Summer
Movie Nights
July
15, 2021
Script
Welcome to our
Thursday movie night.
We love the TV series called “The Chosen”.
It’s our hope
that this little introduction we give each week will give you a bit of a boost so
that you can better enjoy the series.
If you have missed
some of the previous episodes, you can always go to “thechosen.tv”, or download the free Chosen
app,
and catch up.
Now…Tonight’s episode is a little different from previous episodes.
First our section we call…
In the Scriptures…
My intent with this section each week is to give you the historical, gospel
Scriptures where you can find the content of the episode.
As with our two previous episodes, let me say again that this episode is
not drawn from an event in the gospels.
The writers are
taking one last episode to develop important background material we will need before
we start into the actual gospel historical record.
We have no record that Jesus did or said the things in this episode the way
our writers portray it.
But
the principles that are being laid out are very consistent with the character
of Jesus as well as the cultural background of how people lived in the first
century.
Next week, when we finally dip into the gospels, we will have been immersed
in a world that will make the gospel stories so much more vivid.
As the producers
of “The Chosen” will encourage you, make sure you are reading your Bible, and
especially the gospels, for the best information.
Now, for our section we call …
Terms and
Practices
My intent with this section is to help you become acquainted with some of
the wording and cultural background that is referenced in the episode.
Humanity
In the Blu-ray’s bonus section, we find out from the director Dallas
Jenkins that this episode’s purpose is to establish the humanity of Jesus.
Was Jesus God or was He human?
Correct
doctrine states that Jesus was both fully God and fully human.
Often we make such an emphasis on the deity of Christ that we neglect to
realize that He was also fully human.
So you will get a peek at Jesus just before His public ministry gets going.
Chronologically, this episode starts prior to episode one, and wraps around
episodes one and two.
You will gain
some insight into how He might have lived day-to-day in the wilderness – making a fire, preparing food.
You’ll see this son of a carpenter
using His carpentry tools.
You’ll see daily hygiene like washing feet and brushing His teeth.
You’ll even catch glimpses
of what Jesus’ private prayer life might have been.
You will see that
unlike some of us, Jesus was no different in His private prayer life than when
He was with people.
Why is it important that we understand that Jesus was fully human?
(Hebrews 4:15–16 NKJV) —15 For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our
weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet
without sin. 16 Let us therefore come boldly to the
throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of
need.
He understands us.
He has compassion. You can go to
Him for help.
Children
This episode is built around Jesus interacting with children.
Jesus cares deeply for children.
Later in His ministry, Jesus will remind the disciples of how much value
children are and how we need to be a little more like them:
(Mark 10:13-15 NKJV) —13 Then they brought little children to Him, that He might touch them;
but the disciples rebuked those who brought them. 14 But when Jesus saw it, He was
greatly displeased and said to them, “Let the little children come to Me, and
do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of God. 15 Assuredly, I say to you, whoever
does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will by no means enter
it.”
My old pastor
used to say, “You can tell a lot about a person by how they treat children.”
Are children considered an annoyance, or are children something special,
each one an individual who is growing and learning?
How do you
react when children keep asking so many questions?
How do you
respond when children interrupt what you’re doing, or wake you up when you are
sleeping?
You will see an
example of Jesus teaching children.
Pay attention parents and Sunday School teachers.
You’ll even hear Jesus even making silly noises for children to make them
laugh.
The Shema
As we saw last week in the episode about the Sabbath, God built into
Judaism the importance of passing the faith on to the children.
The “Shema” is sort
of the “confession of faith” for the Jews, meant to be taught to their
children.
Jesus will ask the children to recite it.
I wonder if He’s seeing how well their parents are teaching them.
It is made up
of three different texts:
I’ll just read the beginning…
(Deuteronomy 6:4–7 NKJV) —4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord
our God, the Lord is one!
The word “Shema” means “hear” or “listen”, and it comes from the first word
in verse 4.
5 You shall love the Lord
your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. 6 “And these words which I command you
today shall be in your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of
them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down,
and when you rise up.
The Shema also included Deuteronomy 11:13-21, and Numbers 15:37-41
(Deuteronomy 11:13–21 NKJV) —13 ‘And it shall be that if you earnestly
obey My commandments which I command you today, to love the Lord your God and serve Him with all
your heart and with all your soul, 14
then I will give you the rain for your land
in its season, the early rain and the latter rain, that you may gather in your
grain, your new wine, and your oil. 15
And I will send grass in your fields for your
livestock, that you may eat and be filled.’ 16 Take heed to yourselves, lest your heart
be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them, 17 lest the Lord’s anger be aroused against you,
and He shut up the heavens so that there be no rain, and the land yield no
produce, and you perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you. 18 “Therefore
you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind
them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall
teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when
you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. 20 And you
shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your
days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers to give
them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.
(Numbers 15:37–41 NKJV) —37
Again the Lord
spoke to Moses, saying, 38 “Speak to the children of Israel: Tell them to make tassels on
the corners of their garments throughout their generations, and to put a blue
thread in the tassels of the corners. 39
And you shall have the tassel, that you may look
upon it and remember all the commandments of the Lord and do them, and that you may not follow the
harlotry to which your own heart and your own eyes are inclined, 40 and that
you may remember and do all My commandments, and be holy for your God. 41 I am
the Lord your God, who brought
you out of the land of Egypt, to be your God: I am the Lord your God.”
Elisha
One of the stories you’ll glimpse Jesus telling the children is the story
of Elisha and the
bears. You can read that story in 2Kings
2.
(2 Kings 2:23–24 NKJV) —23
Then he went up from there to Bethel; and as he was
going up the road, some youths came from the city and mocked him, and said to
him, “Go up, you baldhead! Go up, you baldhead!” 24 So he turned around and looked at them,
and pronounced a curse on them in the name of the Lord. And two female bears came out of the woods and mauled
forty-two of the youths.
Singing
You’ll hear Jesus teaching the children a song from Psalm 133 which starts with:
(Psalm 133:1 NKJV) Behold, how
good and how pleasant it is For brethren to dwell together in unity!
Similar Content
You will hear Jesus teaching the children things that He will say in the
future to adults. There is an important point here.
I don’t think Jesus
said things once. I think He taught many
of the same things at various times throughout His ministry. It’s not improbable that He would have said
many of the same things He would say later in His ministry.
You’ll hear Jesus teaching snippets of the Lord’s Prayer to the children as
well as quoting Isaiah 61, which was His “mission statement”.
Just like He will do one day in the
synagogue in Nazareth, Jesus will quote from Isaiah 61 –
(Isaiah 61:1–2 NKJV) —1
“The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because
the Lord has anointed Me To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who are bound; 2 To
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord
…
Lastly, our section called
Characters
I’m not going to spend a lot of time on the section called “Characters” because there’s really
only one character in this episode that you’ll see in future episodes, and
that’s
Jesus.
Tonight, because
the episode is a little shorter than previous weeks, we will be able to give
you a chance to interact with the staff in the post-episode discussion.
If you have a question or a comment you’d like to share, then text the
church office at 714-879-3314 either during the episode, or shortly after the
episode.
We will do our best to address as many of the comments as we can.
We encourage you to
To find out more
about the Chosen…
Open your
browser and go to “thechosen.tv” on the web, or download the free app for your mobile device. You’ll be able to watch the episodes over and
over from there.
We also encourage
you to give your financial support to this project. We do.
We’d like to
also encourage you to think about hosting a “watch” party each week. Invite some family or friends over to watch
with you. Even if you’ve already seen
each episode, we are finding it’s so much more fun and edifying to watch with
others.
At the end of
the episode, be sure to head back to the Calvary Fullerton YouTube channel to watch the
live broadcast as we discuss what we will have just watched.
As per our agreement
with The Chosen, our YouTube presentation of the episode itself will only be up
for 24 hours. After that, if you want to
rewatch the episode, you will need to go to the Chosen website or use their
app.
Now hold on tight, because
here we go …
At the end…
When the credits are over, be sure to watch the live broadcast from our
YouTube channel as we discuss what we’ve just watched…
Discussion thoughts
Mary
Jesus will mention helping someone, something happened back in episode
1. Remember what He did for Mary of
Magdala.
Jesus the Maker
Jesus will be making a device, a “lock”.
Bonus points if you catch what Jesus, the Creator of the world, says when
He is finished making the lock.
(He examines it and says, “It is good”.
Reminds me of Genesis 1)
Family Life
Did you notice how Abigail’s young family in Capernaum interacted with each
other? You will find that even though many things are so different than today,
many things are still the same.