THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER – PART ONE

THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER – PART ONE is a theatrical presentation of the first two episodes of THE CHOSEN: Season Five. It begins with Jesus Christ’s walk through Holy Week and all of the drama the ensues from his arrival on Palm Sunday to his arrest following the Last Supper. During PART ONE, behind-the-scenes forces begin to group together in an effort to find a way to effectively remove Jesus from power and disband his movement.

LAST SUPPER begins at the end of the story as Jesus speaks with His disciples during the Last Supper. He celebrates the fact that soon all will be made clear to them and that He will be able to speak clearly with them in the near future, rather than hiding meanings in parables. He also shares that, though all of the disciples will abandon Him before the night ends, they can take solace and know that He is never alone because the Father is always with Him.

The show then jumps back to the beginning of the week as Jesus arrives in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. As they come upon the city, Jesus and the disciples see and hear a great crowd worshipping Jesus and proclaiming Him as the Messiah.

However, just before they enter the city, they are confronted by three pharisees who warn Jesus that he will lose His life if He enters the city and that He still has time to turn back. Though only Jesus understands just how true this statement is, He and the disciples continue into the city with much fanfare, though Jesus does not engage with the crowd.

After entering the city, Jesus preaches to the crowd, reciting multiple parables that explain that sometimes death is necessary in order for something greater to emerge. No one in the crowd understands the true meaning of these parables, and the disciples begin to question just what Jesus means by this. After the teaching, they talk among themselves and share their fear about Jesus discussing death so much. However, they mostly think he means a metaphorical death, not a physical one.

Meanwhile, higher powers in the city discuss Jesus’ arrival and what it means for the city. Pontius Pilate and High Priest Caiaphas meet and discuss Jesus while also preparing for the Passover. Of course, the Passover provides Pontius Pilate with more than a quarter of his annual revenue because they extract as much money as possible from the pilgrims coming to worship.

That night, a group of Jews enters the city looking to quench Jesus’ teachings. When they arrive, they are questioned why they are there. They explain that Jesus is a false profit who’s leading his followers astray. If he were truly the Messiah, he would have overthrown Rome’s rule over Israel by now, but because He has not, He’s a fraud.

At the same time, Jesus is traveling through the city alone in a disguise. After crashing a wedding celebration, he goes to a high point that overlooks the city. While there, he sees the Temple and the giant market that has formed in its courtyard. He’s dismayed by what He sees and is given a vision of its destruction in the future by Rome’s hand.

Back at the Last Supper, Jesus warns his disciples they will no longer be welcomed as they have in the past. The world has rejected Jesus and His message and being ambassadors for Christ, they will find great pushback in sharing his message. He further reiterates that they will all abandon Him before morning despite their protests that they would rather go to jail or die than abandon their teacher.

Cut back to a few days ago as Jesus and His disciples walk through another day of Holy Week. Simon has been emboldened to try his hand at preaching but struggles to do well because of stage fright. He forgets all of his words and needs Andrew to help him out in order to deliver his message. The disciples, however, encourage him after his teaching and try to cheer him up.

Andrew then meets friends from the Decapolis, the 10 Hellenistic cities where the disciples had preached earlier in the name of Jesus. They have come to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover after becoming interested in Israel’s God because of Jesus’ teachings. Andrew welcomes them and they head into the Temple grounds where the corruption of the city is put on full display. They find that the conversion rate for money is abysmal, and the price of the animals is extremely exorbitant.

Meanwhile, the higher forces continue to meet to discuss Jesus and how to best dispose of Him. High Priest Caiaphas meets with Herod Antipas. They discuss a way for Jesus to be delegitimized so his movement stops. Herod Antipas suggests Caiaphas should arrange for Lazarus to be killed so people stop believing Jesus raised him from the dead. Caiaphas, however, has bigger plans to tackle the problem at its source, emboldened by a supposed vision from God telling him that one man would die so the nation could live.

Back at the Temple grounds, Jesus enters onto the scene and unleashes his rage over his Father’s house being defiled. He yells at the vendors who are turning the place into a market and pulls down stalls and turns over tables, while letting the livestock run free. Shocked by his behavior, they try to calm him down. However, Jesus faces off against the pharisees, including Caiaphas, who emerge from the temple to confront his destruction.

THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER – PART ONE is an excellent start to Season 5 and sets the scene for Jesus’ arrest following the Last Supper. The pain that Jesus feels as he walks towards His death is excellently shown, as is the fact that the disciples continue to miss the point, even when Jesus becomes more blunt about his message. As always, the cinematography of the show is excellent, particularly during the Last Supper scenes as the candle lighting highlights just how somber of a moment this is for Jesus.

LAST SUPPER – PART ONE is extremely biblical. Nearly every event comes straight from the Gospels and are faithfully portrayed. Furthermore, the episodes strongly stress Jesus Christ’s divinity and the need for His death while also highlighting His message. PART ONE also stresses the sovereignty of God and the fact that He cares most about the heart. This is especially true of the scene with the Pharisees, who are technically following the law, but are exposed as hypocritical villains because of their evil hearts. The scenes where Jesus overturns the tables of the merchants and money changers in the Temple are intense. However, THE CHOSEN: LAST SUPPER – PART ONE is acceptable for all audiences.