Ears to Hear

> "He's a different Philip right now."
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> -Andrew, to Judas
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> "Ears to Hear" is the seventh episode of the third season of The Chosen
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## Synopsis

While Simon is despairing over his and Eden's loss, Andrew and Philip seem to have made the situation in the Decapolis worse, and Matthew tells Mary Magdalen something from his past.

## Summary

### The 14th of Adar

Capernaum celebrates Purim, with Jairus regaling his family with the story of Esther. While they are greeting their neighbors, they glimpse Simon angrily hurl a pot from his roof and yell in fury.

### Unhappy Returns

Philip and Andrew return after failing in their quest, having tried smoothing things over between Jews and Gentiles with the Parable of the Banquet, but only offending people further. Philip is distraught, fearing they’ve caused an international crisis, while Andrew remains (relatively) calmer.

A dejected Thomas also returns and announces to the others that Kafni has neither accepted nor denied his request to marry Ramah, so she’s stayed behind in hopes of eventually convincing him.

### For Jews Only?

After Philip and Andrew explain what’s happened, the men debate on whether or not Jesus is here to save gentiles as well as Jews, with Philip reminding them of a prophecy from Isaiah declaring gentiles would have hope in the Messiah, and Matthew, who’s been studying Jesus’s lineage, points out the gentiles in His ancestry. They finally take Mary Magdalene’s advice to ask Jesus Himself what to do.

As most of the men leave, Mary approaches Matthew and asks him about the tzitzit she found hidden in his old office. At first evasive, he then acts betrayed, asking her to not go through his personal belongings before running off, to her dismay.

### It's a Common Name

In Jerusalem, Shmuel is still trying to gather evidence against Jesus, listening to an old man’s testimony and realizing the man was swindled by another man named Jesus. In the Court of Gentiles outside, Atticus asks a Pharisee who to speak with about false prophets, and is told it is Yanni.

### The Jewish Doctor?

Simon has been wandering around Capernaum, trying to come to terms with his and Eden’s loss, and ends up in the Roman quarter. Gaius saves him from getting arrested for trespassing and takes him to his house to sneak him out. There Simon meets Gaius’s wife and son, learning not only that the servant boy is seriously ill, but Gaius had talked with his wife about Jesus possibly healing him.

Before the men part ways, Gaius admits he fathered the boy, and has only recently come to regret his actions after the sermon, though it remains unspoken between him and his wife. Speaking from recent experience, Simon warns that silence between a husband and wife is “poison”.

### A Shepherd and a Dove

After several hours to clear his head, Matthew returns to Mary and the two apologize to each other before he explains the story behind the tzitzit. An old man (one of the shepherds from the pilot) put all his family’s debts under his own name so he would bear the punishment and they would be redeemed. When turning himself in, he gave Matthew a set of tzitzit made during the First Exile, calling them his most treasured possessions and believing Matthew might need them one day, despite his (then) current occupation.

Matthew has kept them out of both guilt and admiration for the stranger, unable to understand why the man chose him. Mary shares the story of the dove that distracted her from ending her own life and led her to the place where she met Jesus, stating that, likewise, God used the old man to soften Matthew’s heart and lead him to their Rabbi, and that his greatest possession wasn’t the tzitzit themselves, but what they represent: Jewish faith and identity.

Knowing Matthew has struggled with feeling unworthy, she convinces him he’s ready to wear them and return to their people, and he tearfully agrees.

### I Need You Here

When Jesus is updated on the situation by Andrew and Philip, he declares to the apostles (minus an absent Simon) that they will head to the Decapolis tomorrow morning and minister to the clashing groups. He then takes John aside and asks him to remain in Capernaum until he finds Simon and the two will then catch up with the others.

Disappointed, John begs to be on the forefront with his Rabbi, saying that Simon has been too distracted lately and maybe should be left behind. Jesus reminds him that isn’t the approach He takes for people in pain, and the success of the trip depends on Simon.

### "The Sound of Your Voice..."

The following day, Jesus and ten of the Twelve arrive near the city of Abila where they’re met by Leander, and also a boy Andrew and Philip recognize as Telemachus, who’d listened to their preaching and has brought his deaf/mute father Argos for Jesus to heal. Though Leander doesn’t want to impose on Jesus, He declares this is the best place to start and heals Argos, bidding everyone not to spread word.

### The Rabble Rousers

They are suddenly confronted by a Jewish Healer named Nashon, who accuses Jesus and Leander of trying to diute the Jews’ faith and is startled when Argos forgets Jesus’s warning and corrects Nashon, proving he can hear. While the healer demands to know who cured Argos, Andrew and Philip climb a nearby rise and see a huge refugee camp. The group is then surrounded by Jews, Syrophoenicians, Nabateans, and Greeks who have all fled Abila and are hostile to each other as well as Jesus and the Apostles.

### "You're Disconnected..."

Simon finds his way to Matthew’s old house, hearing for the first time that the group has gone to the Decapolis from Mary, Tamar, and Zebedee, who are surprised he knows nothing about it. He makes a caustic remark when Zebedee comments on his obvious disconnect with what’s going on.

He’s found there by John, who’s frustrated from searching all morning and declaring even Eden didn’t know Simon’s whereabouts. He barely convinces Simon to go with him to join the others, and the two end up arguing on the way as Simon is suddenly acting acrimonious towards the ministry.

### We are Not Exempt

When John retorts that he shouldn’t complain when he has the love of someone like Eden, Simon finally breaks down, telling him about the miscarriage and that Eden might be unable to have children due to complications, admitting he’s furious at Jesus for choosing to let it happen. Now sympathetic, John struggles to console him and remind Simon that they were never promised to be spared from hardships, but this does nothing to cool the other man’s rage.

The two of them come upon the group being surrounded and run to catch up with them.

## Cast and Characters

### Main

* Jonathan Roumie as Jesus
* Shahar Isaac as Simon Peter
* George H. Xanthis as John
* Abe Martell as BIg James
* Yoshi Barrigas as Philip
* Noah James as Andrew
* Paras Patel as Matthew
* Liz Tabish as Mary Magdalene
* Joey Vahedi as Thomas
* Luke Dimyan as Judas Iscariot
* Austin Alleman as Nathanael
* Alaa Safi as Simon Z.
* Jordan Walker Ross as Little James
* Giavani Cairo as Thaddeus
* Amber Shana Williams as Tamar

### Recurring

* Kirk R. B. Woller as Gaius
* Shaan Sharma as Shmuel
* Elijah Alexander as Atticus
* Nick Shakour as Zebedee
* Anne Beyer as Shula
* Aalok Mehta as Barnaby
* Nina Leon as Salome
* Tom Connolly as Leander
* Alejandro Colla as Jairus
* Mel Mehrabian as Michal
* Ella McCaine as Nili

## Themes

This episode is based on Matthew 14: 13-21, Matthew 15: 32-39, Mark 6:31-41, Mark 8:1-9, Luke 9:12-17, John 6:1-14.

### Events

* Jesus and the apostles go to the Decapolis
* In a flashback Matthew receives a set of Tzitzit from the oldest shepherd in the series Pilot
* Mary Magdalene tells Matthew about how she met Jesus
* Simon struggles with his grief and tells John about the baby
* We learn Eden sustained damage from the miscarriage (or the doctor's actions) that could impede childbearing.
* Shmuel is still trying to get testimonies against Jesus
* Gaius is the father of the young servant boy he and his wife are raising
* Matthew starts studying Jesus's lineage, which will be the prologue to his gospel
* Thomas returns and has neither failed or succeeded in getting engaged to Ramah