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Join us this evening for our Lenten study on "The Chosen."
If joining us on Zoom, use the link below.
Questions for discussion this week:
Week 2
Last week, Episode 1 – It seemed a bit slow. We wondered where is Jesus, until he finally shows up in dramatic fashion to claim and redeem Mary Magdalene.
- Dallas Jenkins has said that this slow pace and focus on seemingly peripheral characters in relation to the story of Jesus was intentional. If we can understand the context in which Jesus ministered and the people whose lives were transformed, then we can better understand how Jesus can transform our lives. Do you agree?
- What kinds of questions / issues / challenges did Nicodemus, Mary Magdalene and Matthew the tax collector face?
- Can you identify with any of those challenges / issues / questions?
Episode 2 opens with a scene of Shabat hundreds of years before Jesus. Shabat is the weekly day of rest on the 7th day of the week, from sun-down Friday to Sun-down Saturday.
The mother in the opening scene says:
– We rest and we honor 3 things: family, our people, and God
- This was ordained in the Covenant which God gave to Moses
- We rest because he rested on the 7th day to refresh our souls
- Q. How do you rest to restore your soul?
Mary Magdalene – What has changed? Why does she no longer call herself Lillith? Why does the Pharisee react as he does when he sees Mary picking a flower in the marketplace?
When Matthew insists on reporting to Quintus his suspicions about Simon, what do the interactions tell you about Roman power and the relationship between Roman occupiers and the local Jews? What is the nature of Roman power? How does this contrast with the power of Jesus when, for example, he addresses and heals Mary Magdalene? Which power is greater?
What do you think of Matthew? What motivates him?
Simon has agreed to act as a spy, turning in to Quintus those of his fishing colleagues who fish on the Sabbath and do not pay taxes to Rome on their catch. Why has he done this? Do you agree with his rationale that there is a difference between local fisherman and the bigger merchant fishermen who are also Jews? What kind of rationale is this? What does Andrew think of this?
What is Nicodemus thinking as he stands before the Sanhedrin? More than once he has said that only God can cure the demons that plague Mary Magdalene. What is he thinking now?
As Gaius goes through the market two things happen. First, there is violence that has to be broken up by forcefully by a Roman soldier. He says, “There is only one language that keeps their peace. Learn to speak it.” What is that language? Why is it so important for Rome to stop civil violence?
Second, and for the second time, a poor blind / lame man sitting in the marketplace grabs a passerby and asks urgently “Are you the Messiah?” What does the Messiah have to do with conditions of the Jews living under Roman occupation?
Nicodemus speaks to Mary and is amazed that she is healed, and even more amazed that the man who did it seeks no credit. What’s going on in Nicodemus’ heart and mind? Mary says, “I don’t understand it myself. Here is what I can tell you. I was one way, and now I am completely different.” When you encountered Jesus and he claimed you as his – whenever that happened – how were you different? Maybe a better question is how are you becoming different as a result of knowing Jesus?
Why does Matthew have no place to go on Shabat? What is happening at Mary’s Shabat? How about Simon’s Shabat?
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