Summary
A flashback to David’s court nearly 1000 years before Christ’s birth starts off this episode. Asaph and Jeduthun inform King David they are working on a new Psalm that they hope brings glory to God. Asaph then begins to read Psalm 77 which is a recalling of God’s mighty deeds. The low hum of the choir and beautiful lyrics clearly touch David.
The modern story starts right where we left off as Simon and John run to meet Jesus and the apostles in their multi-cultural stand-off of the Decapolis people in the countryside. Jesus tries to get everyone to sit down, so that they can talk through things. After a few quick lessons about the critical nature of faith, this proves difficult until a lame man approaches struggling to walk. He wants to put his faith to the test. Jesus rises and addresses the man and simply touches his shoulder. Instantly the man’s face changes, he looks down at his healed leg, and embraces Jesus! The entire crowd is shocked and sits down to listen having seen the miracle while the healed man runs away to return home after thanking Jesus.
Returning to Capernaum, Eden returns to her home to find Zebedee, Salome, and Mary waiting for her to talk about the obvious struggles in her marriage with Simon. Eden struggles to even respond as she holds her belly. Salome asks Zebedee to step out while the woman discuss Eden’s grief over the loss of her child. Mary is able to assure Eden that she needs to hear the words of God, cleanse herself, and properly grieve her child.
Returning to Jesus, we spend some going back and forth with the ethnic disputes and end up back at Andrew and Philip’s parable about the banquet. Jesus informs everyone that “God wants His house full and everyone who believes in Me is invited.” Despite the openness, the groups are still vitriolic towards one another, and it is not clear how Jesus will succeed in unifying these people. As Jesus attempts to begin the parable of the Sower of Seeds, the crowd has grown so large that the apostles have to spread out among the crowd to relay the teaching to everyone.
As the Jewish man from the Decapolis (Nashon) who is reporting Jesus to Rabbi Shmuel attempts to inform the Rabbi of Jesus’s teaching, he is chastised repeatedly until he is finally able to identify Jesus resulting in Shmuel immediately departing to go after Jesus. Nashon departs when he runs into Atticus who he also informs of Jesus’s whereabouts.
When we return to Jesus, he calls for repentance of all and praises those in attendance for their desire to hear His teaching. As they conclude for the night, Simon is unwilling to step up and help the people who have come to listen to Jesus and are growing hungry. The apostles are at a loss about what to do. Meanwhile, the Pharisees going to confront Jesus debate the importance of stopping His teachings versus the realities of keeping all of Jewish people adherent to the entire Law of Moses being an impossibility.
We return to Jesus’s teaching cut short by the immediate need to feed the people. Jesus is brought the 5 loaves and 2 fish and well we knows what happens next. Jesus prays, breaks the bread and commands that the crowds be fed. The apostles gather baskets and after distributing the little food into each, the food miraculously multiplies filling all twelve baskets allowing all to be fed. However, Simon is visibly angry at the miracle. Eden likewise is angry with her situation as she discusses with Rabbi Yussif how to she can move on. Rabbi Yussif begins to read to her the words of Psalm 77 which very much describes Eden’s circumstance.
After all are fed, Simon throws down his basket in disgust and walks away from Jesus. The crowd disperses and passes the Pharisees who begin collecting evidence to use against Jesus. Upon hearing that Jesus is calling Jew and Gentiles together, the Pharisees become enraged, but Shmuel is disturbed by the rage his fellow Jews have towards a beautiful message. Jesus commands his apostles to row back to Capernaum while he goes off to pray. Before departing, Simon tells John that he does not intend to stick around, and that he believes he was a mistake. Shmuel eventually finds Jesus upon seeing that he is troubled invites him to pray and talk after saying that He is losing time.
We end the episode with the miracle of Jesus walking on the water. Simon is furious, but nonetheless has faith to walk out on the water to his Rabbi. He is hurting and asking that Jesus care for him. The scene cuts back and forth to Eden undergoing her cleansing. Simon steps out and walks towards Jesus but sinks when he takes his eyes off of Jesus and becomes more concerned with the storm. Upon sinking he calls out for Jesus to save him. Eden and Simon are both submerged and are brought to the surface. Relief is visible upon Eden’s faith while Jesus holds Simon close showing great love for his chief apostle. Simon repeats, “Please, Don’t let me go.” And Eden joins in the request from afar. We return and conclude with Asaph’s recitation of Psalm 77.
Megan’s Insight
The waters saw you, God; the waters saw you and lashed about, even the deeps of the sea trembled. The clouds poured down their rains; the thunderheads rumbled; your arrows flashed back and forth. The thunder of your chariot wheels resounded; your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Through the sea was your way; your path, through the mighty waters, though your footsteps were unseen. -Psalm 77:17-20
Water plays a really important role in this episode. I understood the water for both Simon and Eden representing a sort of baptism but after watching the “Bible Roundtable” I discovered the meaning went so much deeper.
The pool in which Eden cleanses in at the end of the episode is called a mikvah. In order for the mikvah to be kosher, or proper, it needs to have a minimum of 40 se’ahs (an ancient unit of measurement equal to about 8.5 liters) of water. Let’s look at the number 40. In the Bible, 40 represents new life and transformation. It rained for 40 days and nights after Noah built the ark. God baptized the world with water for 40 days, giving it a new start. Moses had a great deal of “40” experiences. Jesus spent 40 days in the desert fasting before beginning His public ministry. There are 40 days between Christmas and the Presentation as well as between the Resurrection and the Ascension. Human mothers carry their babies in their womb for 40 weeks of gestation.
The Hebrew alphabet holds so much meaning. The numerical value of the letter מ (mem) is 40. This letter is strongly connected to water. Another word that starts and ends with the letter מ is the word מַיִם. This word is used in the creation story. The first mem represents the waters above and the second mem the waters below. This letter also commonly represents the womb. Finally, the root word from which mikvah is taken also means hope. So in this scene, Eden and Simon go into the water and experience a new hope. Wow!
Mitchell’s Insight
I briefly mentioned in my article this last Friday that one common factoid that is often overlooked is that Jesus was not the only human to perform the miracle of walking on water. The Gospel of Matthew is the only place where we read of Simon’s response to Jesus’s famous stroll on the sea, and it is a very short account. This allowed The Chosen to take a lot of liberty with this scene. Boy! Did they hit it out of the park or what?
We have spoken a few times here and Michael will expand below that Simon is not in a good place leading up to this miracle. Unlike my Friday supposal where we see Simon’s child-like trust in Jesus, The Chosen gives us a furious Simon. Simon makes very clear that he has faith in Jesus. The problem is Simon’s anger towards Him.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I picture the Jesus, the apostles, or saints being in a state of perfect holiness before they perform their signs and wonders. I mean that is how you feel before you begin levitating in prayer, right? (joke) This scene with Simon really shattered the rosy image I had about what a faithful follower of Jesus would look like. As the show has done so well, this scene depicts the whole range of what it means to be human and how God is not afraid to embrace the entirety of our humanity. From joy and thanksgiving to anger and heartbreak, God’s glory can still shine through each and every one of us if we surrender to His will.
Michael’s Insight
Dallas Jenkins has stated before every season of The Chosen that each season has its own theme and that this theme is highlighted by a line of dialogue. The theme for season 3 can be found in Jesus’s sermon, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me; for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”
The story of Simon and Eden is the heart of season 3. From the two of them attempting to start a family, to Eden’s miscarriage, to the tension that it causes between both between them and with Jesus. It is not hard to see why Simon is upset. As Rabbi Yusuf tells Eden, Simon is witnessing the changing of the world before his eyes being Jesus’s closest follower, and yet he feels as if his own pain and suffering are being ignored and forgotten. Eden too feels as if her loss and grief are being ignored by Jesus.
One of my favorite things about The Chosen is its ability to take important moments from scripture and inject the storylines from the show into those moments to add a level of emotional weight and personal connection that you would not get from reading your Bible. This is in no way saying that the show is superior to scripture, it is only to say that the Gospels are about Jesus, and therefore less concerned with the personal lives and struggles of His followers. The finale takes two of the more well known moments from the Gospels and gives them a very personal significance to Simon and Eden: the feeding of the five thousand and walking on the water.
When Simon tells Jesus to call him to walk out onto the water, Jesus repeats His message to the crowd the night before, “Then come to me, you weary and heavy laden. I will give you rest” This message is not just for Simon, but for Eden as well. And when Simon is distracted by the storm, he sinks. Much like how Simon and Eden fell deeper into despair and resentment the more that they continued to bottle up their pain instead of seeking comfort from Jesus. When Jesus pulls Simon up from the water, Simon clings to Jesus. Simon has spent days ignoring and avoiding Jesus out of resentment and anger, and now he holds tight to Him and pleads desperately to not let him go. Jesus was not ignoring Simon and Eden’s pain, He was allowing their struggle to strengthen their faith because He knows in the near future, they are going to suffer more than most and He wants their hearts to be ready. This is when Jesus reveals what He meant when He said that the success of the mission depended on Simon’s presence. The feeding of the five thousand was used as a lesson for Simon to further explain his prolonged suffering. “I let people go hungry, but I feed them.”
Take to Prayer
Read, reread, and read again Psalm 77. In times of difficulty, never forget God’s mighty deeds!
Bible Verses
Psalm 77
The Parable of the Sower
Matthew 13:1-9,18-23; Mark 4:1-20; Luke 8:4-8
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
Matthew 13:31-32; Mark 4:30-32; Luke 13:18-19
The Parable of the Banquet
Matthew 22:1-14; Luke 14:15-24
Jesus Thanks His Father
Matthew 11:25-30
The Parable of the Two Sons
Matthew 21:28-32
The Miracle of the Loaves and Fish
Matthew 14:13-21; Mark 6:30-44; Luke 9:10-17; John 6:1-15
The Parable of Hidden Treasure and Pearl
Matthew 13: 44-46
Psalm 13
Jesus and Simon Walking on Water
Matthew 14:22-33; Mark 6:45-52; John 6:16-21