There’s not a lot to say about this episode. We’ll look at John 15 and what it means to “abide,” I’ll complain about some sluggish plot and unnecessary conversations, and I’ll end by reflecting on something that’s always struck me about Nicodemus and Joseph of Arimathea.

Looking for Catholic commentary on the Chosen? You’ve come to the right place.

There are things we don’t understand about Judas - and never will. But let’s look at Scripture and see how we might be able to trace his fall. As always, we want to use The Chosen to ask ourselves the hard questions, too: “Surely it is not I, Lord?”

The audience of Pope Leo that I reference is here.

If you’re looking for a Catholic commentary of The Chosen, you’ve come to the right place!

Some truly powerful scenes in this episode - Judas and Peter, Judas and Jesus, the “last supper” with the female disciples … so much to chew on. (and let’s face it, regardless of the fact that the Dayenu is anachronistic… it still made us weep!)

With every scene, with every character, we should be asking ourselves: What would I do in this moment? What do I do in this moment? It’s my opinion that the power of The Chosen is not in its telling of the Jesus story, but its call to remember that we are chosen daily and we face choices daily. Who has our heart?

This episode is FULL of Scripture…maybe more than we’ve ever heard in an episode? The drama heats up with the Jewish leadership, too. And they we get a piece of the Mount of Olives discourse, the last discourse in Matthew’s Gospel. How are we to understand it?

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This is a Catholic commentary on the Chosen. We even will dive into the Scriptures themselves… who knew Catholics read the Bible?!

The Cleansing in the Temple has to be one of the hardest scenes in the Gospels to depict, for a number of reasons. One reason is that Jesus’s motives and message can be skewed or even lost completely. We’ll talk about that and more in this episode … and dive into a bunch of Scripture, both Old and New (like Mark 11, Luke 11:17-19, Isaiah 56: 6-7, Jeremiah 7:11, Zechariah 14:21, Isaiah 66:18-21…)

Want to join these live? Head over to www.youtube.com/joanwatson. And sign up for my email list over at www.joanwatson.faith so you are the first to find out about things like my new book that’s coming out!

I postponed the return of JTOTC to allow more people to tune into the episodes first- because I love the discussion that happens in the YouTube chat when I have the live broadcasts. But now we’re back and we’re diving into Holy Week.

In this episode we chat not only about the entry into Jerusalem and Jesus’ weeping over Jerusalem, but also dive into the Scriptures and the import of those scenes. I share my thoughts on some things that didn’t sit well (graven images) and many people in the chat weigh in about what didn’t sit well with them (the reverse Last Supper).

Season 5 is going to be exciting, that’s for sure!

Looking for a Catholic commentary on the Chosen? You’ve come to the right place! Joan's Take on the Chosen is a Catholic commentary, where we look at the show from a Catholic perspective. Because the show is intended to draw us closer to God’s Word, we will be looking at the Bible, too. Who knew Catholics read the Bible?

The last episode for awhile! And we have a lot of characters and scenes to talk about…from the Mary’s anointing to Shmuel to Pilate… every character seems to make an appearance and set the stage for Holy Week! After diving into both the Old and the New Testaments to analyze the episode, I’ll finish up by giving my thoughts about the season as a whole and my big question about next season…

Stay in touch in the off season! Subscribe to my mailing list so you stay up-to-date and know when JTOTC returns! https://joanmwatson.substack.com/

Looking for a Catholic commentary on the Chosen? You’ve come to the right place! Joan's Take on the Chosen is a Catholic commentary, where we look at the show from a Catholic perspective. Because the show is intended to draw us closer to God’s Word, we will be looking at the Bible, too. Who knew Catholics read the Bible?

John’s Gospel tells us that Jesus loved Mary, Martha, and Lazarus and therefore … he delayed his trip to Bethany. Wait, what? Why did Jesus let his friends suffer?

This episode tackles that question head on. Why does little James suffer? Why did Mary Magdalene suffer? Why does Thomas suffer?

Why does God allow His own Son to suffer?

As always, we’ll talk about the high points of the episode and the low points. Mary Magdalene in a cave in France? Yay! James being martyred in Egypt? Nope. (He was martyred in Jerusalem). Lazarus’ makeup? Spot on. Jesus being snappy with Yussif’s dad? Not my favorite. Oh, and more snow-covered mountains…

But Lazarus! Raised from the dead! I can’t watch it without chills.

This episode felt a bit “transitional” to set up the last two episodes of the season, although we had some drama in the Temple! We have a lot to talk about, including Hanukkah (where’s that in the bible? And my theory on why they spent so much time telling the story) and Jesus’ radical claims.

What did you think of the way the Temple scene played out? Did you like how closely they are following John’s Gospel? We’ll talk about it all!

Want more about the idea of Jesus as shepherd? Check out my bible study “I Will Rescue My Flock” on YouTube here.

Want to find out more about the Canon of Scripture? Check out Gary Michuta’s Why Catholic Bibles Are Bigger. Or subscribe to my YouTube channel to see an upcoming Theology in 3 episode on the canon!

This was a mixed episode for me. It had some great parts (don’t you want to party with Lazarus and Jesus? Can someone make some lemon mint bread for me, please?) and it had some dragging “why are we talking about this” parts. Once again, The Chosen does best what it does best: putting right in front of our eyes the lived realities of the implications of Jesus’ words (in this episode, Mt 5:41). In this episode of Joan’s Take on the Chosen, I talk about all of that, as well as give a little reflection on Matthew 20:1-16.

Scripture verses: Mt 5:41, Mt 20:1-16, and Lk 10:38-42. I also reference Jn 6:6