And just like one day the risen Jesus will reveal himself to Mary and free her from grief and fear by calling her name, Jesus first reveals himself to "Lilith" and frees her from her grief and fear and demons by calling her by her true name, Mary. I have Bible studies/discussion guides for each episode of The Chosen Seasons 1-3, blogs exploring how The Chosen adapts key biblical figures, and articles exploring the controversial nature of adaptation. In the modern vernacular, a "red light district" is a term that refers to an area of the city known for prostitution, strip clubs, and other immoral establishments. Your contributions mean so much. I think the producer said he wanted to do eight seasons total. They prompt us to consider how these two events, Mary's first encounter with Jesus and her first encounter with the risen Jesus, are connected in a deeper way. What do you think Mary's life was like before Jesus showed up? Because The Chosen seeks to be kid-friendly, it most likely uses the term "Red Quarter" in order to hint to older viewers that Mary is a prostitute without explicitly mentioning prostitution or sex. Why do you think they were removed? Have you seen other examples of how Jesus can show up suddenly and change someone's life in a big way? Meanwhile, in the youth ministry that I lead, I had the chance to view and discuss season one of The Chosen with several high schoolers and found it very fruitful. PROUDLY CREATED WITH WIX.COM, Mary Magdalene, Lilith, & the Redeemer (Exploring The Chosen with Youth), Elizabeth Tabish as Lilith/Mary Magdalene in The Chosen, Over the past year, we've been exploring how The Chosen adapts biblical characters like, You may want to warn students beforehand that this episode contains some demonic activity. In Episode 8, we see that Mary is still struggling a bit - her failure is driving her to be a bit too unrelenting in her work for Jesus- but other than that she seems to be back on track. What distinguishes Mary from the other women, however, is her association with prostitution. By noting how Mary is in the "Red Quarter", The Chosen is implying that she is a prostitute. Over time, the Western artistic tradition repeatedly depicted Mary as a prostitute and the mistaken association got stuck in the cultural consciousness. We need to remember the perspective is of east and west are different East is how it performs, what it does its function West they would describe what it is or made of. If you liked this post, you might want to check out some of my other posts on The Chosen and Bible adaptation. Consider how the show depicts Jesus' first appearance. More importantly, allowing some of the disciples to judge Mary a bit more would have added more tension and could have fueled future arcs. How does that truth encourage you? This version of Mary - not the one who needs moral reformation but the one who needs sympathy and belonging - fits perfectly with the kinds of stories that The Chosen has focused on. See a Roman centurion fill Lilith/Mary s sight, a suggestion that the woman have. What's disappointing is that it doesn't delve too far into the implications of this. Everything is very true to the Gospels, and theres no dialogue written to score theological points. In The Chosen, we see a brief flashback during Season 1, Episode 1 that strongly implies that Mary was raped by a Roman soldier. Lilith was close to committing suicide by walking off a cliff before a dove (Holy Spirit) caught her interest and she followed it back to town, where she had an emotional moment being healed by Jesus who quoted her trusted childhood Bible verse from Isaiah and exorcised her with a hug. Having offered some criticism, I will say that the scene of Jesus forgiving Mary was moving. You can find episode one, The Bible includes Mary Magdalene in a list of women who had evil spirits healed by Jesus. Jesus heals her evil spirit(s) at the end of Episode 1. Over time, there's been a growing awareness of how most women end up in prostitution: not because they are innately promiscuous but rather as a result of coercion, sexual trauma, and systemic inequities. It's a great comfort in the midst of the pandemic and other turmoil. This is not a theologian or an apologist. All four Gospels suggest Mary was the first witness of the resurrected Jesus (Matthew 28:1-10, Mark 16:1-8, Luke 24:1-11, and John 20:1-18). As a result, adaptations of the Gospels from previous generations place a greater emphasis on how Jesus calls Mary to repent and brings about her moral transformation. We turned it into a bit of a game, where one of my youth would constantly ask "Is that Jesus?" **Update: I explore the origin of the name "Lilith" in my recent post **. Describe a pencil. Also the guy who plays Jesus is Catholic, which is kind of cool. New comments cannot be posted and votes cannot be cast. Yes, we see that Jesus had warm and empowering relationships with females. Dallas mentioned how some viewers didn't like that Mary fell back into old ways, which seems ridiculous, but just goes to show how out of touch some people are with both real life and how stories work. Below I'll share an outline describing how to do a Viewing Party for The Chosen Episode 1 (I Have Called You by Name). Still, at the end of the day, the 12 disciples who get the most screen time in the Gospels are all males. (he is God). Click here for my affiliation policy. You can find episode one free on YouTube here, although there are lots of ads. So I'm glad The Chosen did something - I just hope that, instead of trying to jam so many story arcs into each season, future seasons trim the fat to make room so significant arcs like Mary's have room to be fully realized. Interestingly, The King of Kings (1927) also uses Mary Magdalene to introduce us to Jesus for the first time. There are also characters and stories from the Gospels that the creators have left out. I have not seen any anti Catholic scenes. When making the Chosen, he is advised by a Catholic Priest, Rabbi, and Evangelical Pastor. Just before Luke introduces us to Mary Magdalene, he tells a story about a prostitute that Jesus forgives (, Since I criticized Season 1 of The Chosen for making Mary too perfect, it's only fair that I acknowledge how Season 2 seeks to rectify that issue. Her association with prostitution was a result of the proximity between the first mention of her in Luke (Luke 8:1-3) and a story about a prostitute (Luke 7:36-50). Her association with prostitution was a result of the proximity between the first mention of her in Luke (. By accepting all cookies, you agree to our use of cookies to deliver and maintain our services and site, improve the quality of Reddit, personalize Reddit content and advertising, and measure the effectiveness of advertising. The assumption at that time was that women became prostitutes because they were inherently immoral and desirous. FYI: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. I hope I better can temper myself. Catholic Christianity offers the world the fullness of the Christian Faith. Episode 1 depicts how she got these demons cast out of her by Jesus. By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. The Chosen invents this story to illustrate biblical teachings about Jesus' grace and forgiveness. The Chosen seems to be hinting that Mary is a prostitute (e.g. Because The Chosen seeks to be kid-friendly, it may use the term "Red Quarter" in order to hint to older viewers that Mary is either a prostitute or a sexually immoral woman without explicitly mentioning prostitution or sex. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. In The Chosen, when we first meet Mary Magdalene, most of the characters refer to her as Lili. And just like one day Mary will initially fail to recognize the risen Jesus, confusing him for a gardener, she initially fails to recognize Jesus when he first comes to her, confusing him for one of the men who's been hassling her. In The Chosen, it is not entirely clear whether Mary Magdalene was engaging in prostitution before the events of Season 1, Episode 1. Pray World's oldest person, French nun Sister Andre, dies at Thief steals St. Michael statue from church, trips, and A photo I took of our altar at Midnight Mass this Christmas, Mother on death bed, priest refused to see her. She becomes too perfect and seems to have no ongoing struggles in her faith like Peter or Andrew. Later Jewish tradition described a demonic figure known as Lilith in a variety of ways. Luke notes that Mary had seven spirits exorcised from her, but the other women experienced miraculous healing as well. This is Tom My 3 month old son is battling an extremely rare and [Free Friday] after an early miscarriage 3 weeks ago, I Our new campus chapel is so close to being ready! [Spoilers] Did anyone else misinterpret the HotD Finale? The first passage is regarding Mary Magdalene (Lilith): In case you didn't catch it, at the end of The Chosen episode 1 we discover that the character called Lilith for most of the episode is actually named Mary Magdalene. However, a post by the official Twitter account for The Chosen claims that Mary is not being portrayed as a prostitute. While watching the show, I made occasional comments through the chat but I tried to not do too much teaching - I wanted the youth to enjoy The Chosen and not just see it as an elaborate preaching illustration. (he calls her by name at the end when he heals her). Hopefully though, season 2 will find more ways to develop her character in a manner that's dynamic and engaging, because there's still much that could be done. The ancient name Lilith derives from a Sumerian word for female demons or wind spirits. One other thing - the show could have allowed some of the disciples (like John) to go a bit further in being judgmental toward after her return. In Episode 6, Jesus sends Peter and Matthew to find Mary and bring her back. The Bible includes Mary Magdalene in a list of women who had evil spirits healed by Jesus. Although there's nothing in the Gospels that suggests that these two figures should be linked together, Mary mistakenly became identified with the forgiven prostitute in the interpretative tradition of the Western Church. Later Jewish tradition described a demonic figure known as Lilith in a variety of ways. Mary Magdalene was a disciple of Jesus. This allows the show to be more family friendly, but it also weakens the narrative that the show is telling about Jesus' compassion and pity. There you go! This passage is one of the few appearances of Mary Magdalene in the Gospels. What distinguishes Mary from the other women, however, is her association with prostitution. In my opinion it works. It's odd? In a previous era of Hollywood Mary's status as a prostitute made her exotic and intriguing. Jesus is said to have cast seven evil spirits out of her (, As I noted above, in the Bible there is no indication that Mary Magdalene was a prostitute. The important role that Mary Magdalene plays in The Chosen is not nearly as surprising as that of Nicodemus. Until Jesus shows up, some youth may find the show a little slow. That being said, there's no biblical reason to think that she could not have done so. This story was invented by The Chosen for the purposes of the plot. The Hebrew word "lilit" only shows up in Isaiah 34:14, where most modern translations render it as something along the lines of "night bird." To recap: in, One other thing - the show could have allowed some of the disciples (like John) to go a bit further in being judgmental toward after her return. Have my posts about Bible adaptation helped you learn more about the Bible and explore it with your ministry or family? The Bible includes Mary Magdalene in a list of women who had evil spirits healed by Jesus. Jesus heals her evil spirit(s) at the end of Episode 1. To clarify why the creators would want to add new characters and stories and leave some stories out, you could ask the following questions: What are some other popular adaptations of books into film or television? [Update: In the comments below, an astute reader pointed me to a post by the official Twitter for The Chosen, which claims Mary is not being portrayed as a prostitute. Instead of being a femme fatale that Jesus needs to resist and tame, Mary Magdalene the prostitute is seen as an object of compassion and pity that Jesus needs to provide acceptance and safety. Luke briefly describes how Mary Magdalene was exorcised by Jesus and became one of his traveling followers (Luke 8:1-3). Over time, the Western artistic tradition repeatedly depicted Mary as a prostitute and the mistaken association got stuck in the cultural consciousness. When they are engaged in sin, it's often a result of their difficult circumstances or their status as outsiders, and so what they primarily need is love and acceptance, not forgiveness and repentance. Do you believe Jesus knows you by name? This association with prostitution opens a variety of directions for adaptations to take in their portrayal of her, especially given the affection Jesus shows for her (John 20). I take comments made by The Chosen Twitter account with a grain of salt, especially since they are most likely made by digital marketers and not the actual creators of The Chosen. Her association with prostitution was a result of the proximity between the first mention of her in Luke (Luke 8:1-3) and a story about a prostitute (Luke 7:36-50). Since I criticized Season 1 of The Chosen for making Mary too perfect, it's only fair that I acknowledge how Season 2 seeks to rectify that issue. Her name always was Mary, but through her past of turmoil, mental illness, rape, or whatever else caused her to be mentally tortured, she led everyone to believe she was Lilith. Lilith here could just mean demon possessed. FYI: As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. These experiences cause Mary to flee back to her old life, drinking and gambling. However, some scholars believe the word would be better translated as demoness and see it is a reference to a Mesopotamian spiritual being. In The Chosen, when we first meet Mary Magdalene, most of the characters refer to her as Lili. This is symbolically tied to her encounter with another demon, Belial, who calls Mary Lilith, asserting the continued existence and power of her old identity. However, In the Bible, there is no indication that Mary Magdalene fell back into sin, backslid, or left Jesus. In The Chosen, it is not entirely clear whether Mary Magdalene was engaging in prostitution before the events of Season 1, Episode 1. I found that my youth struggled to sort out the different characters, so you might want to do a quick slide show of the key characters using the character images I've included throughout this post. In the Bible, there is no indication that Mary Magdalene fell back into sin, backslid, or left Jesus. The creators have left out, you might want to check out some of my youth would ask! Suggestion that the creators have left out by rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still certain. 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