The Andrew Pause

It will almost be a year now since I discovered The Chosen -- the first multi-season show on the life of Jesus and His followers -- and its precepts and posited theses still reverberate in my mind up to now, giving my brain some really substantial moral, existential, and spiritual ruminations. The series is simply wonderfully-produced.

One of the show's elements that has gotten me completely impressed is the level of excellence displayed in the way its narrative structure is crafted: from its pacing, to its characterizations, all the way down to its dialogue, The Chosen's script is entertaining, engaging, thrilling, and thought-provoking. The series writers undeniably took a page from their ancient, world-famous source material.

The first season is a great example of how adeptly Tyler Thompson, Ryan Swanson, and Dallas Jenkins made use of their writing proficiencies to tackle -- or, at the very least, present -- profound religious conundrums that many of us wrestle with on a regular basis. We particularly see this play out in the characterization of Nicodemus and how he goes through several different quandaries ranging from the conflict of authority between the religious and the political, to the polarizing dynamic between traditional practices and fresh revelations pertaining to spiritual beliefs, to the intermingling of natural and divine realities. All this is done in a captivating and refreshing way that does not -- at all -- take anything away from the overall appeal of the show. In fact, this aspect of the production is what keeps the entire series thoroughly enthralling even after several repeats of its maiden season. This is how good the show's writing is.

That being said, there is one particular existential question in the show's second season (in production as of this writing) -- previewed in a virtual table read with some of The Chosen's principal cast members a few months ago -- which has captivated my imagination as I found it relatable to my current life circumstance. The dilemma was postulated by Andrew who, after moderating the disciples' own version of 'truth or dare', was compelled to take a pause and disclose his thoughts about being Jewish and a fledgling follower of the Messiah:

"Sometimes I feel like I’m living someone else’s life. Like when I look at myself from the outside, it doesn’t always feel like me. It feels like someone who’s trying to live up to the heroes of our history… as if I have to do something great… but I know I’m not great. I feel that more… now… being with Him."

Here, Andrew verbalizes what I think many of us in the body of Christ struggle with especially when we juxtapose our lives and our achievements with the heroes of our faith and fellow believers who have gone before us: the pursuit of significance and greatness.

Upon realizing the conversational goldmine that was waiting to be unearthed underneath this mini monologue, my fiancée and I decided to explore what Noah James' character was grappling with, and what implications his sentiments would have over the lives of each and every believer coming to terms with this age-old puzzlement.

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Do we need to run after significance and greatness?

Are we to live out our lives here on earth in desperate pursuit of grandeur?

Are we meant to live up to the stature and accomplishments of the heroes of our faith?

Is there a way of finding greatness that does not result in the corruption and erosion of our God-given image and identity?

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Google defines 'greatness' as the quality of being great, distinguished, or eminent; it is synonymous to illustrious, distinguished, renowned, esteemed, preeminent, and notable.

People from all across the timeline of history -- distant and recent -- have strived hard to get to a stratum of eminence often from an internal impetus of desiring supremacy over others brought about by either insecurity, fear, or pride, or perhaps a combination of all three. Iron-fisted political leaders like Adolf Hitler of Germany, Joseph Stalin of the Soviet Union, Benito Mussolini of Italy, and Mao Zedong of China (to name a few) have risen to positions of prominence in their respective nations and displayed their own interpretation of what greatness is, what great men do, and how to keep and maintain said greatness.

History, however, has shown us that their brand of renown resulted in the oppression, suffering, and death of countless human lives over the course of each of their reign as 'great' men in their countries. They have also posthumously left behind disreputable fame that has globally been considered atrocious wherever word of their actions and accomplishments reverberate. Instead of becoming shining examples of true greatness, they -- and others like them -- have become distinguished because of their ruthlessness, wickedness, and single-minded determination to achieve more power regardless of the methods they use or the consequences that ensue.

This brings me now to the main point of this article: pursuing greatness apart from God more often than not leads to disaster. I think that pretty much sums up the beginning and end of every despot's era from the ancient times up until now. Left to our own devices, we, human beings, revert to our default of selfishness, and most of our endeavors -- no matter how well-intended or brilliantly-concocted -- will have some measure of vested interest or personal gain behind it as motivation.

This is true even for believers in the body of Christ. It is a sad reality that many Christian leaders run after greatness without running after God. They evangelize the lost, erect church buildings, and establish outreach movements often at the expense of personal intimacy with the Lord and healthy relationships with people... as long as 'greatness' is achieved.

In fact, even believers who are not in any position of leadership seem to have an innate desire for significance and, quite often, an unhealthy craving for authority that manifests itself in wanting to be in places of great recognition ("must join the frontline and flashy ministry") and positions of great power ("must get into the pastor's inner circle"). When I ponder upon this reality, I am often brought back to a particular passage in Ecclesiastes:

"I have seen all the things that are done under the sun; all of them are meaningless, a chasing after the wind."

The pursuit of significance and greatness is a meaningless and futile endeavor in light of eternity and it results in the disfiguration a human being's beautiful original design: a design that, by the way, already includes significance and greatness by virtue of the fact that the Creator has already placed a high intrinsic value on each of His sons and daughters, and that He has designed them to live in the greatness that He has already bestowed upon them.

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So, no, we do not need to run after significance and greatness; these are already inherent in us -- we are children of God after all.

We are to live out our lives here on earth as carriers of His Majesty's greatness: we already have it; no need to pursue it.

There is no need for us to measure up to our brothers and sisters in Christ -- whether ancient or current -- because each one of us is valued by God and individually given different manifestations of His greatness. If anything, it should be Jesus that we should be measuring ourselves against because ultimately we all are headed toward conformity with the Son of God.

Finally, I think in order for us to be able to walk in the greatness and the significance that we all so desire to have, we must lean into and live out of a genuine, non-religious, practical, and life-altering relationship with the Almighty God, Who is the wellspring of our value and eminence: it is in Him we live and move and have our being, and it is only in Him that we find our true significance and live in true greatness without distorting or adulterating our God-given image.

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In Greek, the word 'andras' means 'man', and the word 'pafsi' means 'pause'.

As these locutions imply, may we, human beings, do what the apostle Andrew did in The Chosen series and take time to pause and ponder on the truths -- not just realities, but truths -- about our existence on earth.

May we cease our exertions in reaching our own perceived greatness in order to gain a semblance of human significance, and instead understand that, in God, our lives already have meaning and we are already cherished, treasured and prized.