Episode 3
Matthew 4:24
season2
discussion
Good night
š Scripture
NotePsalm 139:7-10
7 Where shall I go from your Spirit?
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
Or where shall I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there!
If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!
9 If I take the wings of the morning
and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
and your right hand shall hold me.
š Main characters
- Jesus and his disciples
- Mother Mary
š¬ Quotes
No amount of learning can bring you closer to Godā¦or you make you more or less precious to Him. Heās always right here, right now with you, and for you.
I donāt think Heās waiting for us to be holy. I think Heās here because we canāt be holy without Him.
āIām pretty sure He knows your situation. Itās not like if you point it out, Heād be surprised.ā
āHe has always been a worker. He gets that from his fatherā¦ both of them, I suppose, hm.ā
Iāve grown to love being Jewishā¦and Iāve grown to love following the Lawā¦but it can be exhausting.
Following the Law or being Jewish?
Both.
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the Universe, who brings sleep to My eyes and slumber to My eyelids. May it be Your will, Lord My God and God of My ancestors, that I lie down in peaceā¦and that I arise in peace.
š¤ Discussion
- As you watched this episode, which characters or moments stood out to you the most, and why? What was it about those scenes or people that captured your attention?
Warning
This episode raises difficult and uncomfortable questions. Weāll take them as they are, allowing space to wrestle honestly with them rather than rushing to easy answers.
- The disciples struggle with a gap between their expectations of the Messiah and the reality they see. They complain that Jesus is āhealing the sick instead of overthrowing the Romans.ā How would you respond to their frustration?
- Thomas asks Little James, āWhy hasnāt He healed you? How do you watch all these healings happen?ā What are your thoughts about this exchange?
- Simon poses a provocative question: āWhat would you do for unlimited money? What would you give up? Would you give up your left hand?ā How would you respond?
- Mother Mary reflects on caring for Jesus as a baby and wonders, āIs this really the Son of God?ā How do you understand the mystery of the Incarnation, God becoming fully human?
- The disciples question why God has allowed the Roman occupation to continue for so long, making it hard to feel like āthe chosen people.ā More broadly, how do you wrestle with the question of why God allows suffering in the world?
- Simon and others bully Matthew, and Simon shouts, āI canāt forgive it! Iāll never forgive it!ā As Jesus quietly passes by, exhausted, saying only āGood night,ā how did you react to this scene?
š Food for thought
- One of the disciples says, āI just donāt know how many of them would believe in Him if He wasnāt healing them.ā What have you noticed so far about the role of healing and miracles in Jesusā ministry? What do you sense Jesus is trying to accomplishāand what might the filmmakers be suggesting about the true nature of His mission?
- Andrew admits that he feels like heās āliving someone elseās life,ā pressured to live up to heroes and expectations, and realizing more deeply how limited he is in Jesusā presence. In what ways do you relate to this? Where do you feel pressure to perform or prove yourself? How do you hold together Godās power with your own weakness and limitations?
- The disciples quote Psalm of Solomon 17:36 (see Further Reading), suggesting that the Messiah expects holiness from His people. Yet Mary Magdalene says that He came because we canāt be holy without Him. How do you reflect on this tension between holiness as a requirement and holiness as a gift?
š Further reading
NoteThe Psalms of Solomon 17 (Charles, 1913)1
A PSALM. OF SOLOMON. WITH SONG. OF THE KING.
1 O Lord, Thou art our King for ever and ever,
For in Thee, O God, doth our soul glory.
2 How long are the days of manās life upon the earth?
As are his days, so is the hope (set) upon him.
3 But we hope in God, our deliverer;
For the might of our God is for ever with mercy,
4 And the kingdom of our God is for ever over the nations in judgement.
5(4) Thou, O Lord, didst choose David (to be) king over Israel,
And swaredst to him touching his seed that never should his kingdom fail before Thee.
6(5) But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us;
They assailed us and thrust us out;
What Thou hadst not promised to them, they took away (from us) with violence.
7 They in no wise glorified Thy honourable name;
(6) They set a (worldly) monarchy in place of (that which was) their excellency;
8 They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance.
(7) But Thou, O God, didst cast them down, and remove their seed from the earth,
9 In that there rose up against them a man that was alien to our race.
10(8) According to their sins didst Thou recompense them, O God;
So that it befell them according to their deeds.
11(9) God showed them no pity;
He sought out their seed and let not one of them go free.
12(10) Faithful is the Lord in all His judgements
Which He doeth upon the earth.
13(11) The lawless one laid waste our land so that none inhabited it,
They destroyed young and old and their children together.
14(12) In the heat of His anger He sent them away even unto the west,
And (He exposed) the rulers of the land unsparingly to derision.
15(13) Being an alien the enemy acted proudly,
And his heart was alien from our God.
16(14) And all ā¦ Jerusalem,
As also the nations ā¦
17(15) And the children of the covenant in the midst of the mingled peoples ā¦
There was not among them one that wrought in the midst of Jerusalem mercy and truth.
18(16) They that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them,
As sparrows that fly from their nest.
19(17) They wandered in deserts that their lives might be saved from harm,
And precious in the eyes of them that lived abroad was any that escaped alive from them.
20(18) Over the whole earth were they scattered by lawless (men).
21(19) For the heavens withheld the rain from dropping upon the earth,
Springs were stopped (that sprang) perennial(ly) out of the deeps, (that ran down) from lofty mountains.
For there was none among them that wrought righteousness and justice;
(20) From the chief of them to the least (of them) all were sinful;
22 The king was a transgressor, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful.
23(21) Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David,
At the time in the which Thou seest, O God, that he may reign over Israel Thy servant.
24(22) And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers,
25 And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample (her) down to destruction.
(23) Wisely, righteously 26 he shall thrust out sinners from (the) inheritance,
He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potterās vessel.
(24) With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance,
27 He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth;
(25) At his rebuke nations shall flee before him,
And he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of their heart.
28(26) And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness,
And he shall judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord his God.
29(27) And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst,
Nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness,
30 For he shall know them, that they are all sons of their God.
(28) And he shall divide them according to their tribes upon the land,
31 And neither sojourner nor alien shall sojourn with them any more.
(29) He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of his righteousness. Selah.
32(30) And he shall have the heathen nations to serve him under his yoke;
And he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of (?) all the earth;
33 And he shall purge Jerusalem, making it holy as of old:
34(31) So that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see his glory,
Bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted,
35 And to see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her.
(32) And he (shall be) a righteous king, taught of God, over them,
36 And there shall be no unrighteousness in his days in their midst,
For all shall be holy and their king the anointed of the Lord.
37(33) For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and bow,
Nor shall he multiply for himself gold and silver for war,
Nor shall he gather confidence from (?) a multitude (?) for the day of battle.
38(34) The Lord Himself is his king, the hope of him that is mighty through (his) hope in God.
ć ć All nations (shall be) in fear before him,
39(35) For he will smite the earth with the word of his mouth for ever.
40 He will bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness,
41(36) And he himself (will be) pure from sin, so that he may rule a great people.
He will rebuke rulers, and remove sinners by the might of his word;
42(37) And (relying) upon his God, throughout his days he will not stumble;
For God will make him mighty by means of (His) holy spirit,
And wise by means of the spirit of understanding, with strength and righteousness.
43(38) And the blessing of the Lord (will be) with him: he will be strong and stumble not;
44(39) His hope (will be) in the Lord: who then can prevail against him?
(40) (He will be) mighty in his works, and strong in the fear of God,
45 (He will be) shepherding the flock of the Lord faithfully and righteously,
And will suffer none among them to stumble in their pasture.
46(41) He will lead them all aright,
And there will be no pride among them that any among them should be oppressed.
47(42) This (will be) the majesty of the king of Israel whom God knoweth;
He will raise him up over the house of Israel to correct him.
48(43) His words (shall be) more refined than costly gold, the choicest;
In the assemblies he will judge the peoples, the tribes of the sanctified.
49 His words (shall be) like the words of the holy ones in the midst of sanctified peoples.
50 Blessed be they that shall be in those days,
In that they shall see the good fortune of Israel which God shall bring to pass
in the gathering together of the tribes.
51 May the Lord hasten His mercy upon Israel!
May He deliver us from the uncleanness of unholy enemies!
The Lord Himself is our king for ever and ever.
1 O Lord, Thou art our King for ever and ever,
For in Thee, O God, doth our soul glory.
2 How long are the days of manās life upon the earth?
As are his days, so is the hope (set) upon him.
3 But we hope in God, our deliverer;
For the might of our God is for ever with mercy,
4 And the kingdom of our God is for ever over the nations in judgement.
5(4) Thou, O Lord, didst choose David (to be) king over Israel,
And swaredst to him touching his seed that never should his kingdom fail before Thee.
6(5) But, for our sins, sinners rose up against us;
They assailed us and thrust us out;
What Thou hadst not promised to them, they took away (from us) with violence.
7 They in no wise glorified Thy honourable name;
(6) They set a (worldly) monarchy in place of (that which was) their excellency;
8 They laid waste the throne of David in tumultuous arrogance.
(7) But Thou, O God, didst cast them down, and remove their seed from the earth,
9 In that there rose up against them a man that was alien to our race.
10(8) According to their sins didst Thou recompense them, O God;
So that it befell them according to their deeds.
11(9) God showed them no pity;
He sought out their seed and let not one of them go free.
12(10) Faithful is the Lord in all His judgements
Which He doeth upon the earth.
13(11) The lawless one laid waste our land so that none inhabited it,
They destroyed young and old and their children together.
14(12) In the heat of His anger He sent them away even unto the west,
And (He exposed) the rulers of the land unsparingly to derision.
15(13) Being an alien the enemy acted proudly,
And his heart was alien from our God.
16(14) And all ā¦ Jerusalem,
As also the nations ā¦
17(15) And the children of the covenant in the midst of the mingled peoples ā¦
There was not among them one that wrought in the midst of Jerusalem mercy and truth.
18(16) They that loved the synagogues of the pious fled from them,
As sparrows that fly from their nest.
19(17) They wandered in deserts that their lives might be saved from harm,
And precious in the eyes of them that lived abroad was any that escaped alive from them.
20(18) Over the whole earth were they scattered by lawless (men).
21(19) For the heavens withheld the rain from dropping upon the earth,
Springs were stopped (that sprang) perennial(ly) out of the deeps, (that ran down) from lofty mountains.
For there was none among them that wrought righteousness and justice;
(20) From the chief of them to the least (of them) all were sinful;
22 The king was a transgressor, and the judge disobedient, and the people sinful.
23(21) Behold, O Lord, and raise up unto them their king, the son of David,
At the time in the which Thou seest, O God, that he may reign over Israel Thy servant.
24(22) And gird him with strength, that he may shatter unrighteous rulers,
25 And that he may purge Jerusalem from nations that trample (her) down to destruction.
(23) Wisely, righteously 26 he shall thrust out sinners from (the) inheritance,
He shall destroy the pride of the sinner as a potterās vessel.
(24) With a rod of iron he shall break in pieces all their substance,
27 He shall destroy the godless nations with the word of his mouth;
(25) At his rebuke nations shall flee before him,
And he shall reprove sinners for the thoughts of their heart.
28(26) And he shall gather together a holy people, whom he shall lead in righteousness,
And he shall judge the tribes of the people that has been sanctified by the Lord his God.
29(27) And he shall not suffer unrighteousness to lodge any more in their midst,
Nor shall there dwell with them any man that knoweth wickedness,
30 For he shall know them, that they are all sons of their God.
(28) And he shall divide them according to their tribes upon the land,
31 And neither sojourner nor alien shall sojourn with them any more.
(29) He shall judge peoples and nations in the wisdom of his righteousness. Selah.
32(30) And he shall have the heathen nations to serve him under his yoke;
And he shall glorify the Lord in a place to be seen of (?) all the earth;
33 And he shall purge Jerusalem, making it holy as of old:
34(31) So that nations shall come from the ends of the earth to see his glory,
Bringing as gifts her sons who had fainted,
35 And to see the glory of the Lord, wherewith God hath glorified her.
(32) And he (shall be) a righteous king, taught of God, over them,
36 And there shall be no unrighteousness in his days in their midst,
For all shall be holy and their king the anointed of the Lord.
37(33) For he shall not put his trust in horse and rider and bow,
Nor shall he multiply for himself gold and silver for war,
Nor shall he gather confidence from (?) a multitude (?) for the day of battle.
38(34) The Lord Himself is his king, the hope of him that is mighty through (his) hope in God.
ć ć All nations (shall be) in fear before him,
39(35) For he will smite the earth with the word of his mouth for ever.
40 He will bless the people of the Lord with wisdom and gladness,
41(36) And he himself (will be) pure from sin, so that he may rule a great people.
He will rebuke rulers, and remove sinners by the might of his word;
42(37) And (relying) upon his God, throughout his days he will not stumble;
For God will make him mighty by means of (His) holy spirit,
And wise by means of the spirit of understanding, with strength and righteousness.
43(38) And the blessing of the Lord (will be) with him: he will be strong and stumble not;
44(39) His hope (will be) in the Lord: who then can prevail against him?
(40) (He will be) mighty in his works, and strong in the fear of God,
45 (He will be) shepherding the flock of the Lord faithfully and righteously,
And will suffer none among them to stumble in their pasture.
46(41) He will lead them all aright,
And there will be no pride among them that any among them should be oppressed.
47(42) This (will be) the majesty of the king of Israel whom God knoweth;
He will raise him up over the house of Israel to correct him.
48(43) His words (shall be) more refined than costly gold, the choicest;
In the assemblies he will judge the peoples, the tribes of the sanctified.
49 His words (shall be) like the words of the holy ones in the midst of sanctified peoples.
50 Blessed be they that shall be in those days,
In that they shall see the good fortune of Israel which God shall bring to pass
in the gathering together of the tribes.
51 May the Lord hasten His mercy upon Israel!
May He deliver us from the uncleanness of unholy enemies!
The Lord Himself is our king for ever and ever.
NotePsalm of Solomon 18 (Charles, 1913)
A PSALM. OF SOLOMON. AGAIN OF THE ANOINTED OF THE LORD.
1 Lord, Thy mercy is over the works of Thy hands for ever;
Thy goodness is over Israel with a rich gift.
2 Thine eyes look upon them, so that none of them suffers want;
3 Thine ears listen to the hopeful prayer of the poor.
(3) Thy judgements (are executed) upon the whole earth in mercy;
4 And Thy love (is) toward the seed of Abraham, the children of Israel.
(4) Thy chastisement is upon us as (upon) a first-born, only-begotten son,
5 To turn back the obedient soul from folly (that is wrought) in ignorance.
6(5) May God cleanse Israel against the day of mercy and blessing,
Against the day of choice when He bringeth back His anointed.
7(6) Blessed shall they be that shall be in those days,
In that they shall see the goodness of the Lord which He shall perform for the generation that is to come,
8(7) Under the rod of chastening of the Lordās anointed in the fear of his God,
In the spirit of wisdom and righteousness and strength;
9(8) That he may direct (every) man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God,
That he may establish them all before the Lord,
10(9) A good generation (living) in the fear of God in the days of mercy. Selah.
11(10) Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest.
12 (It is He) who hath established in (their) courses the lights (of heaven) for determining seasons from year to year,
And they have not turned aside from the way which He appointed them.
13(11) In the fear of God (they pursue) their path every day,
From the day God created them and for evermore.
14(12) And they have erred not since the day He created them.
Since the generations of old they have not withdrawn from their path,
Unless God commanded them (so to do) by the command of His servants.
1 Lord, Thy mercy is over the works of Thy hands for ever;
Thy goodness is over Israel with a rich gift.
2 Thine eyes look upon them, so that none of them suffers want;
3 Thine ears listen to the hopeful prayer of the poor.
(3) Thy judgements (are executed) upon the whole earth in mercy;
4 And Thy love (is) toward the seed of Abraham, the children of Israel.
(4) Thy chastisement is upon us as (upon) a first-born, only-begotten son,
5 To turn back the obedient soul from folly (that is wrought) in ignorance.
6(5) May God cleanse Israel against the day of mercy and blessing,
Against the day of choice when He bringeth back His anointed.
7(6) Blessed shall they be that shall be in those days,
In that they shall see the goodness of the Lord which He shall perform for the generation that is to come,
8(7) Under the rod of chastening of the Lordās anointed in the fear of his God,
In the spirit of wisdom and righteousness and strength;
9(8) That he may direct (every) man in the works of righteousness by the fear of God,
That he may establish them all before the Lord,
10(9) A good generation (living) in the fear of God in the days of mercy. Selah.
11(10) Great is our God and glorious, dwelling in the highest.
12 (It is He) who hath established in (their) courses the lights (of heaven) for determining seasons from year to year,
And they have not turned aside from the way which He appointed them.
13(11) In the fear of God (they pursue) their path every day,
From the day God created them and for evermore.
14(12) And they have erred not since the day He created them.
Since the generations of old they have not withdrawn from their path,
Unless God commanded them (so to do) by the command of His servants.
Footnotes
Charles R.H. (1913) The Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha of the Old Testament in English. Volume II. Pseudepigrapha. Oxford University Press pp 647-652ā©ļø