richcathers.com

The Chosen Season 2 – Episode 7

Thursday Nights

August 18, 2022

“Reckoning”

Script

Welcome to our Thursday movie night.

We love the TV series called “The Chosen”.

I’d like to remind you that to watch the actual episodes, you are going to need to go to “thechosen.tv” to watch them. You can watch on a browser, or better yet, download the free app, and you can watch on your mobile device, and some Smart TVs now have an “Angel Studios” app as another way to watch all the episodes for free.

Again, let me repeat, due to new copyright changes, we are not going to be showing the actual episode here on our YouTube channel.

So you will need to watch the episode either on the website or one of the apps.

I’d like to encourage you to be sure to turn on “Closed Captions”. You’ll get a lot more out of the episode if you do.

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

You may want to jot down some of these verses so you can look them up later.

Matthew 6:5-15

This passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount, which has been an underlying thread through the last couple of episodes. We’ve heard Jesus make mention of a big “sermon” that He’s working on.

The passage here is only a small part of what will become the “sermon”, and has to do with prayer.

The passage starts with a warning about “fake” prayers. Jesus said,

(Matthew 6:5 NKJV) “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

You are going to see some of these “fake” prayers in our episode.

The other part of the passage contains what we have called “The Lord’s Prayer”.

I’ll let you look that part up on your own.

(Matthew 6:5–15 NKJV) —5 6 7 8 9 In this manner, therefore, pray: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 10 Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 11 Give us this day our daily bread. 12 And forgive us our debts, As we forgive our debtors. 13 And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one. 14 15

Luke 11:1-4

This is a parallel passage to that in Matthew 6, but the context is different.

This too contains part of what we call “the Lord’s Prayer”, but instead of it being part of a larger sermon, the prayer comes at the request of the disciples.

(Luke 11:1–4 NKJV) —1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name…

(Luke 11:1–4 NKJV) —1 2 Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. Your kingdom come. Your will be done On earth as it is in heaven. 3 Give us day by day our daily bread. 4 And forgive us our sins, And do not lead us into temptation, But deliver us from the evil one.”

On a side note – let me say that in my observations in the Gospels, I don’t believe that Jesus delivered “The Sermon on the Mount” only on one occasion. I believe that He often repeated various parts of the sermon in various places.

First century people didn’t have tape recorders, YouTube, or podcasts. They didn’t have the ability to “subscribe” to Jesus’ regular teachings.

Jesus would travel from city to city, from place to place, and share some of the same things over and over again.

Why bring this up? Because some people will look at Luke’s version of the “Sermon” and claim that the Bible contradicts itself because Luke records Jesus giving the sermon in a slightly different location. And the sermon is a little different.

I think it’s more plausible to think that Jesus gave the same messages many times, in many places, with variations each time to fit His audience.

For your own research, add Matthew 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount) with Luke 6 (The Sermon on the Plain) to your verses that you look up and study.

As we’ve said with the previous episodes, and even more in this episode, the producers 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 generally very consistent with the character of Jesus as well as the cultural background of how people lived in the first century.

In a way, this is not much different from when a pastor teaches you about the culture and language of the Bible. There is a lot to be learned when it comes to the background of what we read in scripture.

But … if your only ideas about Jesus come from watching “The Chosen”, you are cheating yourself.

As the producers of “The Chosen” will encourage you, make sure you are reading your Bible, and especially the gospels, for the best information.

It’s the Bible we build our lives on, not “The Chosen”.

Now, for our section we call …

Terms and Practices

Tension in Judea

Again, most of this episode is not found in the New Testament.

There is a lot of tension going on in Judea.

There will be Pharisees on the hunt for new evidence against Jesus.

There will be Romans trying to figure out who Jesus is.

I believe the producers of the Chosen are setting the stage for things that will unfold much later in Jesus’ ministry.

At the end of His life, Jesus will be put to death by a confluence of Jewish and Roman rulers.

The Jewish rulers, or Sanhedrin, had their own set of religious concerns. Jesus will stand trial before the Sanhedrin and be condemned.

Jesus’ eventual trial before the Sanhedrin didn’t come out of nowhere at the last week of Jesus’ life. Someone was collecting evidence and speaking against Jesus.

The Romans were the occupying power in the land of Judea.

They too had constant concerns about keeping the Jewish population pacified and in their place.

Jesus would stand trial before Roman authorities.

It’s hard to believe that before Jesus was condemned by Pilate and Herod Antipas, that this was the first they were aware of the rabbi from Nazareth.

We know that from the earliest miracles performed by Jesus, various authorities were aware of Him. This episode will remind us that Jesus’ trouble didn’t spring up the last week of His life.

Jotápata

Do you remember me mentioning this city last week? It’s got a name that sounds like it’s a planet in Star Wars.

This city that was only briefly mentioned last week will play much bigger into tonight’s episode.

The city is in the north, in the area of Galilee, about eight miles north of Nazareth.

Just a side note, the producers insert Jotápata into the narrative because of it’s history of rebellion against Rome, not because of it’s location. They will give you the impression it’s near the Sea of Galilee, when it’s actually 14 miles west of Galilee.

I mentioned last week that some thirty-five years after our episode, in AD 67 during the final Jewish rebellion, this will be the location of a great battle with Rome.

Vespasian would be leading the Roman armies and would lay siege to the city that was located on top of a hill.

Josephus records that 40,000 Jews were killed, and 1200 were taken into slavery.

What’s fascinating about Josephus’ account, is that he was the Jewish general in charge of fighting the Romans in Jotápata.

He would eventually escape the siege and surrender himself to the Romans.

You can read Josephus’ account for yourself. It’s in his book “The Wars of the Jews”, book 3, chapter 7. You can find it online for free. I found it fascinating.

But in Jesus’ day, Jotápata would be a hotbed of Jewish rebellion.

But … we have no record of Jesus or His disciples visiting Jotapata, nor is it mentioned in the New Testament.

Capernaum

This is the city along the Sea of Galilee that was a sort of “home base” to Jesus and His disciples.

The synagogue at Capernaum has been involved in the life of Jesus from the beginning.

SPQR

You are going to see various things with the initials “SPQR” on them.

These initials stand for the Latin phrase Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, which translated means “The Senate and People of Rome”.

Eema

…is the term we’ve learned means “mother”. Jesus will translate this term for a Roman as “mater mea”, which means “my mother”.

Arguing Disciples

You are going to see the disciples arguing. A lot. Did I tell mention that you’d hear the disciples having arguments?

Did the disciples argue? Yes they did.

Here’s what I want to challenge you to pay attention and take note of in this episode:

What are the disciples arguing about?

They are going to learn some valuable lessons about the things they are arguing over

(handling fear, misunderstanding, persecution, and the unknown.)

See if you can pick up on these lessons.

Lastly, a section we refer to as…

Characters

I’m hoping that by now you are quite familiar with Jesus and the disciples. Tonight I want to remind you of a few old friends …

Atticus

…is the Cohorte Urbanae, sort of a Roman spy. He has great authority and the local Roman magistrates are a bit afraid of him. He was tracking Simon the Zealot and is aware of how Jesus healed Simon’s brother Jesse. He watched Jesus take Simon’s sica knife and throw it in the water and how Simon is now following Jesus. He knows about Jesus casting out demons from the demoniac. He seems intrigued with Jesus.

By the way, wouldn’t it make sense that Rome would be interested in tracking a “zealot” like Simon Z?

Quintus

…is the Praetor of Capernaum. He’s like the Roman governor who oversees the city. We were quite acquainted with him from Season One.

He’s arrogant, sarcastic, and ruthless. He is disgusted with the Jews.

Gaius

…was a centurion in Season One charged with guarding Matthew when he was a tax collector. He was promoted to the rank of “Primi”. He cares about Matthew…a lot.

Shmuel & Yanni

…are the two Pharisees on the trail of Jesus, and collecting evidence of Jesus’ transgressions against Jewish tradition.

Yussif

…is another Pharisee from Capernaum. He is a disciple of Nicodemus and is a bit more sympathetic toward Jesus. Get to know his face.

Tamar

…is a woman from Ethiopia who first encountered Jesus on the road when He healed the leper in Season One, episode 6. She would later find Jesus in the city of Capernaum and with her four friends would bring the paralytic to Jesus and lower him through the roof so Jesus could heal her friend.

She loves telling people about Jesus.

To find out more about the Chosen…

…and watch tonight’s episode…

Open your browser and go to “thechosen.tv” on the web, or download the free app for your mobile device. If you are on a SmartTV, you may be able to add an “Angel Studios” app to watch the episode.

Be sure you are watching … Season Two, Episode 7 titled “Reckoning”

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. Even if you’ve already seen each episode, we are finding it’s so much more fun and edifying to watch with others.

After you’ve watched the episode, head back to the church YouTube channel. We will follow up each episode with a live discussion in our office studio, unpacking and exploring some of the themes and ideas that came up in the episode.

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.

So here we go. Go and watch the episode, and we’ll see you back here afterwards for our discussion …

… in about 40-45 minutes…

After Episode Discussion –

Did you see the “fake praying” happening in Jotabata?

What did you see?

Are there kinds of public prayer that seems to be “fake” to you?

Have you ever thought about the kinds of “tension” that was building in Judea and Galilee during Jesus’ ministry? (like with the Pharisees and Romans)

What were the Pharisees concerned about?

What were the Romans concerned about?

Andrew was worried about Tamar sharing about Jesus.

Why was he afraid of what she was sharing?

Is there ever a time to be careful about when we share about Jesus?

What kinds of subjects were the disciples arguing over? What were the underlying issues?

Why do you think Andrew is so angry in the episode?

(handling fear, misunderstanding, persecution, and the unknown.)

What kinds of things do Christians argue over today?

By the end of the episode, did you pick up on some lessons the disciples might have learned about how to handle these issues?

Trust – they needed to trust what Jesus had told them, and not be afraid of things they might conjure up out of fear.

Prayer – Be a real “student”, learn to spend time in prayer like Jesus did.

Homework for next week:

Read the Sermon on the Mount: Matthew 5-7

Episode Notes –

Episode 7 – “Reckoning”

Atticus meets Quintus

Atticus tells Quintus he’s been around quite awhile

They don’t seem to like each other too much

He wants to talk about Jesus of Nazareth

Opening sequence

Two sets of brothers throwing rocks

Contest to see who will go fishing

James and John win

Jesus is meeting with disciples planning the “sermon”

It’s the “why” of the sermon

The sermon is important because of each person who will be there

What made John’s sermons special? It was personal

Jesus wants to give the people something far more important than signs and wonders – He wants to give them “truth”. It will define their whole ministry.

6:20 Yanni and Shmuel at Capernaum

They go into a synagogue to talk about Jesus

They meet Yussif, a disciple of Nicodemus

Yussif wants to honor Shmuel

They want to find Tamar, the Ethiopian woman

She had been in Magdal talking about Jesus

8:55 Simon and Andrew fishing

Andrew is worried about Jesus’ safety, thinking about John having been arrested.

Simon is acting more mature, Jesus doesn’t need protection

9:56 Yanni and Shmuel go to Romans

They are stopped at the front desk

Romans say they will have Jesus in custody in the next day

The Pharisees want to know what Jesus is charged with.

The Romans want to know about the Zealots

SPQR – what does this stand for?

11:35 Atticus and Roman soldiers heading to get Jesus

Talks to “Primi” – (what’s the guy’s name?)

They are heading to Jotapata – it’s an “intense” place

Lots of Pharisees, Saduccees, preachers

Thinking they will avoid the city, Jesus is camped outside the city

Atticus talks about seeing Jesse healed, Simon Z, demoniac – wants to see how Jesus responds to being arrested.

14:14 Peter and Andrew fishing

Talk about making mistakes – Peter plucking grains of wheat, Mary leaving

Andrew is getting dramatic, frustrated, fearful

“Unexpected roads…”

Andrew is blaming everyone for the group’s problems

Does the Sanhedrin arrest and try people?

When Jesus goes away to desolate places … He “never comes back with anything” (Andrew)

They see the Romans marching on the seashore

17:17 The Romans arrive at Jesus’ gathering with disciples

Jesus tells them all to not be afraid but keep planning

Andrew and Peter start rowing to shore

Romans tell Jesus He is sought for questioning

Jesus asks if He can say goodbye to His eema (mater mea – “my mother”)

Jesus tells James and John to drop their weapons and step back 10 cubits

Jesus tells Gaius (primi) that Matthew is safe and doing well

Gaius asks Jesus what He has to offer someone like Matthew

20:45 Disciples back at camp

Everyone else is told about Jesus’ arrest, Simon and Andrew arrive

Andrew wants to “go north” and catch them in Jotabata, Andrew blames Mary M.

Philip goes with Andrew (lots of experience waiting outside jails)

22:00 In Jotabata – Shmuel arrives with Yanni

Pharisees praying with fervor, ignoring Shmuel

They ask about the Ethiopian woman (Tamar)

23:15 Disciples back at camp

Arguing with each other, Simon Z, Nathanael

Simon Z wants to fight

Mary (mother) rebukes the “boys”, Mary M apologizes for leaving

24:40 Jotabata – Philip and Andrew arrive

Philip tells Andrew not to worry about the Pharisees, “they’re here for God, or to preen …”

Pharisees are praying loudly in public, dovening

They find Tamar and paralytic preaching to a crowd, telling them about Jesus

Andrew wants her to stop talking, takes them away from the crowd

Tamar doesn’t understand why they need to be quite … Andrew says, “the Romans…”

27:15 Capernaum

Jesus arrives to see Quintus, escorted by Gaius

Quintus is glad to see Jesus, amused. (a little bit of foreshadowing of Pilate and Herod)

Atticus is in on the discussion

Quintus uses the phrase “eat the flesh and spit out the bones” (in reference to how people in the far east eat their fish)

Quintus then talks about what Jesus has done, sifts it into flesh and bones

Quintus says, “I don’t know what to make of You.” Jesus replies, “That’s going to be a lot of people’s problem with me”

Quintus warns Jesus, “no more bones …” Jesus says He can’t promise

Quintus laughs. Says “I like You”

Quintus mentions John the Baptist. “He knew what he was getting himself into” (Jesus says)

Jesus says “It was a privilege to speak with you today Quintus”

Quintus thinks Jesus will be a nice “diversion” for the people

33:00 Jotabata

Yanni and Shmuel find the crowd that Tamara was preaching to

They run into the rabbi from Wadi Kelt. They are told about healing on Shabbat, title “Son of Man”

Andrew and Tamara are arguing

Yussif shows up in disguise (Nicodemus’ disciple)

He warns Tamara that she is being sought by Shmuel

Tamara wants to follow Jesus

Philip shows up, says Jesus is not at the jail in Jotabata, asks who Yussif is

36:09 Back at disciple camp, at night

Simon Z is on guard

He sees Jesus walking in the dark

The romans just wanted to talk

Matthew is very happy

John asks what Jesus was doing walking around in the dark. “Praying, John”

Jesus says they are going to need to trust Him.

John mentions John B teaching disciples to pray

James says he wants to know how Jesus prays when He’s alone

Jesus says, “Now … now you’re behaving like true students, this is what I like to see, prayer is the first step in getting the mind and the heart right; it’s why you see me go to it so often.”

richcathers.com

“Reckoning”

Script

Welcome to our Thursday movie night.

We love the TV series called “The Chosen”.

Again, let me repeat, due to new copyright changes, we are not going to be showing the actual episode here on our YouTube channel.

So you will need to watch the episode either on the website or one of the apps.

I’d like to encourage you to be sure to turn on “Closed Captions”. You’ll get a lot more out of the episode if you do.

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

You may want to jot down some of these verses so you can look them up later.

Matthew 6:5-15

This passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount, which has been an underlying thread through the last couple of episodes. We’ve heard Jesus make mention of a big “sermon” that He’s working on.

The passage here is only a small part of what will become the “sermon”, and has to do with prayer.

The passage starts with a warning about “fake” prayers. Jesus said,

(Matthew 6:5 NKJV) “And when you pray, you shall not be like the hypocrites. For they love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the corners of the streets, that they may be seen by men. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward.

You are going to see some of these “fake” prayers in our episode.

The other part of the passage contains what we have called “The Lord’s Prayer”.

I’ll let you look that part up on your own.

Luke 11:1-4

This is a parallel passage to that in Matthew 6, but the context is different.

This too contains part of what we call “the Lord’s Prayer”, but instead of it being part of a larger sermon, the prayer comes at the request of the disciples.

(Luke 11:1–4 NKJV) —1 Now it came to pass, as He was praying in a certain place, when He ceased, that one of His disciples said to Him, “Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples.” 2 So He said to them, “When you pray, say: Our Father in heaven, Hallowed be Your name…

On a side note – let me say that in my observations in the Gospels, I don’t believe that Jesus delivered “The Sermon on the Mount” only on one occasion. I believe that He often repeated various parts of the sermon in various places.

First century people didn’t have tape recorders, YouTube, or podcasts. They didn’t have the ability to “subscribe” to Jesus’ regular teachings.

Jesus would travel from city to city, from place to place, and share some of the same things over and over again.

Why bring this up? Because some people will look at Luke’s version of the “Sermon” and claim that the Bible contradicts itself because Luke records Jesus giving the sermon in a slightly different location. And the sermon is a little different.

I think it’s more plausible to think that Jesus gave the same messages many times, in many places, with variations each time to fit His audience.

For your own research, add Matthew 5-7 (The Sermon on the Mount) with Luke 6 (The Sermon on the Plain) to your verses that you look up and study.

As we’ve said with the previous episodes, and even more in this episode, the producers 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 generally very consistent with the character of Jesus as well as the cultural background of how people lived in the first century.

In a way, this is not much different from when a pastor teaches you about the culture and language of the Bible. There is a lot to be learned when it comes to the background of what we read in scripture.

But … if your only ideas about Jesus come from watching “The Chosen”, you are cheating yourself.

As the producers of “The Chosen” will encourage you, make sure you are reading your Bible, and especially the gospels, for the best information.

It’s the Bible we build our lives on, not “The Chosen”.

Now, for our section we call …

Terms and Practices

Tension in Judea

Again, most of this episode is not found in the New Testament.

There is a lot of tension going on in Judea.

There will be Pharisees on the hunt for new evidence against Jesus.

There will be Romans trying to figure out who Jesus is.

I believe the producers of the Chosen are setting the stage for things that will unfold much later in Jesus’ ministry.

At the end of His life, Jesus will be put to death by a confluence of Jewish and Roman rulers.

The Jewish rulers, or Sanhedrin, had their own set of religious concerns. Jesus will stand trial before the Sanhedrin and be condemned.

Jesus’ eventual trial before the Sanhedrin didn’t come out of nowhere at the last week of Jesus’ life. Someone was collecting evidence and speaking against Jesus.

The Romans were the occupying power in the land of Judea.

They too had constant concerns about keeping the Jewish population pacified and in their place.

Jesus would stand trial before Roman authorities.

We know that from the earliest miracles performed by Jesus, various authorities were aware of Him. This episode will remind us that Jesus’ trouble didn’t spring up the last week of His life.

Jotápata

Do you remember me mentioning this city last week? It’s got a name that sounds like it’s a planet in Star Wars.

This city that was only briefly mentioned last week will play much bigger into tonight’s episode.

The city is in the north, in the area of Galilee, about eight miles north of Nazareth.

Just a side note, the producers insert Jotápata into the narrative because of it’s history of rebellion against Rome, not because of it’s location. They will give you the impression it’s near the Sea of Galilee, when it’s actually 14 miles west of Galilee.

I mentioned last week that some thirty-five years after our episode, in AD 67 during the final Jewish rebellion, this will be the location of a great battle with Rome.

Vespasian would be leading the Roman armies and would lay siege to the city that was located on top of a hill.

Josephus records that 40,000 Jews were killed, and 1200 were taken into slavery.

What’s fascinating about Josephus’ account, is that he was the Jewish general in charge of fighting the Romans in Jotápata.

He would eventually escape the siege and surrender himself to the Romans.

You can read Josephus’ account for yourself. It’s in his book “The Wars of the Jews”, book 3, chapter 7. You can find it online for free. I found it fascinating.

Josephus would go on to record the eventual destruction of Judea by Rome.

But in Jesus’ day, Jotápata would be a hotbed of Jewish rebellion.

But … we have no record of Jesus or His disciples visiting Jotapata, nor is it mentioned in the New Testament.

Capernaum

This is the city along the Sea of Galilee that was a sort of “home base” to Jesus and His disciples.

The synagogue at Capernaum has been involved in the life of Jesus from the beginning.

SPQR

You are going to see various things with the initials “SPQR” on them.

These initials stand for the Latin phrase Senātus Populusque Rōmānus, which translated means “The Senate and People of Rome”.

Eema

…is the term we’ve learned means “mother”. Jesus will translate this term for a Roman as “mater mea”, which means “my mother”.

Arguing Disciples

You are going to see the disciples arguing. A lot. Did I tell mention that you’d hear the disciples having arguments?

Did the disciples argue? Yes they did.

Here’s what I want to challenge you to pay attention and take note of in this episode:

What are the disciples arguing about?

They are going to learn some valuable lessons about the things they are arguing over

(handling fear, misunderstanding, persecution, and the unknown.)