Several years ago our pastor recommended a movie he and his wife had seen over the weekend. He told us it was a movie with a Christian theme, filmed by a Christian studio, that they had really enjoyed it, and we should go see it. So, being the compliant, obedient rule-followers that we are1, my wife and I went to see it.
It was not great.
It was not good.
It was, to be both frank and earnest2, awful. The next Sunday I gently3 suggested he should keep his day job and get out of the movie recommendation business. “The acting was awful, why would you recommend it?” “I know, but it had a great story!” Right, but who could notice the story with all of that wooden acting and stilted dialogue and did I mention the horrible acting?
I’d already seen this for years in books; people willing to put up with terrible writing just because it was “Christian.” With extremely rare exceptions (Francine Rivers, Jan Karan, maybe Terri Blackstock; my wife would add Dee Henderson), modern Christian fiction is, like modern Christian music, a wasteland. As far as I’m concerned, you don’t get a pass on being professionally proficient just because you’re a Christian; if anything, standards should be higher.
Anyway, we pretty much avoided Christian movies/TV after that. We would regularly hear about this “wonderful” new Christian movie, and we would smile and change the subject. (The movies would typically be rated in the low 5’s on IMDB. Or worse.) When word started getting around about this great new TV series based on the gospels, we avoided the conversations. But, unlike the past ones, these conversations kept happening and kept happening, and finally, two or three of our friends who feel the same way we do about bad Christian movies told us that this series was different, and we should try it.
So, about the time season 3 made its appearance, we started watching The Chosen from the beginning.
It was not good.
It was really good. And occasionally great.
The acting is well done, the writing is well done, the story is … well, you might have heard, the greatest story ever told. When it’s telling the parts of the story in the Bible, it’s accurate. Where things get interesting is when it’s filling in the blanks of what the Bible doesn’t cover. They’re obviously making things up, but they do it in a way that keeps the focus on the story. Was one of the disciples related to the man at the pool of Bethesda? Did Peter and his wife lose a baby? Was Matthew on the spectrum? Who knows, but it’s interesting to contemplate, and for us it enhances rather than distracts from the story.
If you want to nitpick there are nits to pick. I didn’t particularly care for the way they handled the Sermon on the Mount. In the episode we’re about to talk about, Jesus curses the fig tree on the way into Bethany instead of on the way out, which disassociates it from the episode in the temple, an important connection lost in translation. When asked about paying taxes, Jesus expounds, completely unnecessarily, for two or three minutes before finally saying, “Give to Caesar what is his and to God what is God’s.” And so on. But, for us at least, at the end of the day they are nits. The story being told is faithful to the gospels: who Jesus is, what He does, why He’s here, are all crystal clear.
Which brings us to the episode under discussion. Although it’s been a year(?) since its release, we’re just now getting around to season 5, and two nights ago we watched “The Same Coin.” At the beginning, Jesus and the disciples are gathered around a U-shaped table (rather than laying prostrate as they actually did at that time, another nit), and Jesus asks John to lead them in the Dayenu.
In real life, the Dayenu is a joyous song sung at the Passover seder. No one knows how old it is; the earliest extant text is from the ninth century, but some think it could have been sung as far back as the Second Temple period, which encompasses the time of Jesus. There are fifteen stanzas, each ending with “Dayenu” in Hebrew, which roughly translates to “it would have been enough/sufficient” in English. The stanzas tell the story of the exodus and God’s establishing His presence with Israel.
In the episode, it is recited rather than sung, with John beginning the first stanza, and each disciple taking a stanza in turn until they’ve finished all fifteen.
If he had brought us out from Egypt, and not carried out judgments against them… it would have been enough.
If he had carried out judgments against them, and not destroyed their idols… it would have been enough.
If He had destroyed their idols, and not killed their firstborn… it would have been enough.
If had killed their firstborn, and had not given us their wealth… it would have been enough.
If had given us their wealth, and not split the sea for us… it would have been enough.
If he had split the sea for us, and not taken us through it on dry land… it would have been enough.
If He had taken us through it on dry land, and not drowned our enemies in it… it would have been enough.
If he had drowned our enemies in it, and then not supplied our needs in the desert for forty years… it would have been enough.
If He had supplied us in the desert for forty years, and and not fed us the manna… it would have been enough.
If He had fed us the manna, and had not given us the Shabbat… it would have been enough.
If He had given us the Shabbat, and not brought us before Mount Sinai… it would have been enough.
If He had brought us before Mount Sinai, and not given us the Torah… it would have been enough.
If He had given us the Torah, but not brought us to the land of Israel… it would have been enough.
And if He had brought us to the land of Israel, and not built for us the Holy Temple… it would have been enough.
It is a haunting scene, as the disciples demonstrate the gratitude they feel when they recite their piece. Each successive “if this was all there was, it still would have been enough” was both a reminder of all that God did and of the infinite gratitude Israel owed to Him. Which of course translates rather directly to us.
But the best was saved for last. At the end of the episode, Jesus has dinner with the women that are part of his followers who are travelling or have travelled with him: his mother, Mary Magdalene, Mary and Martha, Tamar (a friend of the man who was lowered through the roof), Eden (Peter’s wife), and Joanna. Jesus has gathered them together to tell them they will not be able to be a part of the imminent Passover seder; he needs time with just the men. After an awkward pause, Mary of Bethany says that if they can’t be a part of the Passover meal, then he owes them the Dayenu. He’s a little surprised at this, and after a humorous back and forth, Mary Magdalene says that they’ve prepared their own. What follows is probably my favorite scene in the series so far.
Mary: If I had only had been given the joy of holding you in my arms that night in Bethlehem on a cold ground, and not been able to see you perform signs and wonders… it would have been enough.
Mary of Magdala: If you had performed signs and wonders, and not called me by name that night… it would have been enough.
Eden: If you had healed Mary of Magdala of her demons, and not healed my emma, or called my husband after your miracle… it would have been enough.
Tamar: If you had called Simon Peter and not healed my friend… it would have been enough.
Martha: If you had healed Ethan, and not raised my brother… it would have been enough.
Mary: If you had raised my brother, and not defended my honor when I worshiped you… it would have been enough.
Joanna: If you would have defended Mary of Bethany, but not given meaning to my life, which had been so unhappy and unfulfilled, by letting me support and participate in this miraculous family, that I do believe will change the world… it would have been enough.
The men recited Israel’s past, and expressed their collective gratitude, and it was good (it was this scene that started me thinking about this post). The women took it further and made it personal—if you had done for everyone else, but not for me, it would have been enough—and that made it powerful.
Decades ago, a couple in our church at the time gave birth to a baby with severe medical issues, and the baby died at about a week old. The next week, one of the grandfathers stood up and said, “We count the six days God granted us with her as a gift.” He was not expressing the theoretical “it would have been,” he was stating the actual “it was”—“We had six days, and it was enough.”
Formulating and expressing our own dayenu is a good exercise for all of us. It gives us a moment to pause and ask ourselves what really is enough. For those of us who are believers, we have the same starting place.
“If you had died and been resurrected to initiate your kingdom, start the process of setting the world right, and deliver me from the power of sin, and not _________________… it would have been enough!