Summer
Movie Nights
July
22, 2021
Script
Welcome to our
Thursday movie night.
We love the TV
series called “The Chosen”.
If you haven’t seen last week’s episode, go to “thechosen.tv” tomorrow and watch it. Or better yet, download the free app, and you’ll even be able to
cast it to your TV.
If you’re watching this introduction after Thursday’s premiere, you will
need to do this to watch this episode as well.
It’s our hope that this little introduction we give each week will give you
a little bit of a boost so that you can better enjoy the series.
First, a segment we call…
In the Scriptures…
Tonight’s episode will finally bring us into one of the stories found in
the Gospels.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke all have
accounts of Jesus calling Peter and the other fishermen to follow Him, but
Luke’s account is a little more detailed, and that’s what we’ll be seeing. Matthew and Mark’s accounts are in Matthew
4:18-22; Mark 1:16-20
(Matthew 4:18–22 NKJV) —18
And Jesus, walking by the Sea of Galilee, saw two
brothers, Simon called Peter, and Andrew his brother, casting a net into the
sea; for they were fishermen. 19 Then He said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of
men.” 20 They immediately left their nets and followed Him. 21 Going on
from there, He saw two other brothers, James the son of Zebedee, and
John his brother, in the boat with Zebedee their father, mending their nets. He
called them, 22 and immediately they left the boat and their father, and followed
Him.
(Mark 1:16–20 NKJV) —16
And as He walked by the Sea of Galilee, He saw Simon
and Andrew his brother casting a net into the sea; for they were fishermen. 17 Then Jesus
said to them, “Follow Me, and I will make you become fishers of men.” 18 They
immediately left their nets and followed Him. 19 When He had gone a little farther from
there, He saw James the son of Zebedee, and John his brother, who also were
in the boat mending their nets. 20 And immediately He called them, and they left their father
Zebedee in the boat with the hired servants, and went after Him.
The Gospel of John
has an account of John
the Baptizer calling Jesus the “Lamb of God” and pointing Jesus out to his
disciples. Andrew
was one of those disciples and he in turn introduces Simon to Jesus. This is in John 1:35-42.
(John 1:35–42 NKJV) —35
Again, the next day, John stood with two of his
disciples. 36 And looking at Jesus as He walked, he said, “Behold the Lamb of
God!” 37 The two disciples heard him speak, and they followed Jesus. 38 Then Jesus
turned, and seeing them following, said to them, “What do you seek?” They said to Him, “Rabbi” (which is to say, when translated,
Teacher), “where are You staying?” 39
He said to them, “Come and see.” They came and saw
where He was staying, and remained with Him that day (now it was about the
tenth hour). 40 One of the two who heard John speak, and followed Him, was
Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. 41 He first found his own brother Simon, and said to him, “We have
found the Messiah” (which is translated, the Christ). 42 And he brought him to Jesus. Now when Jesus looked at him, He said, “You are Simon the son of
Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is translated, A Stone).
Jesus will tell
a parable about a net
being cast into the sea, and all sorts of fish being caught in it. This comes from Matthew 13:47-52.
(Matthew 13:47–52 NKJV) —47
“Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that
was cast into the sea and gathered some of every kind, 48 which, when it was full, they drew to
shore; and they sat down and gathered the good into vessels, but threw the bad
away. 49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth,
separate the wicked from among the just, 50
and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will
be wailing and gnashing of teeth.” 51
Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all these
things?” They said to Him,
“Yes, Lord.” 52 Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe instructed
concerning the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his
treasure things new and old.”
The main
passage though is about Jesus calling the fishermen to follow Him. Though you can find parallel accounts in
Matthew and Mark, the main passage is found in Luke 5, where Jesus asks if He
can use Simon’s boat to teach from, and then asks Simon to launch out into
deeper water and let down his nets for a catch.
Again, you can read all about this in Luke 5.
(Luke 5:1–11 NKJV) —1 So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of
God, that He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret, 2 and saw two boats standing by the lake;
but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. 3 Then He
got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little
from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. 4 When He
had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down
your nets for a catch.” 5
But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have
toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down
the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish,
and their net was breaking. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to
come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began
to sink. 8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees,
saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!” 9 For he and
all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had
taken; 10 and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who
were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now
on you will catch men.” 11 So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all
and followed Him.
As with the
previous episodes, some of this episode will introduce things with which we
have no record of Jesus or the disciples saying or doing.
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.
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
“Eema”
means “mother”
“Dominus”
… is Latin for “lord” or master. This is what Matthew calls the Praetor.
Hebrew Alphabet
Peter will find
a “bobber”, a fishing float, with
the Hebrew letter “Z”, (Zayin) on it.
It belongs to
someone whose name starts with a Z, or Zebedee
Swords
Some of you
might remember that in the Garden of Gethsemane, one of the disciples took a sword and cut off the ear of the
high priest’s servant. You will find that story
in John 18:10.
Just keep that story in mind as you watch…
That same somebody is going to get
his own ear cut by a Roman, several years earlier.
(John 18:10–11 NKJV) —10
Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck
the high priest’s servant, and cut off his right ear. The servant’s name was
Malchus. 11 So Jesus said to Peter, “Put your sword into the sheath. Shall I
not drink the cup which My Father has given Me?”
Gergesa
shore
Gergesa was a city
on the eastern side of the Galilee.
It was also called the “land of the Gergasenes”, or the “Gaderenes”, and it’s where Jesus would one day
cast the demons out
of a man called Legion, and pigs
would fly … into the lake.
Dogs
Dogs weren’t
considered cute like our
pets are today.
In Israel they
were considered unclean animals.
If you wanted
to call someone names, you might call them a “dog”.
Jews called Romans “dogs”, and Romans called Jews “dogs”.
Fishing
There is a place on the Sea of Galilee, just west of Capernaum, known as Tabgha.
At Tabgha, they
have found an ancient fishing dock made of stones.
There are also springs that flow into the lake at Tabgha.
This short clip is from our trip to Israel in 2007 where we saw something
interesting at Tabgha, just off the shore.
(play video)
The Catholic
church has built a small chapel there, designating this as the place where
Jesus called Peter to follow him.
Lastly, a section we refer to as…
Characters
We’ve already met most of the characters, so here’s a refresher on who’s
who.
Simon
…will one day
also be known as Peter
He will be the main focus of the episode
We’ve seen that
he, like many in those days, was under a heavy tax debt to Rome
Eden
… is Simon
Peter’s wife
She has two
brothers – Jehoshaphat and Abrahim
Zebedee
Zebedee is an older fisherman
with a good size business. He owns
several boats and has several men working for him including his two sons James and John.
Matthew
…is a Jewish man who works
for Rome as a tax collector.
As tax collector,
he is sometimes referred to as a “publican” or “Publicanus”.
He is hated by …
everyone.
Quintus
This is the Roman
“praetor”, the chief government official in Capernaum.
Nicodemus
… is a Pharisee
known as the “teacher of teachers”.
In Episode One
he tried to cast out demons from Mary Magdalene, but failed.
He’s hanging
around in Capernaum trying to figure out how Mary’s miracle took place.
Shmuel
In English, his
name would be “Samuel”.
He’s a
Pharisee/rabbi in Capernaum who is looking to impress Nicodemus
Andrew
…is Simon
Peter’s brother, in business
with Simon as fishermen
Mary, James
& Thaddeus
… are the disciples who are already following Jesus. Don’t blink or you’ll
miss them.
There’s one character we haven’t really met yet …
John the
Baptist
Also referred to as “the Baptizer”
He’s a cousin
to Jesus, and yes, he knows exactly who and what Jesus is.
He’s known as
the “bug eater” or “Creepy John”
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. 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. We’ll start as the credits are rolling.
If you have any
questions or comments you’d like to share during our post-episode discussion, just text the
church office at 714-879-3314
We will do our best to address as many of the comments as we can.
As per our agreement
with The Chosen, our YouTube presentation of the episode will only be up for
the live premiere. After that, if you want to rewatch the episode, you will
need to go to the Chosen website or use their app.
One last thing …
Two weeks ago
in Episode 2, Peter was going out to the Sea of Galilee during the Sabbath
evening, and was joined by Roman soldiers.
Remember that Peter is trying to get out of his tax debt and is thinking
about betraying some of his fellow fishermen…
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 comments
Note: Quintus is talking about the
amazing food grown in Israel and mentions olives. But … they didn’t eat olives back then, they
only used them to make olive oil.
Historians estimate that in Jesus’ day, up to 200 boats would have been at
work fishing on the Galilee.
As you saw in the Tabgha video, it is not unusual for a school of fish to
swarm near the shore. We sometimes focus
only on the miracle of the fish showing up in Peter’s net, but there was also a
miracle that he fished all night without catching anything.
Sometimes God will use that “lack” of fish to get our attention and help us
turn to Him.
Fishing was often done at night
The sword – why talk about?
Zebedee’s response to Jesus calling James and John