Mini: The Chosen S2E1
265 | “Squish Your Legs Back”
Enjoy Season 2, Episode 1 of the Chosen
Welcome to the Winter Watch Party! We're filling the gap between seasons with a low-stress rewatch of The Chosen Season 2. Today, we're discussing Episode 1, "Thunder," where we encounter road rage in Samaria, cranky disciples, and the "Sons of Thunder" trying to call down fire from heaven. We introduce the "Golden Sandals Awards" to honor the best (and most unbiblical) moments, including the "Simon Peter Award" for putting your foot in your mouth. From Jesus' patience with prejudice to John's writing process, we explore how Christ redirects our zeal from destruction to love.
Takeaways
The Big Idea: Jesus meets our impatience and judgment not with rejection, but with a patience that transforms our "thunder" into living water.
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Welcome to the Bible Geeks Podcast
Ryan: All right, squish your legs back into the back seat. We've got Big James with us,
Bryan: hello, everyone, and welcome to the Bible Geeks podcast. I'm Bryan Schiele.
Ryan: I'm Ryan Joy,
Bryan: welcome to the Winter Watch Party, everyone.
Introducing the Winter Watch Party
Bryan: We're deciding this time to fill the gap between seasons with a low stress, high fun rewatch of The Chosen season two.
Ryan: and today we're starting with season two, episode one, called Thunder, and it's set in Samaria. It is, I think, a perfect name for this episode since you've got road rage as they're traveling and see these Samaritans, there's cranky disciples, there's James and John literally trying to call down fire from heaven, or trying to talk Jesus into calling down fire from
Bryan: fortunately, he doesn't listen. So, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the inaugural Golden Sandals Award. Today, we're going to be handing out some hardware to the best, the worst and the most unbiblical moments of the episodes.
Episode Review: Thunder
Bryan: Let's get in to the opening ceremonies. Alright, so this is weird, this is new, this is fun. Although it's kind of familiar, right? Because we've done season one of The Chosen, although in a very different way. We kind of like tackled these things as like full-blown episodes, really digging into all the details of each of these stories and trying to mine the gold from them.
And now we're just going to be like lightly treating these as little mini episodes. Not throwaways, hopefully this will be helpful for people, but I enjoy The Chosen and I know we're like so far behind the actual show here in season two. But I'm looking forward to spending this winter watch party going through season two together.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, this will be lighter, not giving complete summaries or anything, but hopefully, even if you haven't watched it or if you've watched it a long time ago, hopefully you'll get something from it and we'll keep them short and biblically connected, I guess.
Bryan: I'm hoping so. So
Ryan: Yeah,
Bryan: to really kick this thing off on a biblical vein, let's do a vibe check from this episode. Season two, episode one, the title was Thunder, which I really appreciate.
Ryan: yeah.
Bryan: how are you thinking that this stacks up? I would like for us to give a scale from one to five loaves and fishes, if you would.
Five being the best, of course, loaves and fishes. One being maybe not the best. What would you say this episode for you is on a scale of one to five loaves and fishes?
Ryan: Okay, boy,
I just want to riff on how God can multiply the number of fishes that I have here as the gospel works through it, but yeah, I don't know. I guess I'll compare it to the best episodes. I do half? I'd say three and a half loaves and fishes. Yeah, I'd say three and a half. I thought it was good. I thought, I really like the writing theme that start kicking it off,
Bryan: With John. Yeah.
Ryan: With John, yeah, with John, and I thought it was fitting because so many of the stories in this season, but even going back to the Samaritan woman right before and some of the others have been from the gospel of John,
so I thought that was appropriate, but I liked that, and then the ending when the thunder kicks in and it's like he's writing the words and he's using the thunder well, right?
Like this is the true thunder, is him speaking thoughtfully about Jesus.
Bryan: I think this is one of these table setting episodes where it kind of starts slow. It's an episode one of a season opener, right? You're really having to remind people where we are in this whole story. And I do appreciate that John, you know, writing through the gospels, like kind of that take in the beginning.
And then you get some conflict with, you know, James and John, who are really just some of my favorite people.
You know, you get it kind of like building to something in the end. So I'd say probably I'm going to give it a three. I'm going to give myself some runway later on in my loaves and fishes rating.
I like this one. I thought it was I thought it was good. It would not stack up maybe to my bias. I'm not giving half fishes. So,
Ryan: I thought it was funny how they found a way right at the beginning to do like a documentary setting as if, yeah, I mean, you know, I was like, how are we doing a documentary
Bryan: Suddenly it became The Office or something like that.
Ryan: yeah, yeah, it's a camera in the face, breaking the fourth wall kind of thing, but yeah, the fact that, we know Luke interviewed people, interviewed Mary and went around, you know, he says that in his introduction, so you know, why wouldn't John do that too?
It's an interesting take.
Bryan: All right.
Golden Sandals Award Ceremony
Bryan: So I'd like to go here through a little bit of an award ceremony. We're calling this the Golden Sandals Award. So think through this with me. I'd like to give some awards here in this episode. And, you know, talking about season two, episode one, this one really has I'm going to call this the Simon Peter Award.
And the criteria for this award is anyone who has put their foot in their mouth and just completely missed the point. I feel like this is like a recurring theme through the gospels, but also through these chosen episodes. Who do you think of here as like needing to receive the Simon Peter Award in this episode?
Like somebody who just shoves their foot in their mouth or completely misses the boat?
Ryan: I mean, it's gotta be the sons of thunder, right? Like they even realize that, well, it sounds bad when you say it that way, yes, that we wanted to destroy with divine fire, destroy the people that Jesus is trying to reach. So I think I gotta go with James and John here. Oh
Bryan: I agree with you. I think, yeah, they they just and Jesus calls them out for it. Right. See Luke chapter nine. This is really where this account takes place. And you could get to that point and really see these two figures as like missing the boat completely. And the fact that they're doing this, though, because someone rejects Jesus, I feel like on paper, shift yourself back into the Old Testament mindset.
If somebody rejects the king from another nation, you probably would have this same reaction. Right. I don't think James and John's reaction here is going to be out of place. If you were a king back in the old law somewhere. So I don't I don't necessarily fault them for it. But it does definitely highlight Jesus' new ministry.
So I don't know, like I feel bad maybe naming something the Simon Peter Award, but you get where I'm going with that, right?
Ryan: yeah, oh yeah, he earned that one. I mean, I'm just glad it's not called the Ryan Award 'cause it could be, but.
Bryan: He totally missed the boat. Yeah,
Ryan: Yeah, what else we got?
Bryan: right. So the second award here is the penalty flag. This one is basically some moment in the show where they kind of use like creative license and maybe took a little bit more liberty with the text than they should have. It like did this work or was it a foul?
I know like our our general conversations about the chosen up to this point have really kind of we've we've leaned into when the the writers and showrunners kind of use things that like are totally not even close to what the text says. So is there anything here in this episode that's like, whoa, hold on one second.
I'm not really sure that that actually works as a as an insertion into the story that wasn't there originally.
Ryan: [ You know, there's nothing that bothers me.
Bryan: OK,
Ryan: there's like a good Samaritan connection here, right, but not exactly. It's kind of a thing that plays out, I don't know,
Bryan: Yeah. That's actually where I was thinking, you know, how they kind of the show is making this robber that Jesus heals the actual victim from the Good Samaritan parable. And it kind of like it almost takes the Good Samaritan parable and makes it like more of an actual story rather than a, you know, a parable like it was intended to be.
It feels a little bit. Yeah. Like a stretch. I'm not really sure that it worked for me. I mean, it's cool to imagine that Jesus parables like did actually have real world backstories. I'm like, maybe they did, but maybe it's just a little bit too, like, convenient or slightly cheesy. Maybe for me in this in this moment, that's kind of what I was thinking of.
Ryan: The thing that I'm always, like, if it was possible that something was there, I'm okay with them filling in gaps, like, hey, maybe this happened this way, or,you know, if they change something that actually we know the facts and they specifically change it, or worse yet, if they ever have something coming out of Jesus' mouth that is false teaching, that will really, like, I'm gonna be upset and wanna talk about it.
But I haven't really experienced a lot of that with the series where I've felt like, you know, even just little fact changes, that there hasn't been a lot that it says it's this, but instead they have this. You know, it's mostly just tweaks of things we don't really know.
Bryan: Yeah. And I agree with that. I think, you know, I'm not overly offended by anything like that. I just like if you're trying to make connections and you're trying to weave in little details in the story, it's like sometimes sometimes it might just not land as well. Or it may not be like the best connection to make.
But anyway, that that's my second
award.
Ryan: with that,
Bryan: yeah.
And then the third and final award here is the Mic Drop Award. And so we're looking for anything here, some line, some scene. And there's almost always one, right? That just like gives you chills, sends like the little hairs standing up on the back of your head.
Like that's that kind of idea that we see in some so many of these episodes so far. Anything here in this episode, the first one that kind of like clicked for you is like, ah, yeah, there it is.
Ryan: I mentioned the thunder thing at the end is really cool. Like, I got, and then the hug with Melek, with the robber we were talking about is cool. You know, this is the episode, I think, where they're in the, like, the Samaritan synagogue, and Jesus is having, I think this is my answer, Jesus is having a conversation with John about his favorite books of the Bible, of the Old Testament, and I guess if I had to pick a line, it would be, like, I like them all, or something like that.
And John's like, yeah, you would, wouldn't you? Or something like that, I think that's my, that wasn't like a gave me chills or made me cry. I cry in every episode at some point. That wasn't that moment, but that was, like, the, maybe the biggest smile, like a favorite. What about you?
Bryan: Yeah. I really enjoyed like like we were talking about the John connection earlier. I was really digging how John like he finds his opening in the beginning, right? When he's there in that synagogue listening to the books being read. I'm like, oh, you can imagine that totally happening again, a little bit more creative license there.
But I was when I when I heard that part of the story is like, oh, you can imagine John like keying off of that and being like, that's how I want to open my letter. Right. Like that's that's how I'm going to start this thing.
Ryan: mm-hmm, yes. And, you know, that's what I love about this series and just other things that do this kind of thing, is it's not about what they decide, like, to put forward, it's that they get you thinking about the reality of John had a writing process. He had to think through this. He was trying to, and he decided, out of all the ways, to begin his account of Jesus, which, you know, what is the more, most, this is his magnum opus, right?
What is, this is his life's work. He chooses to start with, in the beginning and with
Bryan: All
Ryan: and when he thought back to him, he realized he was the one in the beginning who was with God, who was God, who made everything.
Bryan: right. So those are the the Golden Sandals Awards. Just some silly things to kind of talk through this episode. But I wanted to get here at the end of this and into a lightning round.
Road Trip Draft
Bryan: This is the road trip draft here. So as you think about watching through this episode, I want you to envision yourself, Ryan, as if you're driving in a minivan through Samaria.
All right. And you have one empty seat and you see someone on the side of the road and you're like, I'm going to pick that person up, throw him in the in the minivan with me and drive on and road trip with this person. Who from this episode would you want to road trip with?
Ryan: Yeah. You know, I think James is, Big James is really
Bryan: you're going to need extra room in the minivan, right? Like just so
Ryan: All right, Anas, squish your legs back into the back seat. We've got Big James with us, but he's interesting. You know, I think later on, maybe we find out more, maybe it's in this episode, that he, you know, he is a student of the scriptures.
He loves the Bible. He thinks a lot about the rules. just an interesting guy, and we don't have a lot of development of him. You know, we don't have any letters or books written by him. He'd be interesting to, yet he was part of that inner circle, right,
Bryan: Yeah.
Ryan: that, you know, with Peter and John, that experienced so much, so I would love to hear his interesting stories from that.
What about you? [laughing]
Bryan: Oh, boy. I don't I don't I was thinking about picking John, but, you know, you throw somebody in the vehicle who has that much fire. Maybe don't pick that person. I don't know.
Ryan: I would always want to throw Mary in in the minivan. I think she would have a lot of patience and thoughtfulness, but she'd also probably have snacks with her so Which Mary?
Bryan: Oh, see now which Mary would you throw in the car, Mr. Ryan?
Ryan: Oh, man, I would love to have either one of those ladies. Whenever you said it, I was thinking Mary, the mother of Jesus, I think is maybe the right answer, actually, because she's, but maybe my whole,
Bryan: in that way. But yeah,
Ryan: yeah. I mean, probably my favorite two characters so far in the whole series, though, are the other Mary and Matthew.
I mean, those two are so interesting.
Bryan: Magdalene, who was who I was thinking of. Yeah. And then. Yeah. But I'm still probably going to lean on John. I think John is like a real figure in this episode and I'd like to get him a little bit heated and excited and maybe talk talk through some stuff with him. But anyway, so that's our road trip draft.
Let's kind of wrap this thing up and think about this idea.
Lessons from Jesus and the Disciples
Bryan: Maybe the big idea from this episode. And I think, you know, as you start to think about this episode, we're really focused on patience and our judgment and our jumping to conclusions about people. Just the the sons of Thunder connection here is so palpable to me.
Like I, I have been James and John. I can just connect with them. I'm them. Like they make that much sense to me. And isn't it difficult sometimes to remain temperate or, you know, careful or thoughtful, even in very heated moments? And I just like let's talk for just a little bit about the way that Jesus interacts with them and how he how he deals with these two very heated disciples who are passionate, but passionate sort of to the wrong ends, I guess.
Ryan: He really is stern at moments, but then he pulls it back. Once he sort of has their attention, he can make jokes with them, and he can bring levity, and he can bring gentleness to them, but sometimes you gotta say, what are you thinking? This is what you wanna do, he really, I mean, he has a special role for them, right, and so
he is putting some special attention into preparing them, 'cause he can see that the same thunder that wants to destroy people can become, you know, John becomes the
apostle of love, right, he becomes the beloved disciple, and the one that speaks more fervently about the kind of compassion and care we wanna give to others, and so that is just a redirecting of the zeal that they had, and you know, we all need that.
We all have, the traits that are so defining for us can be darkness or light, and we have to take those things and let them be maximized by the Lord, and let the bad parts of it die, you know, and so that Christ can redeem the good, and we have to live with it. Like, those things are gonna keep showing up as we're growing through it, and it will always be a part of, you know, our challenge that we have to deal with, and know, and acknowledge, while trying to use these other things, and Jesus is the great teacher who helps us see and do that.
Bryan: how would they how would they have responded? if Jesus was like, yeah, let's do that. You know, let's call, you know, fire down from heaven on them. How would they have squared that alongside the sermon on the mount when he's talking about loving your enemies, praying for those who persecute you? I mean, just the entire it would be completely counter to his message about patience and love and giving people time.
And, you know, for the fact that he does this for them, like he's he's showing patience to James and John, but he's also, again, like primarily showing patience towards the Samaritans. So he's doing both like he's he's consistent. I think that's just what I appreciate in any story about Jesus when we see that he is consistent when he acts towards his people who are close to him.
But he also acts the same way to people who are far away from him. You know, these people like in Samaria who are rejecting him. He's patient with everyone. And that for me, that's just a helpful reminder that like I need to challenge myself to carry forward the way that I know I should be the person I know I should be.
Carry that into every interaction and not just like people who are close to me. And then I can treat people further away however I want.
Ryan: that's an interesting connection, too, to the way that there's another storyline about Rama's dad,
Bryan: Oh, right. Yeah,
Ryan: and he says to her or says to her dad, "I expect a lot "from the people who follow
me, but I don't ask a lot from those who don't." So he's patient with everyone, he's gentle with everyone, but he calls different people to different things based on their commitment, you know, and all of the blessings, and the gifts, and the rewards are in that land of great commitment, and him expecting a lot is so that he can bring a lot of blessing,
Bryan: Well, I just appreciate here again how Jesus is bringing a kingdom that breaks down barriers. I mean, he's dealing with real stuff here. This is like prejudice and national pride and all these kinds of things that like, boy, don't we have a problem with today. So, you know, just a relevant lesson no matter when you're seeing this.
And I appreciate the way that Jesus handles this situation and the cultural impacts it's going to have. And James and John need to learn a lesson. And apparently they do. So that's great.
Challenge and Conclusion
Bryan: So maybe a challenge for this episode. I was thinking about something we could do. And if you ever have like some of those thunder moments this week, you know, where you're really just leaning on that judgmental side or the impatient side or the angry judgment that you're ready to jump to.
Remember this episode. Remember when Jesus rebuked James and John and just drop, you know, drop the fire, let it go. Maybe embrace the water of healing. Maybe embrace the water of forgiveness instead.
Ryan: yeah, let the thunder of God's love roar through you instead, as we see with
Bryan: That's very poetic of you, Ryan.
Ryan: I know, you know, I just waxed a little bit eloquent there, you know, that's how we bring it here as we close an episode.
Bryan: how I like it. All right. So this has been the first episode of our Winter Watch Party here through season two of The Chosen. Next week, we're going to meet a new disciple who is sitting under a fig tree. We'll talk a lot about him on the next episode. Thanks, everyone, for tuning in to the Bible Geeks podcast.
You can find show notes for this episode in your podcast player or at biblegeeks.fm. A lot of resources on our website. Go check that out. And until next episode, everyone, may the Lord bless you and keep you.
Ryan: Shalom,