By Ben McEachenThursday 23 Mar 2023#FollowingTheChosenPodcastsReading Time: 3 minutes
Imagine Jesus himself told you to go and do… as he does…
No pressure.
Especially when Jesus is empowering you to heal the sick and cast out demons in his name.
Plus, he also is wanting you to proclaim a way of life that every single person does not live up to. Including, well, you. The sent ones.
That was the experience of Jesus’ closest disciples (see Luke 12).
This pivotal moment is brought to life in an amazing sequence at the heart of Two By Two, the second episode of The Chosen Season 3.
And what happens after that… wow. Talk about the pointy end of being healed in Jesus’ name. Or not.
In the latest episode of #FollowingThe Chosen, TV/film reviewers and Chosen fans Laura Bennett and Ben McEachen tuck into Two by Two.
Not sure what you think of this but Ben sort of skated over the first half of the episode.
Seeing it mainly as a “bridge” from what’s come before to where The Chosen is going, Ben did not want to spend too much time on what goes on before the obvious centrepiece of the episode.
Have you ever thought about that?
“There’s this amazing scene where Jesus sends out his disciples,” Ben said.
“I know it’s in the Bible and it’s quite a lengthy description, but have you ever sat back and thought, ‘What would that be like?’.”
Like Ben, Laura hadn’t stopped to ponder what Two by Two tries to bring to life.
Along with getting a better grip on the scale of the charge Jesus gave his disciples, Laura also enjoyed their puzzled and concerned reactions.
“I like what this episode does in dealing with some of the questions the disciples had,” Laura said.
Assisted by the “smooth and substantial” performance of Johnathan Roumie as Jesus, the 5-10 minutes on-screen of “go forth” is a potent snapshot of what might have gone down.
And then…
Where is my healing?
One of the disciples, Little James (Jordan Walker Ross), tentatively but determinedly approaches Jesus in the next scene.
Laura got emotional during this exchange which she boiled down to Little James asking Jesus: “How am I going to help people from their brokenness if I haven’t been healed from mine, in a way that I might expect?”
Walker Ross lives with a disability, and his character of Little James has the same limitation.
While this physical situation for James has been added to him by The Chosen Team, Laura and Ben were impressed with the depiction of how an “unhealed” disciple might confront Jesus.
“There is a way Jesus responds [on-screen] that I think speaks to the way we limit what healing looks like,” Laura said.
One thing expressed on-screen is “the fact it hasn’t happened for you now isn’t actually something that holds you back from sharing and healing and doing my work with other people”.
“In fact, it may amplify it.”
Laura pointed out that the impact of the Little James/Jesus conversation could significantly alter anyone’s misunderstanding that someone living with a disability is “less than”.
“There is so much in that scene that I think it is going to matter so much to so many people.”
Listen to #FollowingTheChosen in the player above or watch the video below.