The Chosen Episode Guide: Season 1, Episode 6

S1, E6

Some gospel writers are more concerned about the chronology of events than others. So while the order of events in this episode may or may not be exact, this episode is a pretty good representation of the early ministry of Jesus.

Biblical- What We Find in Scripture

  • While the telling of it in the way here presented is not recorded in Scripture, Jesus did go to Egypt as a child because of Herod the Great’s slaughter of children in Bethlehem. Mt. 2:13-23

  • It is possible that the leper Jesus cleanses is the leper recorded in Mt. 8:1-4, Mk. 1:40-45, and Lk. 5:12-16 as the language the leper uses is very similar to that account, especially Matthew. However, the timing of this healing in The Chosen seems to be much earlier in Jesus’ ministry than that healing as the leper says that his sister was at the wedding in Cana. It is hard to know the exact timing of this as Matthew often does not follow a strict timeline. However, Luke, who does pay very close attention to the timeline, puts the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law before the healing of the leper. Lk. 4:38-42, 5:12-16.

  • James and John were the sons of a man named Zebedee.

  • The healing of Peter’s mother-in-law, though having very few details in Scripture, is an event recorded in Mt. 8:14-17, Mk. 1:29-34, and Lk. 4:38-41.

  • While not recorded in Scripture, the death of Joseph, Jesus’ father, seems to be indicated by Scripture in that he is largely absent, because Mary was working at the wedding in Cana, and because Jesus asked John to care for his mother at his death.

  • There was a paralytic lowered through a roof to be healed by Jesus. The Pharisees were upset by Jesus proclaiming the forgiveness of sins. Jesus’ words here seem to be taken out of Mt. 9. The approximate timing of this miracle seems to be correct. Mt. 9:1-8 Mk. 2:1-12, Lk. 5:17-26. The depiction of this is a helpful depiction.

  • Jesus’ calling of Matthew as a disciple did follow the events depicted in this episode. Mt. 9:9-13, Mk. 2:13-17, Lk. 5:27-32

Unbiblical- What Contradicts Scripture

  • It is unlikely that the disciples would have been so shocked by the healing of a leper at that time, even if it isn’t the same leper. Jesus had already turned water to wine, and Jesus had cast out demons and healed Peter’s mother-in-law before that miracle. I want to be gentle here as it seems like maybe the writers of the chosen are shooting to prioritize Matthew’s timeline at this point in the show.

Extra-biblical: What Is Made Up but Doesn’t Contradict Scripture

  • There is no record of any “Pawn Broker” in Scripture, therefore neither is there a record of one being visited by a leper.

  • Matthew’s ongoing relationship with Roman officials is not recorded in Scripture. As a tax collector, he would have had dealings with Romans regarding the publicani in his charge, but there is no biblical record of it.

  • All of Nicodemus’ dealings with the Jewish leaders about John the Baptist, as well as his interrogation of John in prison, is all premised since it is not recorded in Scripture.

  • Jesus’ encounter with a woman from Ethiopia or Egypt is not recorded in Scripture.

  • We also have no biblical record of a healed leper being a relative of anyone at the wedding in Cana. Jesus no doubt healed people we don’t know about, but the timing here seems off for it to be that first recorded healing of a leper. For that reason, I have put this in this category.

  • The name Salome occurs twice in the book of Mark, but the mother of James and John is never identified by this name.

  • Simon Peter’s being sent to Capernaum apart from the other disciples is also not recorded anywhere in Scripture.

  • There is no biblical record of Jesus visiting the house of Zebedee, the father of James and John. He is only mentioned in the Bible as the father of the two disciples that were his sons.

  • Nicodemus’s conversation with his disciple, Samuel (Samuel), is not found in Scripture.

  • There is no indication in Scripture that Nicodemus was present at the healing of the paralytic who was lowered through the roof.

Helpful: What We Might Be Helpful To the Watcher

  • Jesus’s ability to heal stands in great contrast to everything that was known. From us, disease spreads from person to person. We are capable of dealing with illness and death. But in great contrast to us, life spreads from Jesus to others as he touches them.

  • Peter says that they are not yet fighting the Romans. While Peter never says this in Scripture, it is clear that this was the expectation of the Jews from the Messiah.

  • The crowds that would gather, and even press against Jesus, in order to be healed by him were large. Visually we don’t see how large these crowds would have been, but they are depicted as being a mob in this episode.

  • While everything we have seen regarding Nicodemus is fictional to this point, it is reasonable to understand that he had heard of, and possibly even saw, Jesus. Our first encounter with him is in John 3 where he comes to Jesus at night. But Nicodemus must have had some knowledge of who Jesus was, what he was teaching, and that he was doing miracles in order to desire to come to him in the first place.

Dangerous: Things That Have Been Added That Might Be Dangerous to Accept as Fact

  • None

Anachronisms and errors— Things that are out of place regarding the time, etc.

  • As stated previously, it appears that Jesus’s healing of the leper followed the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law if we prioritize the timeline of Luke who was much more fastidious about getting his timing correct than the other gospelers.

  • Luke is the gospel writer who recorded Jesus teaching about those on whom the tower of Siloam fell. So in that sense, Jesus did teach that. However, that is recorded in Luke 13:4, which is clearly a much later time in Jesus’ ministry. Over one year after the other events so far in this episode.

  • Jesus’ teaching about prayer at the home of Zebedee and Salome is taken from the Sermon on the Mount. While it is possible that this was taught by Jesus at other times, it just isn’t recorded in Scripture. For that reason, this appears to be anachronistic.