The Chosen, The NOAB, and Robert Ritner
I've decided that I'm going to start a "weekly musings" thread of posts where I just make a post every week, and just give thoughts, facts, epiphanies, studies, etc, that happened throughout the week. Hopefully, I'll be able to get out some good content faster this way.
The Chosen: Season 3, Episode 3
Physician, Heal Yourself
Honestly, this story never really made sense to me. I never understood why a prophet would always be rejected by those from their hometown. Wouldn't they be excited to see Him? Why would they not accept the words He speaks? The way it is portrayed here, in The Chosen, they make it more believable (and it appears to be pretty accurate, scripturally).
These people know Jesus. They watched Him grow up. They saw His personality. They knew His quirks. They played with Him when they were kids together. It is very possible that He disappointed some of them, growing up.
Think about this for a minute. Think about a friend of yours that you grew up with your whole life. You're still a good friend of theirs. They go off and study religion for a while and you do your thing. Then they suddenly come back home, and they read you some scripture, that you've both read before, that prophecies of a coming Savior. Then he turns to you and says, "I am the person that these verses are talking about." 🤯
What? Really?? No way. You are the Messiah? The one prophecied to come and free us from bondage, both physically and spiritually? I've seen you play sports, you aren't that athletic, how are you going to be able to take on the Roman legions? And free us spiritually? You're just my friend. You aren't God.
To make things even more difficult, He is also telling them that he isn't just here for them. He is here to save everyone. Even the Samaritans. The Gentiles. Those impure people. He mentions multiple stories of prophets that ignored their own people, and went by command to some Gentiles to help them.
These two pieces, Him proclaiming He is the Messiah, plus hinting at their own unrighteousness and helping Samaritans/Gentiles instead, pushed at least some of them over the edge, and they decided that he was blaspheming and should be put to death.
It still feels like a bit of a leap, but it is much more understandable now, given some more context.
The New Oxford Annotated Bible
After watching The Chosen, I decided I wanted to read the verses themselves. The story was familiar, but I didn't remember some of its aspects. I read the KJV, since that's what I'm used to, and it was quite familiar. Then I decided, heck, why not read another version to see how that goes. I opened up an NIV, and it was so much easier to follow! And the story seemed to be just like it was portrayed in The Chosen! It was so clear what Jesus was trying to teach! It opened my eyes why people like to use these newer versions.
I had heard about the Oxford Annotated Bible, so I decided to look that up real quick. It looks like a fantastic resource! Here's a good description, found on Wikipedia:
The Oxford Annotated Bible (OAB), published also as the New Oxford Annotated Bible (NOAB), is a study Bible published by the Oxford University Press. The notes and the study material feature in-depth academic research from nondenominational perspectives, specifically secular perspectives for "Bible-as-literature" with a focus on the most recent advances in historical criticism and related disciplines, with contributors from mainline Protestant, Roman Catholic, Jewish, and nonreligious interpretative traditions.
— Wikipedia - Oxford Annotated Bible
It sounds amazing! I'll report back after I've had a chance to go through it and give more thoughts.
Mormon Stories: Robert Ritner
This guy is brilliant. He knows his stuff, and I really appreciate him bringing some bad scholarship to light. I'm probably going to give a bunch more thoughts on this tomorrow night.