I just finished watching episode 7 of season 5 of The Chosen and I realized that some of the disciples may not be who we think they are! Let me explain!

For almost half the episode, the Chosen goes through flashbacks of each of the disciples. Some depict when they met Jesus. Others depict their life before Jesus. And at the end of all of it, we’re all just left wondering, "Why?" The scenes were interesting, but what was the point of it all?

But let me ask you something: Do you know the real story behind each of the disciples? Like where Little James REALLY was when he first crossed paths with Jesus? Or what actually caused Simon Z to leave the Zealots? Or who Thomas’s real family was? I mean, doesn’t scripture say he has a twin?

Well, when I started digging into scripture, I realized that there are some moments where scripture is quite clear who the disciples were before they met Jesus. And in the places where scripture doesn’t say anything, The Chosen actually does a pretty good job of filling in the gaps.

But here’s what I didn’t expect: The closer I looked at some of Jesus’ lesser known disciples, the more I began to realize that these disciples aren’t who we think they are. Some of their stories are far darker than we have ever imagined. Others may not even be in the Bible. And in a few cases, there is actually evidence in scripture that could lead us to conclude that not only are these disciples related to Jesus, some of them might actually be his brothers.