Season 4 of The Chosen will be released in February of 2024 so it’s time to prepare with a recap of Season 3.
Summary
Season 3 opens with an action-packed episode. We begin with a confrontational flashback scene between Matthew and his parents. In this scene, we learn that Matthew has been assigned as a tax collector in his hometown of Capernaum. When his father falls behind on tax payments, Matthew offers to help but instead, Alphaeus instructs his wife to mourn the loss of their son. After we flash forward, we hear Jesus declare, “leave your gift there at the altar, go first and be reconciled with your brother, and then come and offer your gift.” (Matthew 5:24) to which Matthew has a profound reaction, recalling the scene from years prior. Jesus’s words throughout the Sermon on the Mount affect the crowd and the Apostles as if they were directed toward them individually.
After the opening credits the crowd departs, moved by the sermon they just received, and we see several, varied reactions. Jesus meets Judas and instructs him to “Follow me.” After thanking his followers and introducing Judas, Jesus tells them all to go to Capernaum, rest, and wait for him. Before departing however we meet Joanna who offers to support Jesus’s ministry, and she agrees to take Andrew to see John the Baptism in Herod’s prison.
Back in Capernaum, Rabbi Yussif meets the new synagogue administer Jairus, who has moved around often and reflects that he brings “order amidst chaos”. When Yussif tells Jairus that he is documenting the events he is witnessing associated with Jesus, Jairus tells him about “the cellar”, where documents can go to “cool off” rather than being sent regretfully. Yussif does return with the document later in the episode and gives it to Jairus, who notes that it is unsealed.
The disciples return to Capernaum, home for many, and the reality of life takes a hold of each of them uniquely. We see tension build between Simon and the apostles from out of town looking for a place to stay, the brothers Big James and John, as well as the three women, Mary Magdalene, Ramah, and Tamar.
Andrew and Joanna share a beautifully vulnerable scene with John the Baptist at his cell. After spending time with his former teacher, Andrew is indeed able to rest, trust, and reconcile with Mary Magdalene.
Judas returns to his home to pack up his belongings and to say goodbye to his sister Dvorah. The church teaches that Judas was a sincere follower of Jesus and this scene portrays the humanity of a biblical figure we don’t usually get to experience. However, the foreshadowing and the intuition of his sister is heartbreaking.
The episode ends after Andrew apologizes to Mary Magdalen and Matthew approaches the home of his parents, both seeking to live out the instruction from Jesus to reconcile with others before worshiping. The final word of the episode comes from Alphaeus, Matthew’s father. The door of their home opens and he says, “Son”.
Megan’s Insight
Homecoming is a powerful word. A homecoming can be a high school reunion, visiting parents for the holidays, or a soldier returning from a deployment. It can elicit feelings of joy and excitement or fear and anxiety, sometimes all of the above. Going back to a certain place isn’t always easy. We are reminded of trauma or wounds when a physical location resurfaces old memories. Sometimes when we return home, we return to our temptations, the things that keep us furthest from Jesus.
Matthew and the other disciples have been on an incredible retreat of sorts. Their lives have forever changed, they are no longer the people they were before they were called, and they are on a spiritual high from being in the presence of Christ. Then they return to Capernaum. They are faced with mistakes they have made in the past. Matthew shows up outside Mary Magdalene’s home. He is confused and unsure where to go since he gave his house to his parents. The scene is brief but powerful. Home for Matthew is uncomfortable. It is where he was a sinner, where he had betrayed his family. How does he return to that place after the transformation he has experienced?
Father Mike Schmitz has given beautiful analogies for this reality sometimes referred to as a “retreat high”. After an incredible encounter with Jesus or a spiritual experience, it’s common to feel as though our faith is “on fire”. Father Mike says that retreats are “oxygen rich” environments that stoke that flame. Or that a retreat is like a greenhouse where we can grow but we aren’t meant to live forever. Once the retreat, pilgrimage, or holy hour are complete, we return to “the wild”. In our everyday lives there are temptations, we stumble, and we must confront our past and seek reconciliation as Jesus commands. Returning can be heavy.
In Matthew 11:28 Jesus says, “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am meek and humble of heart; and you will find rest for yourselves. For my yoke is easy, and my burden light.” And when we do, when we can remember to give our burdens to the Lord and seek rest in Him, we will be greeted by the Father, just as Matthew was greeted by Alphaeus at the end of this episode.
Mitchell’s Insight
The relationship between Matthew and his father in the opening flashback on this season premiere is gut wrenching. The first two seasons of the show have made it abundantly clear that the Jewish people living under the oppression of the Romans was just the latest in a long history of tough situations in which the chosen people of God found themselves. Matthew’s father was being treated exactly how you would expect the treatment of a people viewed as less than people then we learn that it is at the command (in a way) of his own son. For a people that have only survived by clinging to their families and their God, it is impossible for words alone to capture that betrayal.
After a very minimal exchange with his son, Matthew’s father orders his wife to prepare herself and the house, so they can “sit shivah for 7 days.” The context gives an indication of this meaning, but for those that don’t know, I will elaborate. The Jewish people would sit shivah to mourn the loss of a loved one. Matthew’s dad has proclaimed his son dead. Now I have a three-and-a-half-year-old son who is developing as much of an attitude and temper as his father, and I have certainly become very angry with him. I am also under no delusions that the toughest parenting days are in my future, but I cannot fathom the act he would have to for me to declare him dead while he stood before me. Matthew is portrayed wonderfully in the first two seasons, and I think he is often viewed in a sympathetic light. But, this season opening plunges us further into the cultural context of Jesus’s time and exposes just how destructive Matthew’s choices have been to those who should love him the most.
Michael’s Insight
“In all that he said to those thousands of people, there was something just for you. For what you are going through. There always is.” If you attend mass every week or have read passages from scripture, then I know you have experienced this phenomenon that John is speaking of at some point in your life. There is something in your personal life that is causing you great distress and uncertainty then suddenly you hear one of Jesus’s teachings, and it seems as if Jesus is talking directly to you and is telling you exactly what you needed to hear in that moment to bring you peace.
The particular part of the sermon that stuck with Andrew is the same one that always affects me the most. I wouldn’t necessarily say that it is my favorite part of the Sermon on the Mount, as there are many astonishing teachings to be found in it. But it is this teaching that I constantly go back to as anxiety is something that I struggle with every day.
“Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, nor about your body, what you shall put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add one cubit to his span of life?” - Matthew 6:25-27
Especially in the modern world, the busyness and anxieties of daily life can cause us to forget about our spiritual lives. We must not be afraid; this world is a prison of sin and despair. But as John the Baptist tells Andrew, “This prison is nothing now that He is here!”
Take to Prayer
Read The Sermon on the Mount and take it to prayer. What is God speaking to you today? Sacred Scripture is God’s living Word. Let Him show you something new today.
Dive deeper into scripture and the series. There are so many incredible resources available. If you haven’t yet watched the Season 3 Aftershows or the Bible Roundtables on The Chosen app, we encourage you to do so. For another Catholic perspective, check out Catholic Commentary on The Chosen with Dr. Scott Hefelfinger and Dr. Michael Barber on FORMED.
Bible Verses
The Sermon on the Mount
Matthew 4:25-7:29