A Dash of Whimsy

Liz Tabish said that this season Mary would learn how to use her past to help comfort others. At first I thought it would just be Tamar this season, but it’s looking like it’ll include Eden and Matthew as well.

First off, heart-wrenching as the last scene in ep 6 was, it was also a HUGE relief. Eden doesn’t have to suffer in silence, everything... hurt, anger, and frustrations as well as the miscarriage... has been aired out (perhaps not in the best way, but still), so the process of grieving and healing can begin in earnest. 

Another relief is Eden telling Salome and Mary in the trailer. There was a BTS clip released showing them along with Zebedee facing Eden like they’re holding an intervention of sorts. The women can probably comfort her in ways even a husband can’t. Salome might’ve experienced the same tragedy, and Mary’s had past trauma involving the same area of her body as well as the loss of a loved one. If Eden doesn’t already know these things, they’ll probably tell her now.

This will also be a major bonding experience with the women in the ministry, one that’ll bring them all close enough to draw strength from each other as they witness Jesus’s crucifixion, and then visit His tomb (I’m not entirely sure Eden will be present at these things, since it feels like Peter’s wife would be mentioned in scripture if she was, but who knows).

I’m, like, 99% sure this will start by Matthew saying something to Mary. They made a point of showing him notice Jesus’s concern for Eden in ep 5, so I thought he’d be the one to clue Simon in that there’s way more going on with his wife than he thinks. This wasn’t the case, so it’ll probably come into play later.

Speaking of Matthew, that moment where Mary found the tzitzit in his house makes me think she’ll be the one who convinces him to wear them. Definitely in ep 7, because Durban and Jalein said Paras would be in the next aftershow.

 There’s a BTS image of them sitting beside each other with Matthew looking down into his lap, and the caption Dallas gave it implied it’s a very emotional scene. 

Like her, Matthew is probably having trouble completely letting go of shame. Despite feeling more at-home in the group and making amends with his parents, he still doesn’t feel worthy of calling himself a fellow Jew.

I’m really hoping we see more of her (as is everyone, no doubt). While I loved the scenes between Matthew and his parents in 3:02, I was also a bit disappointed that she didn’t appear or even get mentioned. The only references to her so far are a brief glimpse in ep 1:02 and a couple lines in 1:07. Even the novelization doesn’t really shed much more light on the character. 

In any other show, I’d assume she’d been retconned, but The Chosen is too well-planned in advance for them to give Matthew a sibling and then just act like she never existed. So where is she? She clearly doesn’t live with their parents at this point. 

The most probable explanation is that she’s married, and maybe her husband's trade involves him being out of town for days at a time to explain his absence.

The main problem with this theory is the extreme repercussions Matthew’s career brought on the whole family. In such a strict honor/shame society where the full approval of one’s parents were required for marriage, it would be extremally difficult to find a family willing to let their son marry the sister of a tax collector. 

It almost seems like the writers are keeping most things about her a secret. But if so, why? Is it something that will come into play later? 

So the gears have been turning, and I thought of these two lines  

Obviously the expected question one would ask of a relative they haven’t seen in a long while, and it’s probably just so Matthew can tell Elisheva that he was there earlier. 

And yet, it’s almost put forward in a way implying the sister would have reason to not be well.

And that made me think of another character in need of healing, who’s face and identity have been a closely-guarded secret. 

COULD THEY BE THE SAME PERSON??

Of course this brings up questions, for which I might have possible answers. 

The purity laws (as they were originally written) wouldn’t forbid her from being in her parents’ house and eating the Shabbat meal with them, just as long as they didn’t touch her or her chair (she doesn’t appear to be sharing a seat with anyone). Women being kept entirely secluded from everyone during times of impurity wasn’t really a thing practiced outside the households of priests, religious leaders, or the wealthy.

The bleeding woman’s age is never mentioned in the gospels, only that her condition lasted 12 years. It could’ve started in her teens or early 20′s, and it’s not yet stated which sibling’s the eldest, leaving some wiggle room. 

I can’t really come up with any definitive reason why the family makes no inference to something so important. It feels like the writers would have them maybe hint at it by now. Perhaps they do later in the season, now that Matthew’s staying with their parents when the group’s in Capernaum. Maybe she’s hidden from them just how bad it’s gotten, or has times when it’s a little better.

Again, it seems unlikely. You’d think it would be mentioned in the scriptures if she was a sister of an apostle, since the healing of Peter’s mother-in-law is written. Then again, some historians and scholars believe Jesus and the Sons of Zebedee might’ve been cousins, despite it never being explicitly mentioned. Her relation to Matthew could’ve been omitted for various reasons. 

For one thing, disability or chronic illness was usually seen in that culture as a sign of God’s anger. It’s possible she moved out of the family home partly for practical reasons (staying in a crowded house made it easier to accidentally break purity law), so she wouldn’t trouble them, and to distance her long-suffering parents from the gossip and shame that would accompany her condition. 

If it is her, then anyone who knew about it would probably assume God was punishing the family for Matthew’s betrayal. Especially since it would’ve began just 2-4 years after he became a tax collector (The novel says he’s in his late 20′s at the story’s onset). It’s very possible Matthew partly believes this himself, and guilt’s kept him from asking Jesus to heal her.

As a theory it doesn’t hold much weight. There could be any number of reasons the Bleeding Woman’s appearance has been kept a secret and not much is revealed about Matthew’s sister. She may be someone else farther down the line, perhaps even the Woman Caught in Adultery (the fact John’s is the only gospel that mentions that incident may be significant. Matthew didn’t want to write about such a painful moment for her but trusted John with it, maybe?) 

I’m probably reading way too much into things and making huge leaps in reasoning, but I thought it would be fun to share.