BEMA Episode Link: 224: The Chosen S1E5 — “The Wedding Gift”
Episode Length: 1:01:12
Published Date: Thu, 17 Jun 2021 01:00:00 -0700
Session 6
About this episode:

Marty Solomon and Brent Billings continue a review of The Chosen with a discussion on the fifth episode.

(No) Discussion Video for BEMA 224

The Chosen

The Chosen (TV Series) — Wikipedia

The Chosen (2017 TV Series) — IMDb

Transcript for BEMA 224

Notes

*Note: The following notes are handwritten by me, Adam, and I reserve the right to be wrong.

BEMA Episode 224: The Chosen S1E5 - “The Wedding Gift”

Title & Source Summary

Episode: 224 - The Chosen S1E5 “The Wedding Gift” Hosts: Marty Solomon and Brent Billings Focus: Review and cultural analysis of The Chosen Season 1, Episode 5, which depicts Jesus’s first miracle at the Wedding at Cana (John 2:1-11)

This episode provides an in-depth examination of The Chosen’s portrayal of Jesus’s first public miracle - turning water into wine at a wedding in Cana. The hosts analyze the historical and cultural context surrounding first-century Jewish weddings, explore the developing relationships between Jesus and his early disciples, and discuss the theological implications of how the show depicts Jesus’s relationship with Mary, his decision to perform the miracle, and the beginning of his public ministry.

Key Takeaways

  • The wedding at Cana represents a pivotal moment where Jesus transitions from private life to public ministry, setting in motion events that will ultimately lead to his death
  • First-century Jewish weddings were elaborate community events centered on hospitality, where running out of wine would bring tremendous shame to the host family
  • The show effectively portrays the tension between Jesus’s divine nature and his humanity, particularly in his relationship with his mother Mary
  • Jesus’s early disciples came from diverse, non-traditional backgrounds - fishermen, stone cutters, former demoniac - representing a “ragamuffin” Kingdom that operates outside established religious systems
  • The miracle of turning water into wine demonstrates Jesus’s concern for both spiritual matters and the practical, relational concerns of everyday people
  • The relationship between Mary and Jesus shows the unique power of a mother’s influence while avoiding excessive veneration, balancing Catholic and Protestant perspectives
  • The show successfully depicts the cultural diversity of first-century Galilee with varied racial representation among the wedding guests
  • Thomas’s character represents the intellectual skeptic who requires evidence and explanation, foreshadowing his later nickname “Doubting Thomas”

Main Concepts & Theories

Historical Dating and Timeline

The episode opens with Jesus at age 12 in Jerusalem (AD 8), then jumps to the wedding at Cana in AD 26. The hosts discuss the historical discrepancy in dating systems - the calendar year zero does not actually correspond to Jesus’s birth, but is off by approximately 4-6 years. This error originated from a 6th-century monk who miscalculated when establishing the AD/BC dating system, which was later corrected by scholars in the 1600s but could not be retroactively changed.

The Cultural Context of Jewish Weddings

First-century Jewish weddings were multi-day community celebrations that demonstrated a family’s honor and commitment to hospitality. The episode accurately depicts several cultural elements:

  • Hospitality as Sacred Duty: When Mary asks if Jesus can bring people to the wedding, Dinah (the groom’s mother) doesn’t hesitate, immediately welcoming additional guests despite limited resources. This reflects the cultural priority of hospitality over practical concerns
  • Economic Strain: The groom’s family (relatively poor) is trying to match the social status of the bride’s family (wealthy), creating tension and putting them in debt to provide an adequate celebration
  • Community Shame: Running out of wine mid-celebration would bring lasting dishonor to the host family, potentially damaging the new marriage relationship and the family’s standing in the community
  • The Chuppah: The wedding canopy shown in the episode, though crooked at first, becomes beautiful when covered with flowers - representing the couple’s new household and God’s covering over their marriage
Jesus’s Relationship with Mary

The episode explores the complex dynamic between Jesus and his mother through two parallel scenes - one when Jesus is 12 years old in Jerusalem, and the pivotal moment at the wedding when Mary asks him to help. Several theological themes emerge:

  • Mary’s Knowledge: The show balances the question of how much Mary knew about Jesus’s identity and mission, portraying her with both confidence in who he is and uncertainty about how it will unfold
  • The Power of a Mother’s Request: When Mary says “Please” to Jesus, looking almost directly at the camera, it demonstrates the unique relationship and influence a mother has with her son
  • Textual Interaction: Marty suggests that the exchange between Jesus and Mary (“My time has not yet come” and Mary’s response) represents a sophisticated Torah dialogue, with both citing biblical precedents from Genesis (Jacob/Leah/Rachel and Joseph narratives)
  • Setting Events in Motion: Mary’s request initiates Jesus’s public ministry, unknowingly beginning the sequence of events that will lead to his crucifixion - a tragic irony captured when she mouths “thank you” to Jesus at the end of the celebration
The Calling of the Disciples

The episode provides backstories for several disciples that illuminate their diverse origins:

  • Simon Peter: A fisherman who experienced a miraculous catch, called not through traditional rabbinical selection but by Jesus’s direct invitation. His character is portrayed as eager, impulsive, and ready to push forward with the ministry immediately
  • Andrew: Simon’s brother, more cautious and uncertain about his role, worried about practical matters like bringing lunch
  • James and John (sons of Zebedee): Part of the fishing business, now following Jesus
  • James the Just: Called this because of his “sense of justice,” foreshadowing his later designation in Acts
  • Thaddeus: A stone cutter who met Jesus on a construction job, where Jesus was building accessibility ramps so those who couldn’t walk well could access restroom facilities
  • Mary Magdalene: Former demoniac, now a devoted follower with deep knowledge of what Jesus has done for her
  • Thomas: A caterer/merchant introduced at the wedding, characterized by his need for explanation and logical understanding

The hosts emphasize that this represents a “rogue outfit” - none of these were traditional Torah students, which would have been the normal path to becoming a rabbi’s disciple. This ragamuffin group reflects the Kingdom of God operating outside established religious systems.

The Miracle and Its Significance

The transformation of water into wine carries multiple layers of meaning:

  • Practical Compassion: Jesus cares about the shame that would fall on Asher’s family, demonstrating that the Kingdom of God addresses real human concerns, not just spiritual abstractions
  • Extravagant Grace: The banquet master notes that the wine Jesus provides is not just adequate but the best he’s ever tasted - God’s provision exceeds mere necessity
  • Purification Transformed: The water in the purification jars (used for ceremonial washing) becomes wine for celebration, suggesting transformation of religious ritual into joyful relationship
  • Point of No Return: Thaddeus’s monologue about stone cutting - that once you begin striking stone, you set in motion events that cannot be reversed - parallels Jesus’s decision to perform the miracle. This is his first public sign, and there is no going back from this moment
Nicodemus and John the Baptist

The episode includes scenes of Nicodemus visiting John the Baptist in prison, establishing important character development:

  • Worldview Collision: The two men represent different approaches to Jewish faith - Nicodemus as establishment Pharisee, John as prophetic wilderness voice - yet they engage in honest, direct dialogue
  • Essene Language: John uses terminology about “sons of light” and “sons of darkness,” language associated with the Essene community, suggesting his possible connections to that movement
  • Personal Seeking: Nicodemus clarifies he’s not there on official business but is personally trying to understand what God is doing, showing his genuine spiritual hunger despite his religious position
  • Confrontation and Respect: John directly criticizes Nicodemus’s expensive clothing while still engaging him as someone worth teaching - a model of honest dialogue across differences
Theological Themes

Divine and Human Nature: The show wrestles with how Jesus operates as both fully God and fully man, particularly in the young Jesus scene where Joseph doesn’t quite know how to discipline him, and Jesus’s own statements about his “time not yet coming.”

The Philippians 2 Reality: Brent references Philippians 2 regarding Jesus setting aside his divine prerogatives to live as a man, which informs their discussion about capitalizing pronouns referring to Jesus in the subtitles.

Kingdom Values: The ragamuffin nature of Jesus’s early followers challenges contemporary church systems that emphasize formal training, proper credentials, and institutional pathways to ministry.

Examples & Applications

Wedding Hospitality in Practice

The episode shows Dinah and Rafi (the groom’s parents) going into debt to provide adequate hospitality for their son’s wedding. Despite being relatively poor compared to the bride’s family, they spare no expense on the chuppah decorations (which would take hours of labor) and provisions for guests. When the bride’s father Abner initially seems critical but then admits, “I was wrong” about his harsh judgments, it demonstrates the power of grace and humility to overcome class tensions.

Mary’s Confidence

When Abner runs out of wine and calls for the banquet master, Mary rushes over to assure them “the wine is coming” before she has any evidence that Jesus has actually performed the miracle. This demonstrates her complete confidence in her son, rooted in her unique knowledge of who he is and what he’s capable of doing.

Thomas and the Need for Explanation

Thomas represents the analytical personality who needs to understand how things work. When Jesus tells the servants to fill the purification jars with water, Thomas keeps asking questions while Ramah simply starts working. Jesus tells Thomas, “This is how it is sometimes. You can’t always explain everything.” This foreshadows Thomas’s later demand to see physical evidence of Jesus’s resurrection, earning him the label “Doubting Thomas.” The episode ends with Ramah telling him, “Maybe for once in your life, don’t think” - suggesting that faith sometimes requires moving beyond intellectual analysis.

Jesus Playing with Children

During the wedding celebration, Jesus is shown playing games with children, calling back to earlier episodes. This demonstrates his accessibility, joy, and comfort with those whom society often overlooked. It also contrasts with the typical image of a formal, distant rabbi.

Accessibility Ministry

Thaddeus explains that on his construction job with Jesus, Jesus was building ramps so people who couldn’t walk well could access the restroom facilities. When Simon asks why Jesus didn’t just heal those people, it opens discussion about Jesus’s concern for practical, long-term solutions alongside miraculous interventions. Not everyone will be healed, but everyone should have access and dignity.

The Stone Cutter’s Insight

Thaddeus’s profession as a stone cutter provides a powerful metaphor: “With stone, once you begin working with it, you can’t stop. Once you’ve started, the process is in motion and there’s no going back. You can’t put the stone back together.” This is overlaid with images of Jesus transforming the water into wine, emphasizing that this miracle represents a point of no return in Jesus’s ministry.

Potential Areas for Further Exploration

  1. The Text Behind the Wedding at Cana - Study John 2:1-11 in depth, examining the original Greek and exploring what the text reveals versus what the episode dramatizes. What are the theological implications of Jesus’s statement “My hour has not yet come”?

  2. Old Testament Wedding Imagery - Research how weddings function throughout the Hebrew Bible as metaphors for God’s relationship with Israel, particularly in the prophetic literature (Hosea, Isaiah, Ezekiel). How does this inform our understanding of Jesus attending and blessing a wedding with his first miracle?

  3. The Magnificat and Mary’s Textual Knowledge - Study Luke 1:46-55 (Mary’s song) to understand the depth of her biblical literacy. How does this inform her interactions with Jesus and her understanding of his mission?

  4. The Genesis Parallels - Explore the textual connections Marty mentions between the wedding at Cana dialogue and the Genesis narratives about Jacob, Leah, Rachel, and Joseph. How would a first-century Jewish audience have heard these echoes?

  5. Purification Rituals and the Jars - Research the role of ritual purification in Second Temple Judaism. What is the significance of Jesus using purification water for the miracle? How might this relate to his broader message about the transformation of religious practice?

  6. Disciples and Talmidim - Investigate the traditional rabbi-disciple relationship in first-century Judaism. How does Jesus’s approach differ from normal patterns? What would it have meant for fishermen and tradesmen to be called as disciples?

  7. Wine in Jewish Culture and Scripture - Examine the symbolic significance of wine throughout the biblical narrative, from Noah’s vineyard to the wine of blessing at Sabbath meals to the prophetic imagery of Messianic abundance (Amos 9:13-14, Joel 3:18).

  8. Nicodemus’s Journey - Trace Nicodemus’s character arc from this initial encounter with John the Baptist through his later nighttime conversation with Jesus (John 3), his defense of Jesus before the Sanhedrin (John 7:50-51), and his role in Jesus’s burial (John 19:39-40).

  9. Essene Connections - Research the Essene community and their distinctive language about light and darkness, particularly as found in the Dead Sea Scrolls. What connections might John the Baptist have had to this group?

  10. Hospitality in the Ancient Near East - Study the cultural mandate of hospitality in ancient Mediterranean cultures. How does this inform our reading of biblical narratives and our own practice of Christian hospitality?

  11. The Fourth Wall Breaks - Analyze the artistic choice to have Mary look almost directly at the camera during pivotal moments. What effect does this create for the viewer? How does it invite us into the story?

  12. Racial and Cultural Diversity in First-Century Galilee - Research the actual demographic makeup of Galilee and the broader Roman Empire. How does The Chosen’s representation compare to historical reality?

Comprehension Questions

  1. What cultural and economic factors made running out of wine at a wedding such a serious problem in first-century Jewish culture, and how does this deepen our understanding of why Mary brought this concern to Jesus?

  2. How does the episode portray the tension between Jesus’s divine nature and his humanity, particularly in his relationship with Joseph and Mary? What does this suggest about how Jesus understood his own identity and mission?

  3. The hosts describe Jesus’s group of disciples as a “ragamuffin outfit” that operates outside traditional rabbinical systems. What does this reveal about the nature of the Kingdom of God, and how might this challenge contemporary church structures?

  4. What is the significance of Jesus’s first miracle involving the transformation of purification water into abundant, excellent wine? Consider both the practical and symbolic dimensions.

  5. Marty suggests that Mary and Jesus are having a “textual throwdown” at the wedding, referencing Genesis narratives. How does understanding this biblical literacy change our reading of their interaction, and what does it reveal about Mary’s character?

Summary

BEMA Episode 224 provides rich cultural and theological analysis of The Chosen’s portrayal of the Wedding at Cana, Jesus’s first public miracle. The hosts illuminate the episode by explaining first-century Jewish wedding customs, the cultural imperative of hospitality, and the economic strain on the groom’s family trying to provide adequate celebration. The analysis reveals how the show successfully balances multiple theological tensions: Jesus’s divinity and humanity, Mary’s knowledge and uncertainty about her son’s mission, and the disciples’ eagerness and confusion about their new rabbi.

The episode emphasizes how Jesus’s approach to ministry breaks traditional patterns - he calls uneducated fishermen and tradespeople rather than trained Torah students, cares about practical human concerns like social shame, and operates outside established religious systems. The miracle itself represents a point of no return, setting in motion the public ministry that will ultimately lead to the crucifixion, creating tragic irony when Mary thanks Jesus at the celebration’s end.

The hosts particularly appreciate how The Chosen depicts the relationship between Mary and Jesus, showing the unique power of a mother’s influence without excessive veneration. They also highlight the show’s attention to cultural details like tassels on garments, the hospitality customs, and the racial diversity of first-century Galilee. The episode concludes by challenging viewers to embrace the “ragamuffin” nature of God’s Kingdom - one that colors outside the lines of formal religious systems and makes room for doubters, questioners, and unlikely followers who together form the community around Jesus.

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