Summer
Movie Nights
August
5, 2021
Script
Welcome to our
Thursday movie night.
We love the TV
series called “The Chosen”.
If you’ve missed
any of the previous episodes, go to “thechosen.tv” tomorrow and watch them. Or better yet, download the free app, and you’ll even be able to
cast it to your smart TV.
For those of you watching this introduction after Thursday’s premiere, you
will need to go to the web or the app to watch this episode.
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…
There are two main passages that this episode will flesh out for us.
Healing the
Leper (Mark 1:40-44)
Jesus meets a man with leprosy who begs Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean”.
You’ll find out if Jesus was willing or not.
(Mark 1:40–44 NKJV) —40
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling
down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Then
Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him,
and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the
leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43
And He strictly warned him and sent him away at
once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your
way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things
which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
Healing the
paralytic (Luke 5:17-26)
This is that famous story where four friends bring a paralyzed man to Jesus,
but they can’t reach Him because the crowd is too large. What will they do?
There’s more at stake in this
miracle than just a man being healed.
Pay attention to what Jesus says
before healing the man, and how this miracle will prove the truth of what Jesus
has said.
(Luke 5:17–26 NKJV) —17
Now it happened on a certain day, as He was
teaching, that there were Pharisees and teachers of the law sitting by, who had
come out of every town of Galilee, Judea, and Jerusalem. And the power of the
Lord was present to heal them. 18
Then behold, men brought on a bed a man who was
paralyzed, whom they sought to bring in and lay before Him. 19 And when
they could not find how they might bring him in, because of the crowd, they
went up on the housetop and let him down with his bed through the tiling
into the midst before Jesus. 20
When He saw their faith, He said to him, “Man, your
sins are forgiven you.” 21
And the scribes and the Pharisees began to reason,
saying, “Who is this who speaks blasphemies? Who can forgive sins but God
alone?” 22 But when Jesus perceived their thoughts, He answered and said to
them, “Why are you reasoning in your hearts? 23 Which is easier, to say, ‘Your sins are
forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Rise up and walk’? 24 But that you may know that the Son of Man
has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the man who was paralyzed, “I
say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 25 Immediately
he rose up before them, took up what he had been lying on, and departed to his
own house, glorifying God. 26 And they were all amazed, and they glorified God and were filled
with fear, saying, “We have seen strange things today!”
Jesus
teaches
You will hear Jesus teaching many things this week to the adult crowd that
is gathering, and these teachings are scattered throughout the gospels. We won’t point out the specific
passages. Our focus in this section is
on the storyline.
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”, “Abba” means “father”
Capernaum
This is becoming Jesus’ “home base”.
It’s a small city
on the north side of the Sea of Galilee.
Most of the episode takes place in Capernaum.
Leprosy
You will meet a man who has made his living as a stonemason, but now he has
leprosy.
In ancient
times, leprosy was considered an incurable disease.
A leprous person was covered with sores, lumps, and scale-like wounds. It lead to a complete
degeneration of the skin and the twisting of bones.
Fingers, toes, ears, and noses
sometimes rotted away, or might be chewed off by rats as the person slept since
they would lose sensation in these limbs.
For a stonemason, this was the end of his career.
If you thought
you might be leprous, you would show yourself to a priest to diagnose if you
had contracted the disease.
One declared
leprous, you were considered “unclean”, and had to quarantine yourself from all
society.
Lepers were quarantined in tents,
caves, or designated colonies.
If a leper walked down a road, they had to shout “unclean, unclean” to warn
those they might encounter lest someone touch them or come too close.
The odd thing
is that the Bible gives a strange prescription for someone who is cured from
this incurable disease.
They were to go
to a priest, and if the priest declared them to be healed, a strange ritual
took place. You can read about this
ritual in Leviticus 14.
The ritual involved water, birds, cedar wood, scarlet, and hyssop. If you follow the ritual, it almost seems to paint a picture of
death and resurrection. But I’ll leave
that for you to study up on.
Jerusalem Temple
Choir
Referred to in
our episode as “The 288”
One of the
things David did for his son Solomon was to organize those who would serve in
the Temple and present worship to God.
There were 24
groups of musicians, who rotated during the year for their service in the
Temple.
You can read
about this in 1Chronicles 25. There’s
even a specific mention of the “288”.
(1 Chronicles 25:7 NKJV) So the number of them,
with their brethren who were instructed in the songs of the Lord, all who were skillful, was
two hundred and eighty-eight.
Egyptian
You’re going to find out that Jesus speaks Egyptian.
See if you can find out how He would know this language.
The Massacre
of the Innocents
This is a name
of a specific, important historical event.
The story dates back to Jesus’ birth, when Herod
heard about the birth of the Messiah, and had all the babies killed near
Bethlehem.
Matthew records
the event in Mat. 2:16-18
, and even gives us a prophecy in
the book of Jeremiah that is fulfilled by this horrible tragedy (Jer. 31:15)
Pharisees
and Sadducees
These were the two dominant “sects” or “denominations” within Judaism at
the time (there were others)
You’ll hear
reference to how the Sadducees only believed that the first five books of Moses
were Scripture.
The Pharisees
believed that the entire Old Testament was Scripture.
You’ll be watching our favorite Pharisees wrestling with the events
unfolding around Jesus.
Nicodemus will
once again be speaking to the Av Beit Din from episode two.
This man is a high ranking member of the
Sanhedrin.
You will hear Nicodemus and his disciple Shmuel arguing Scripture.
Some of the Pharisees will be challenged
to adjust their “theology” based on what John the Baptist and Jesus as both
saying and doing.
And as of the beginning of this episode, Nicodemus still does not know the
name of the man who delivered Mary Magdalene from her demons.
Lastly, a section we refer to as…
Characters
There are a few new characters, and many familiar ones as well.
Simon
Peter’s family
… his wife
Eden, brother
Andrew
and his
mother-in-law who has been very sick.
James
the younger was one of the earlier disciples
The Romans
Quintus the
Praetor
He’s the boss
Pay attention to what happens when
Matthew gives advice to Quintus
Gaius the
centurion
He’s Matthew’s
bodyguard (Matthew is NOT Roman)
Zebedee
and his wife Salome
He runs a fishing business with his sons James and John who have started following
Jesus.
Salome is known for her excellent
cooking
You’ll see Zebedee doing some chores on the roof of their house. Pay attention to how the roof is built.
Barnaby
& Shula
These were the friends of Mary Magdalene from her Sabbath dinner.
–Barnaby is lame & Shula is
blind.
Abigail
and her friend Joshua the brave.
We met these two children from Capernaum back in episode 3.
Mara and
Abiel
are the parents of the little girl Abigail
Other
disciples
I’m hoping by now you are getting to know the names of all the other
disciples…
Mary Magdalene
will be a little busy this episode.
Extra credit
homework:
Watch to see
who the first people are that are nice to Matthew
See how many
times Jesus doesn’t respond to situations the way that His disciples expect Him
to.
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 …
We took a break
from some of the story lines last week as Jesus and His disciples attended a
wedding in Cana.
Two weeks ago we watched how Jesus solved Peter’s tax debt with
the miracle of a huge catch of fish.
Zebedee said he would sell the fish and pay off Simon’s debt.
We will eventually pick up that storyline with Matthew and Gaius guarding
the money that Peter has used to pay off his debt.
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…
After Discussion/comments
How does Jesus treat someone “unclean”?
Have you ever identified with the “leper” and felt “unclean”?
Mark’s account of the leper records that Jesus was “moved with compassion”
(splangchnidzomai).
What did Jesus’ compassion move Him to do?
(Mark 1:40–44 NKJV) —40
Now a leper came to Him, imploring Him, kneeling
down to Him and saying to Him, “If You are willing, You can make me clean.” 41 Then
Jesus, moved with compassion, stretched out His hand and touched him,
and said to him, “I am willing; be cleansed.” 42 As soon as He had spoken, immediately the
leprosy left him, and he was cleansed. 43
And He strictly warned him and sent him away at
once, 44 and said to him, “See that you say nothing to anyone; but go your
way, show yourself to the priest, and offer for your cleansing those things
which Moses commanded, as a testimony to them.”
By whose authority?
(This might be a good discussion with input from Greg Bird)
You will see this theme woven throughout the Gospels and especially in this
episode.
The Pharisees placed a lot of emphasis on where a teacher might be getting
their ideas.
Most Pharisee teachers were quote other teachers.
The most important rabbis didn’t others, but would say something like, “You
have heard it said … but I say to you.”
“Your sins are forgiven” – Jesus starts on the inside
Who were the first people to be nice to Matthew?
(the children)
How did Jesus learn Egyptian?
(His early years were in Egypt as Joseph hid his family from Herod)
Note: In Luke’s record of
Jesus healing the paralytic, his next paragraph records that Jesus calls
Matthew (Levi).
In what ways does Jesus’ actions go against what the disciples are thinking
or trying to do?
Healing the leper (John wants to attack with a sword)
Helping the paralytic (Peter thinks there’s no room to get him to Jesus)
Homework
There are two passages I’d like you to read before next week:
Moses and the fiery serpent
(Numbers 21:4–9
NKJV) —4 Then they journeyed from Mount Hor by the Way of the Red Sea, to go
around the land of Edom; and the soul of the people became very discouraged on
the way. 5 And the people spoke against God and against Moses: “Why have you
brought us up out of Egypt to die in the wilderness? For there is no
food and no water, and our soul loathes this worthless bread.” 6 So the Lord sent
fiery serpents among the people, and they bit the people; and many of the
people of Israel died. 7 Therefore the people came to Moses,
and said, “We have sinned, for we have spoken against the Lord and against you; pray to the Lord that He take away the serpents
from us.” So Moses prayed for the people. 8 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a fiery serpent,
and set it on a pole; and it shall be that everyone who is bitten, when he
looks at it, shall live.” 9 So Moses made a bronze serpent, and
put it on a pole; and so it was, if a serpent had bitten anyone, when he looked
at the bronze serpent, he lived.
Jesus meeting Nicodemus at night
(John 3:1–21 NKJV)
—1 There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus, a ruler of the
Jews. 2 This man came to Jesus by night and said to Him, “Rabbi, we know
that You are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that You do
unless God is with him.” 3 Jesus answered and said to him,
“Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God.”
4 Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can
he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” 5 Jesus
answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the
Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. 6 That which
is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 7 Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the
sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.” 9 Nicodemus
answered and said to Him, “How can these things be?” 10 Jesus
answered and said to him, “Are you the teacher of Israel, and do not know these
things? 11 Most assuredly, I say to you, We speak
what We know and testify what We have seen, and you do not receive Our witness.
12 If I have told you earthly things and you do not believe, how will
you believe if I tell you heavenly things? 13 No one has
ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of
Man who is in heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted
up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15 that whoever believes in Him should
not perish but have eternal life. 16 For God so loved the world that He
gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but
have everlasting life. 17 For God did not send His Son into
the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. 18 “He who
believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned
already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of
God. 19 And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the
world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
20 For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to
the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. 21 But he who
does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that
they have been done in God.”