“The Chosen,” the TV series that chronicles the lives of Jesus and His disciples, has become a global phenomenon, sparking spin-off projects, memorabilia, and more.
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Among the projects that stem from the popular show are a book series and interactive Bible study aimed at helping viewers better connect with Scripture.
Amanda Jenkins, wife of “The Chosen” showrunner Dallas Jenkins, most recently authored, “God’s Goodness for the Chosen: An Interactive Bible Study Season 4,” a project she says explores the main theme present in season four of the show: human suffering.
“The show itself really has to do with a lot of suffering,” Jenkins told CBN News. “We’re starting to see that Jesus is allowing His followers to suffer. He’s not removing suffering when He’s being asked or in the way He’s being asked.”
She said this dynamic personally resonated as it’s been true in her own life. Similarly, while working on the show, the Jenkins family faced their own struggles.
“I was kind of begging the Lord to heal my daughter,” Jenkins said. “She’s got a chronic illness and Dallas and I were really suffering watching her suffer. My co-writer was going through a different but same, thematically, season of life.”
The irony, of course, was that Jenkins was helping prepare a Bible study that would inspire others on this very issue. As she explored the matter, she said she came to realize that “seasons of suffering really are more about God in the suffering and how His goodness eclipses our suffering.”
Jenkins candidly shared feeling as though she was doing something wrong as she grappled with her daughter’s own health battles.
“I felt like, I’m doing something wrong. Like, I can’t get out from underneath this. … I’m working so hard. I’m trying everything I can think of,” she said. “I’m taking her to every specialist in our particular case that I can get a hold of. I’m praying. … I’m laying it down in faith. I’m doing all the things, and I’m still suffering.”
While Jenkins said she initially felt she was erring in some way, she came to a powerful realization.
“The truth is that I’m not sure I’ve ever learned about the goodness of the Lord outside of suffering,” she said. “I don’t think I learn it in abundance; I think I’m more selfish in abundance. I think I run ahead of Him in times of peace. I think our nature is that suffering is where we draw near to the Lord. Otherwise, I think we get really distracted at best.”
Ultimately, she had to change the way she was seeing and responding to the suffering. The personal experience juxtaposed against what’s observed in season four of “The Chosen” wasn’t lost on Jenkins, as she said a closer look at God while working on it helped grow and inspire her faith.
“I think our suffering, the timing of our suffering, it’s not a coincidence,” Jenkins said. “The show is doing cool things, and is exciting, and all those things. But, personally, we’re having to seek Him more than ever, and I would say He’s not allowing us to preach the Gospel from a high place.”
Jenkins continued, “We are clinging to Jesus and finding new reasons every day to beg for help.”
She said it’s also been incredible to watch “The Chosen” serve as a tool that helps “reintroduce people to Jesus.” The cast and crew continue to hear stories from people who say they had fallen away from faith but are coming back, and they credit the show for helping in that process.
Others proclaim “The Chosen” has inspired them to find Christ for the first time.
“It’s spanning demographics,” Jenkins said. “It’s old people and young people. It’s special needs people. It’s every culture. It’s in every country of the world. … There is no explanation for it other than God is just doing a thing, and we get to be kind of in a front-row seat to it.”
Jenkins said this is ultimately the end goal: to drive people “back to Scripture.”
“The show is awesome, but it’s a TV show,” she said. “It’s not the word of God, and so our hope is that the show invites people back into Scripture.”
Read more from Jenkins in her book, “God’s Goodness for the Chosen: An Interactive Bible Study Season 4.”
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