would you not be grateful to him? He has asked for love, but only that he might give it to you." (Mn.23.5) Making Jesus irrelevant is an act of ingratitude. "This course has come from [Jesus] because his words have reached you in a language you can love and understand." (Mn.23.7) Jesus being the author makes ACIM more understandable. Of course, this has to be accepted and celebrated, not diminished and downplayed. The story of Jesus being depicted so well in *The Chosen* can lead people to a greater understanding and appreciation of Jesus and the miracle working the Course discipline is guiding us towards. I strongly recommend *The Chosen* for every sincere student of ACIM.