By Ben McEachenFriday 28 Apr 2023#FollowingTheChosenPodcastsReading Time: 2 minutes
What if you were entrusted with the most important message ever?
Instructed to share it, you did as instructed.
At least, you thought you did.
Building up to the finale of The Chosen Season 3, episode seven Ears to Hear erupts with disciples Andrew (Noah James) and Philip (Yoshi Barrigas) in a flap.
As Ben McEachen and Laura Bennett discuss in this episode of #FollowingTheChosen podcast, Jesus’ followers are returning from a messy, volatile situation.
One that, seemingly, they created. In the name – and important message – of Jesus.
What did we do?
“It’s like they are coming back to tell their boss, or the headmaster, that ‘I think we did it wrong what you sent us out to do,” Ben said about the opening sequence in Ears to Hear.
“Things are blowing up in the Decapolis [region].”
Ben and Laura enjoyed this thread of Ears to Hear, the disciples depicted as concerned and startled by the divided response to the preaching they have done.
Sent out by Jesus to proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, they are shocked by the polarisation it prompts.
Did they do something wrong?
“For the disciples and even for us as we think about the teachings of Jesus, and you want to share them – or apply them to life – in the context of people that understand what Jesus taught, it can be much easier [for them] to get it,” Laura said.
But as Ears to Hear is anchored in, the disciples do not totally grasp that there will be wildly different reactions to the same words of Jesus.
The only way to sort it out
Another Chosen episode where Jesus shows up later on, Ears to Hear includes Mary Magdalene (Elizabeth Tabish) helping Matthew (Paras Patel) to understand faith and forgiveness.
This contrast with the swelling unrest in the Decapolis region offers a solid reflection point for whether any Chosen viewer has ears to hear the good news of Jesus.
Amid Ben and Laura’s wild speculation about Johnathan Roumie’s filming schedule – and Ben’s fixation with a certain “bromance” – they land on the final moments of Jesus showing up and sorting things out.
“It’s so true of the character of Jesus to just grounding things and brings things back down,” Laura said.
“He clears things up, brings people back on point and he has this settling, peace-giving attribute.”
Ahead of the season finale, Ears to Hear shrewdly concludes on the unifying presence of Jesus, surrounded by confusion, division and desperation to clarify the good news.
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