I Am He
The Chosen (Season One, Episode Eight)
Over the last few weeks, I have written some thoughts and reflection questions for each episode of the TV show, The Chosen. Thank you for joining me for this spiritual journey, and I pray that you remain open to hear what God might be wanting to communicate to you through this show! :)
I SEE YOU
In the very beginning of this episode, we see Jacob digging a well with his sons on the top of a mountain. He encounters a local man, who informs Jacob that he will never strike water because the underground river runs around the mountain and not up it. However, Jacob is confident that God will provide for them, as He always has. The local man inquires about this “God,” as he comes from a different faith tradition that believes in many gods. After some short dialogue between the two of them explaining who God is and after seeing water begin to bubble up in the spot of their new well, Jacob says, “We didn’t choose Him. He chose us.” This scene, and even this single line, is the perfect set up for this episode, especially because of how Jesus interacts with both Eden and the Samaritan woman (named Photina in the show).
Jesus shows up to Eden and Simon’s home, just as Eden gets upset about her mother’s declining health (a beautiful image of how Jesus is closest to us in our moments of suffering or sorrow). Simon and Andrew appear and explain that they are going into town to sell their fishing nets in order to leave some money behind for their family. Jesus tells Simon to spend some time with his mother-in-law instead. Andrew immediately puts down his net and goes, and Simon, after a brief moment of internal resistance, finally does so as well. This super short exchange made me question whether I act more like Andrew, obeying God’s requests right away, or more like Simon, resisting and doubting a little and thinking that I know what is the best thing to do. Jesus explains to Eden that, by asking Simon to make sacrifices to leave everything behind to follow him, his sacrifices are also hers since they are married. He said that he cannot make everything easier for her, to which she says that it isn’t their people’s way. Jesus agrees that it hasn’t been easy, nor will it be, and then he says, “But I see you,” and lovingly gazes upon Eden. He recognizes how difficult this must be for her, even if she is excited for her husband’s new adventure, and then hints at the fact that he wants to heal her mother for her. He says, “Normal Simon is difficult enough. Do you think I want to travel with a worried Simon?” Jesus and Eden walk into the room, only to hear from Simon that his mother-in-law’s health is failing fast, and Jesus tells them that there is no need to fetch a doctor. He walks over to her and tells the demons to “leave her.” She immediately sits up, now healed, and asks a smiling and sitting Jesus, “Who are you?” After Andrew and Simon briefly explain who he is, without even knowing anything about him, she welcomes him to her son-in-law’s home and hops up to start preparing drinks and snacks for everyone. Eden thanks Jesus for healing her mother and then thanks Simon for following Jesus and for bringing him into their home.
It’s at the same well that Jacob built in the beginning of this episode where Photina gets water from everyday and where Jesus encounters her (John 4:5-6). We get a taste of her complicated history throughout this entire episode. She comes to the well during the hottest part of the day because there are no other women there at that time and because they have rejected her because of her immoral behavior. Her legally bound husband won’t divorce her because it isn’t culturally acceptable for a woman to divorce her husband, especially a woman who has cheated on him with several other men and is currently living with someone else. She stops to smell and buy an orange in the marketplace, but the merchant says they don’t sell to “her kind” and won’t even look at her. And yet, Jesus, fully aware that he would encounter Photina, goes out of his way to stop at the well and wait for her to arrive. At first, Photina doesn’t seem to notice Jesus, or at least if she does, she ignores his presence. When Jesus asks her for a drink of water, she doesn’t understand why a Jew is asking a Samaritan, let alone a woman, for a drink. He apologizes, but only because he “should have said please.” Jesus makes small talk with the woman, trying to give her the space to be honest with him, even though he knows fully well about her past and present. Jesus says that he could give her living water and that whoever drinks of this water will never be thirsty again (John 4:13-14). Photina still doesn’t believe or trust him, but then Jesus begins to reveal details about her life, such as the fact that she’s had many husbands and that the man she is currently with isn’t her husband. Photina, uncertain about how this stranger could know all of these details, gets defensive, but Jesus says that he did not come there to condemn her. Jesus tells her that he is the Messiah and then begins to list very specific details about her life that no one else could possibly know except her, such the names of the men she’s been with, how her first husband hurt her and caused her to question her faith, how her second husband smelled liked oranges and that she feels guilty for leaving him every time she passes by the oranges in the market, etc. You can tell that she feels so ashamed as he vocalizes the messy details about her past. However, when she finds out that Jesus is revealing is true identity as the Messiah for the first time to her specifically and hears that he doesn’t reject her like everyone else does, she finally looks up to see him lovingly gazing at her, and she is overwhelmed with emotion. She is so happy and claims that she is going to tell everyone about him! I loved this scene so much, especially the ending because this is exactly what we are called to do. We are called to share Jesus’ true identity with everyone, especially once we’ve had an encounter with him. We should be so overwhelmed with joy and ready to share about him with anyone and everyone!
YOU CAME SO CLOSE
Nicodemus is still struggling emotionally. He is clearly thinking back to his encounter with Jesus on the rooftop, and especially Jesus’ offer for Nicodemus to “follow him.” However, Nicodemus’ supportive wife reminds him of how great their life is between his religious status, their wealth, their family, etc. He also continues to sense the tension between the religious leaders, especially as they have strong objections to who Jesus claims to be. As a moving crew comes to help Nicodemus and his wife pack up their things, Nicodemus sneaks out with a small bag of gold. We see Jesus gathering with his crew before heading out for their journey. He asks if everyone is there, and Mary Magdalene says yes. Jesus asks a second time if there is anyone else, fully knowing the Nicodemus is hiding just around the corner. After Nicodemus doesn’t come out to join them and after Simon finds the bag of gold that Nicodemus left for them, Jesus looks in his direction and disappointingly and yet lovingly utters, “You came so close.”
These four little words hit me SO incredibly hard when I first watched this show, and I continue to dwell on them often through my time in prayer. “You came so close, Becca.” I found myself imagining what it would be like to hear Jesus utter these words to me and even remembering the times that he might have said them to me in the past. Watching this scene, I found my heart breaking just like Nicodemus’ did. It is so easy to say, “Oh yes, I would 100% give up everything to follow Jesus,” especially after watching this show, but this is way easier said than done. How often are we called to give up certain things to “follow him”? How often are we distracted by temporary, satisfactory things in our world, those which will never truly satisfy us? The deepest desire of my heart is to be like Matthew, willing to drop everything as soon as Jesus asks me to follow him, but I often find that I am sometimes like Nicodemus, attached to certain things that I find difficult to give up. Sometimes these things can be physical, such as money, electronics, or (in my case) my Broadway Playbills, but other times they are intangible things, such as fear, anxiety, old wounds, or old habits. Now, I’m not saying that these are all bad, and I’m definitely not saying that you should go physically sell every single thing you own right now (although some may actually choose to willingly give up everything if they feel a call to enter religious life). But in reality, we’re not going to be able to bring any of our possessions with us when we die, so we shouldn’t be as physically attached to our things as we sometimes tend to be. God can and should be our most prized possession, worth giving up everything for, because He is the only one who can truly fulfill us.
EPISODE EIGHT REFLECTION QUESTIONS:
~When is a time that you think Jesus would have said to you, “I see you”? When you are going through something difficult, do you tend to feel like Jesus is close or far away? Why do you think that is?
~Do you find it easy or difficult to tell people about ways that you’ve encountered Jesus or about your relationship with him? Why? What are some practical ways that you can share about him to others?
~If God asked you (right now) to give everything up to follow him, what would be the most difficult thing to leave behind? What do you find yourself attached to (whether physically or emotionally)?
~Thinking back on your life, would you have ever heard Jesus say to you, “You came so close”? What was he asking you to do or give up in that moment? How does it feel to hear that response from him?
To watch all eight episodes of season one for free, download The Chosen app on Apple or Android mobile devices.
If you end up loving the show and want to “pay it forward” to help fund season two, you can either make a donation in the app and/or purchase the season one DVD set for yourself or friends/family.
