Mini: The Chosen S2E2
266 | “That’s Cheating”
Enjoy Season 2, Episode 2 of the Chosen
When was the last time you felt truly seen? In this episode of our Winter Watch Party, we explore Season 2, Episode 2 of The Chosen, where we meet Nathanael — a man feeling completely unseen until Jesus meets him with three simple words: "I saw you." We dive into the subplots, including Matthew and Mary’s struggle to catch up on their Torah learning and Peter’s jockeying for leadership. But the heart of this discussion is evangelism. We break down how Philip’s simple invitation — "Come and see" — might be the best model for sharing Jesus in the entire Bible. Plus, we play a game of "Three Degrees to Jesus" to trace who connected us to the Lord (spoiler: it usually starts with a grandma or a friend at a KFC table).
Takeaways
The Big Idea: We don't need a theology degree to share our faith — just a simple invitation to "Come and see."
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Introduction and Episode Overview
Ryan: John the Baptist declares, "Behold the Lamb of God,"
Bryan: that's cheating.
Ryan: then
Bryan: That's cheating.
Ryan: following him. Well, it's right here in the episode, Well, hello everyone and welcome to the Bible geeks podcast I'm Bryan Schiele
I'm Ryan Joy.
Bryan: and today on this episode. We are continuing our winter watch party for the chosen season 2 today We're meeting Nathanael a man who just feels completely Unseen and unsure about what God is doing in his life and then Jesus meets him with just three simple words I saw you.
Ryan: It's one of the quieter moments in the series, but the episode teaches us some heavy lessons on evangelism. The way that Philip invites Nathanael in this episode might be one of the best evangelism models in the entire Bible. It's simple, it's clear, and it's something we're gonna talk about here a little bit. Yeah.
Exploring Subplots: Philip, Matthew, and Peter
Ryan: Okay, Bryan, so we're gonna get deep into the Nathaniel storyline of this episode, which I think is kind of like the heart of the episode. But first I thought maybe we could touch on some of the other storylines. And I'm gonna give you three. You can pick a different one if you want, but I'm gonna give you three and you tell me which one of these or some other major storyline was your favorite and what you took from it.
Okay, so three different subplots. First is the introduction of Philip, the former disciple of John.
Bryan: right?
Ryan: Second is this quest of Matthew and Mary and Rama to catch up on their Torah learning, right, on their Bible stories and memorization. And then Peter taking Jesus aside. This is really just a scene, but it's a pretty important scene where he's like walking along the road and he's vying for leadership and pushing for more structure.
Kind of plays into this bigger storyline with Peter and James and John and this leadership battle that's happening. So which one stood out to you and why do you think it was included? But also what do you take from the storyline that you like the most here?
Deep Dive into Matthew, Mary, and Rama's Torah Learning
Bryan: Well, I'm gonna I'm gonna lean pretty heavily on Matthew and Rob like, you know that whole and Mary obviously How they're really struggling to connect and I think doesn't some of it play a part with like prayer as well like having these prayers and memorizing prayers but but like leaning real heavily on the on the Torah like going through and understanding like what they don't know and trying to trying to come and bring to mind some of these truths and passages from long ago and I I feel like for me that's one of the things that I Could really see going on in a real way like it's not really spoken of much but you have to imagine that each of these disciples in Jesus group are all like at very very different levels of Learning and instruction and and especially the women especially Mary and Rama and like, you know Whoever else may have been following Jesus in real life But you can imagine like not having as as much access to the teachings and to these Moments when maybe some of the men would have had access or they would have learned at an early age I just wonder how how much they were like on the side Trying to come up to speed on things and so I appreciate that moment in this episode Because I kind of connected that in a deeper way.
It's like everybody you meet has a very different level of Familiarity with scripture.
Ryan: I would pick that same one. I love that one too. Yeah, it just highlights, I mean, it makes you think a little bit about as people who are blessed to be in Sunday school all our lives, how much that has had an impact, how you know the story. And there are, I could start the 23rd Psalm or probably 100 other passages and you would, in the King James Version, be able to finish it, even though that's not what we read anymore.
It's just so deeply ingrained in us. And like, what a gift, but also, yeah, the way that things are flipping here, Jesus is already turning the tables. We see in the Gospel of Luke, Mary sitting at Jesus' feet, which people wouldn't normally allow a woman to be a disciple and yeah, you think about Matthew or somebody that maybe didn't get the kind of training that others did and how important, even though Jesus is reframing all of the scriptures, the raw materials he's working with are these Old Testament passages.
I mean, these are important. And so how much they are treasuring and hungry for the Word, I just, I love that so much. And you brought up prayer. I think where prayer comes in is when Matthew is talking to, I think Thaddeus, Thaddeus says, yeah, this is like how prayer was for me. And he's brought it up like three times in the series, I think, like I used to think prayer was a chore.
I think you've brought this up before. Like prayer can sometimes, at times, it starts to be repetitive, but then you start to discover, wait, no, this is a joy. I keep coming back to it. So prayer is a similar theme to this idea of being drawn to the Word, being drawn to the talking to the Lord.
Bryan: Yeah, well, I appreciate that I think I think that definitely makes me feel like I could be a part of the group because you know If this was a bunch of like elite dudes who like had spent their whole life Training and what like I may not really feel overly connected to the group and in a deeper way So I think that's why for this show to be about these chosen people for me to find myself in there Somewhere is uh, it's real solid.
I think they're doing a good job here. So
Philip and Nathaniel: A Model for Evangelism
Ryan: yeah, and you know, I will say the Philip storyline is also pretty interesting. He's a new favorite character too. he's the closest thing we have to Jesus because he's the only one that is actually like in on something. Like he already is getting it. He's like, you know, obviously he's not like Jesus, but he is in the way that a disciple becomes like their master.
He is already has been trained by John to start thinking about the world differently. And so the humor, the lightness, the compassion, the creativity he brings to life, the simplicity and humility, that's a really neat thing. And I wanted to mention that because we're introduced really to two characters in this chapter as the focus or in this episode, Philip and Nathaniel.
And I wanna focus on Nathaniel, but the two of course are closely connected.
Bible Fact Check: Nathaniel's Story
Ryan: And so before we go too far into Nathaniel's story, I thought we could do a little Bible fact check. And I'm gonna give you some facts here
Bryan: Oh
Ryan: or fictions and you name, is it fact or fiction? Is it something that the Bible tells us about or something that the creators of the show took some creative liberties
Bryan: This reminds me of the game. Did Yoda say it or is it in the Proverbs? So let's uh, yeah,
Ryan: I love that. I did that for one epic teen event one time, but okay. Yeah, so Nathaniel is from Cana in Galilee, fact or fiction?
Bryan: That would be fact
Ryan: Yes, yes, okay. And Jesus describes him as an Israelite, indeed in whom there is no deceit,
Bryan: That would be back.
Ryan: correct.
Bryan: Okay Your delay there made me worry.
Ryan: [laughing] Nathaniel's career was as an architect.
Bryan: I don't think that's fact but Okay a fiction.
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, we don't know what his job
Bryan: I mean that would be cool if he was cuz the the chosen really pulls that out But like I don't I don't think that's actually true
Ryan: and his public humiliation leads him to Jesus.
Bryan: Mmm, I'm gonna say that's also false But
Ryan: Yeah, that's also
Bryan: in he was sort of humiliated in the introduction to Jesus But
Ryan: yeah,
Bryan: exactly the same way that the show portrays it for sure
Ryan: Okay, speaking of that, Nathaniel initially doubts that anything good could come from
Bryan: Mmm. Well, yes that that one is true for sure.
Ryan: Yeah, okay, here's a bonus one. Do you know what a lot of people think Nathaniel's other name might be?
Bryan: I don't this is this is good
Ryan: okay,
Bryan: That's a good one for a bonus. Please. Tell me
Ryan: yeah. So this is not something that we're sure about, but it seems like Nathaniel might be Bartholomew. Bartholomew is, it's not a, yeah, it's not a first name. It means like son of Ptolemy or Tholomew, Bartholomew. [laughing] and Nathaniel only appears in John. He's here in John 1.
He's, I think he's John 14 and 21, but Bartholomew only appears in the synoptics. And so Nathaniel seems to be one of the 12, but he's not listed. Philip is always listed next to Bartholomew in the disciple lists. Philip is the one who brings Nathaniel to Jesus in John 1. And then, you know, there's early church tradition that connects the two.
So not something we'd be dogmatic about, but it seems like he might be that.
Bryan: That's a that's a solid connection because I think it does really explain like why is this person so Prominent in the Gospel of John and then just poof disappears, right? Like oh, no, he's still there He just has a different name now, which is not entirely uncommon in the the group of the twelve for sure,
Ryan: Yeah, side point, it's interesting. I was looking at the apostle lists, and I think it's in Matthew, one of the gospels, whenever the disciples are listed, there's these groups of two. And so a lot of them are obvious, you know, John and James, Peter and
Bryan: Andrew.
Ryan: but, you know, then you've got Philip
Bryan: Follow me,
Ryan: and Bartholomew.
And as you go through, you know, and appropriate to this, the way that the chosen has treated them, you've got Matthew and Thomas together, which they keep talking about how the two are similar. You know, they're numbers people, smart people, And then you've got Simon the Zealot with Judas Iscariot, this interesting connection. Yeah, seriously. So anyway, now I mentioned Philip and Nathaniel, and we're going to see some connection here. And I want to play another little game here.
Three Degrees to Jesus: Connecting to Christ
Ryan: I'm calling three degrees to Jesus. I don't know if you remember.
Bryan: like Kevin Bacon?
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, I sent you a text earlier. Like, I've got a six degrees of Kevin Bacon discussion, which is pretty dated,
But there was an old game, for those who don't know, people would kind of try to connect any celebrity to Kevin Bacon, and you could usually, within six degrees, get anybody to this actor named Kevin Bacon.
And so this is three degrees to Jesus, and the idea is that almost everyone who comes to Jesus in the Bible gets there because somebody connected them. There's somebody that's a bridge in between Jesus and this person. So let's start with a sort of obvious one connected to this episode. Who connected Nathaniel to Jesus?
Bryan: that would definitely be Philip since Philip is the one who yells to Nathaniel. I found him like yeah,
Ryan: [laughing] Yeah, absolutely.
Bryan: John one what like 43 and somewhere in that area.
Ryan: Yeah, and that's gonna be our scripture du jour here in a little bit. We're gonna go to that text in John 1. So yeah, we'll spend some time there. Who connected Andrew to Jesus?
Bryan: Oh Was that James? No,
Ryan: John 1. This is right before.
Bryan: right before it's uh, I'm not even looking at my Bible.
Ryan: It's a little bit different, you know. It's not like come and see, but John the Baptist declares, "Behold the Lamb of God,"
Bryan: that's cheating.
Ryan: then
Bryan: That's cheating.
Ryan: following him. Well, it's right here in the episode, too, that Andrew was a follower of John the Baptist, and then he had told Peter earlier. What? I just gave it away.
Who connected Peter to Jesus?
Bryan: Well, that would be Andrew then I would
Ryan: That would be Andrew, yeah. And that's, again, in John 1, that Andrew says, "Come and see. "We found the one." And getting beyond this here, but still connected, who connected Cornelius to Jesus?
Bryan: Ah, well that would have been Peter
Ryan: That would be Peter, yeah. So we just went from John the Baptist to Andrew, to Andrew to Peter, Peter to Cornelius.
Bryan: Yep,
Ryan: Who knows who all Cornelius converted,
Bryan: at least his household.
Ryan: yeah, at least. Okay, so here's the kicker, Bryan. Who connected you to Jesus?
Bryan: Ooh a good question. I'm gonna say deep cut like maybe a well connected but you know A little bit distant was my grandma Yeah,
Ryan: Ah,
Bryan: my grandma who was who was really sort of the I would call my grandma the spiritual leader of our little family group
Ryan: the matriarch.
Bryan: yeah She definitely, you know her taking on the mantle obviously after my grandpa passed way way before I was born but she was yeah doing the doing the work putting in the reps and Really was responsible for a lot of the good spiritual growth that happened in our family.
What about you? That's a good good question for you as well.
Ryan: No, I like that. I liked yours. I see a big Lois and Eunice and Timothy connection here.
Bryan: for sure.
Ryan: that's awesome. Yeah, I mean, obviously, it's kind of like all of these guys, these disciples, who taught Peter the Torah, right? Who taught Peter about the Messiah? Who introduced them to God? Well, all these people, all kinds of people, probably the rulers of the synagogue and their mom and dad and their, you know, all these different people, but Andrew actually brings them to Jesus.
Yeah, for me, the actual one who called me on it, you remember Jeff,
Bryan: Oh, yeah Yeah
Ryan: he, we were, I think I've told you the story before. He explained the gospel
Bryan: game of football
Ryan: no, well, yeah, we were playing catch. Before this, it was at a KFC table. He explained to me, like, way that sin separates us and the way that Christ saves us.
And then, yeah, we were playing catch with outside his apartment. And he asked me, yeah, do you want to be, become a Christian and follow Jesus? And I broke down crying. So, yeah, that's how I got ultimately connected to Jesus. And praise God that there are people in our life who say, do you want to come and follow Jesus?
Just like Philip said to Nathaniel, come and see. And there is no simpler evangelism that we can make. Like, I think there's such a lesson here. Maybe we could talk about this for a moment, like what he doesn't do. Philip shows up at Nathaniel's house. There's a broken Nathaniel. He doesn't pressure him.
He doesn't argue him. He doesn't give him
a 10-point sermon or over-explain. He says, I found him. And part of it is what's on his face, you know? Like Nathaniel is seeing something in the chosen episode in Philip. But the power of, look, you come and find out for yourself because I can only tell you so much. But once you start to see it for yourself, it has the power to change you.
Bryan: I Honestly, like I know we can't know the truth about some of these things But but when it comes to like some of these unspoken things in Scripture, I have to imagine like someone's Personality how they're holding themselves their excitement. Maybe the things that are unspoken or unsaid Have a play in this like I can imagine when Jesus calls Matthew the tax collector, right?
And he's like follow me and he just starts following him Like there's there must have been a reason why he decided to do that And and I have to imagine here, you know as these brothers are interacting with each other. There's like a oh, yeah I see like there's something here You don't get this excited until you're in this mode like you obviously I feel like that's probably a subtext Under a lot of this John chapter 1 that maybe we don't see there's there's an interest level that has to be there I think
Ryan: Yeah, yeah, there's, I mean, John the Baptist has prepared the way, but so have all of the prophets before. And so have, like, it's like
Bryan: they've been waiting for the Messiah for long enough, right? Yeah Yeah,
Ryan: you're halfway there. And then you just, it's like the feather that tips you over, you know? It's that power of just being ready.
Scripture Du Jour: John 1:45-51
Ryan: And so I thought we could go to John 1 and do a little scripture du jour, just read through a few parts of this and just talk about it for a minute. So John 1, starting in verse 45, this is where Philip brings Nathaniel to Jesus, and so do you wanna read verses 45 and 46 here?
Bryan: 45 Philip found Nathaniel and said to him we have found him of whom Moses in the law and also the prophets wrote Jesus of Nazareth the son of Joseph Nathaniel said to him did anything good come out of Nazareth? Philip said to him come and see like three of the most powerful words. They're just come and see it's like yeah Yeah, no, no ten-point sermon there.
Ryan: [laughing] Yeah, yeah, in the episode, he just, Nathaniel goes on this rant about how backwards people from Nazareth are. And, you know, I think that is an interesting insight into his character, you know? He just, he's speaking what he sees,
And why do you think Jesus seems to welcome honest questions instead of rebuke them?
Bryan: Well, I I mean it for me I think it just means people are thinking like they're you don't you don't work through and wrestle through making connections between something that someone says and something that really you become convicted by without really plowing headfirst into a lot of assumptions and Confusion and so I think Jesus sees these types of questions as completely valid in someone's process of working Through faith in him and trust in him like the you don't have faith or trust without without pushing up against Resistance in some way and so to see to see these men both like working through this He's he has to be working with it and nurturing it and understanding where it's coming from And of course he has the benefit of knowing someone's heart.
So it's you know, he knows that they're not just like completely Interested but you know, they they express interest and I think he's he's open to their Wrestling with the truth,
Ryan: that's the whole thing with decision is it has to be you that comes to it. And throughout, Jesus never is arm-twisting, right? And so, but he does give reason. He reaches out to the heart and, you know, takes most of the steps, as we like to say. But he leaves that opening, and so in verses 47 to 49, we see the next moment in this conversion story of Nathaniel, if the first part is the invitation of Philip and the honest doubt of Nathaniel, here we see the fig tree moment that is portrayed in the story.
So it says, "Jesus saw Nathaniel coming toward him "and said of him, 'Behold, an Israelite indeed, "'in whom there is no deceit.' "And Nathaniel said to him, 'How do you know me?' "Jesus answered, 'Poor Philip called you "'when you were under the fig tree. "'I saw you.' "And Nathaniel answered him, 'Rabbi, you are the Son of God.
"'You are the King of Israel.'" And so he comes to faith. This is the moment in the chosen episode where he says, "There it is, there
Bryan: is
Ryan: it is." [laughing] Yeah, I love this scene. And they take some license here. And we were talking in the last episode about when they take license and what bothers you. I don't mind any of this because it's possible.
I just wouldn't want anybody to start mistaking the two, like reading into it like it's now just baked in. We don't know that he was praying, "God, do you see me?" Or anything like that. But fig trees, sitting under the fig tree is a traditional symbol in the Jewish ancient world of being in prayer, being in a time of reflection.
And so that's certainly possible of what was happening. He was having a private moment. And something about Jesus seeing him there and knowing what was going on with him brings this instant belief that he is the Son of God. Why do you think Jesus' answer there, his words there hit Nathaniel so hard?
Bryan: Yeah, he is open to this idea that like Okay, maybe I'm wrong. I don't know that he feels like that at this moment But like he gets to this point very quickly where you know When when Jesus approaches him before Philip called you you were under the fig tree. I saw you it's like, uh, yeah I don't know.
I mean, I think I think he's so he's so ready to receive the truth He's so ready for this Messiah Who's been promised that as soon as Jesus just has to do one small thing for him to see the sign and that it? Nothing miraculous even so much insofar as like some great sign or display or anything It's just like you were sitting under a fig tree a little bit ago and he's like, oh, that's all I needed I mean he was you could call him the tiny domino He was just really the one that did not need a lot of pushing to to believe in
Ryan: Yeah, that's an interesting way to put it. Yeah, as much as he showed up with doubt there about the Nazareth thing, again, as he says in the episode, "I'm still stuck on the Nazareth of it all." [laughing] But he was ready. Because he was, as Jesus saw him, an Israelite in whom is no deceit. And he was honest and even honest with himself and his ability to see this is the one.
It does give you the impression there's something miraculous or amazing, something that touched Philip pretty deeply here somehow. And so it does make you think there was something happening in that fig tree. Or it wasn't just like, "Oh, I saw you when you were 100 yards away "and you were sitting under the fig tree."
Yeah, anybody could do that. That doesn't make him the Messiah. So it's interesting. But I mean, I think what really connects here is the "I saw you," right? He saw who he was, his character in whom there is no deceit. And he saw him in that personal private moment under the fig tree. Like there is something about Jesus that Philip hears him say this and he believes Jesus knows him.
And he says, "Rabbi, you're the son of God." But it's also like Jesus in the next passage, which we'll go to next, verses 50 to 51, if you wanna read that, he is saying there's a lot bigger things you're gonna see. This isn't the greatest miracle that's about to be revealed to you.
Bryan: he says in verse 50 Jesus answered him because I said to you I saw you under the fig tree Do you believe you will see greater things than these and he said to him truly truly I say to you you will see Heaven opened and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man very very a la Jacob here in this in this case But yeah, definitely Opening up to get his eyes will be opened up to a lot more than just hey I know where you were at one point
Ryan: Yeah, there's gonna be amazing things. And of course, this goes to the scene of Jacob's stairway or Jacob's ladder and the vision that Jacob had of angels coming down and going up and that holy place, the Bethel, the house of God, that he said, "This is like a holy place." Well, Jesus is the dwelling of God on earth and the angels are coming and ascending and descending.
Jesus is connecting heaven and earth and you're going to behold just how true that is. And so this is the conclusion to that story. Nathanael has come to Christ. Philip has brought him with a come and see.
Weekly Challenge and Conclusion
Ryan: And maybe as we start to wrap this thing up, we talked about how all of us, both of us, had a Philip in our lives, a come and see, and maybe many of those, maybe I would just encourage people for the weekly challenge to identify the Philip that God placed in your story and then also pray for one person that you can bring closer, at least one step closer to Jesus, that you can give a come and see, an invitation to the Lord to this week.
Bryan: Yeah, come and see is a real easy thing to say and we can you know We can really lean on Jesus to do the rest of the work here I mean that it was really all about Jesus all Philip had to do is kind of make the introduction
say the thing to say it to those people around you who just need to hear come and see
Ryan: Come and see. The bride and the spirit say come and let all who are thirsty come, as one of the Bible's closing lines tells us.
Bryan: There we go. Alright everyone Thanks so much for tuning into the Bible geeks podcast on our next episode. We'll talk about season 2 episode 3 Yes, we are in fact just going in order. So this winter watch party has been great so far We've appreciated everyone for tuning in and until the next episode everyone.
May the Lord bless you and keep you
Ryan: Shalom