The Chosen Season 5 Episode 5: Bible Study & Discussion Guide (Exploring The Chosen with Small Groups and Youth)
- Kevin Keating
- 3 days ago
- 6 min read
Episode 5 of The Chosen Season 5: Last Supper (Part 2) challenges us to consider what type of leaders we should follow: those who trust in human power and wisdom or those who put their trust in God’s power and wisdom. Below I'll share a Bible Study and discussion questions that you can use to explore The Chosen Season 5 Episode 5 with your small group, Bible study, or youth ministry. Also be sure to check out my recap, review, and analysis of Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7, and Episode 8.
Before Watching The Chosen Season 5 Episode 5: Review Questions
As usual, I’d encourage you to do a quick review before launching into your discussion of The Chosen Season 5 Episode 5:
What have we learned about Caiaphas’ mindset and concerns? What is he trying to accomplish?
What have we learned about the various factions in the Sanhedrin and the Jewish leadership? What do they agree on? What do they disagree about?
In Episode 4, what happens when Jesus approaches a fig tree on the way to Bethany?
Before Watching The Chosen Season 5 Episode 5: Bible Study & Discussion Questions
Most of Episode 5 of The Chosen Season 5 is focused on the build-up to Jesus’ arrest and the scattering of his disciples. We see political machinations and debates among the Jewish religious leaders as they consider what to do about Jesus, Rome’s efforts to contain the chaos in Jerusalem, and the disciples’ struggle to make sense of Jesus’ ominous predictions. But there’s one key biblical event depicted in Episode 5 that can serve as a meaningful starting point for discussion:
On the following day, when they came from Bethany, he was hungry. And seeing in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came to it, he found nothing but leaves, for it was not the season for figs. And he said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again.” And his disciples heard it…
As they passed by in the morning, they saw the fig tree withered away to its roots. And Peter remembered and said to him, “Rabbi, look! The fig tree that you cursed has withered.” And Jesus answered them, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and thrown into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him. Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours. And whenever you stand praying, forgive, if you have anything against anyone, so that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.” (Mark 11:12-14, 20-25, ESV).
After reading, you could point out:
In the Gospel of Mark, the story of Jesus cursing the fig tree is sandwiched around the story of Jesus cleansing the Temple. Many scholars think that this provides us with insight into the meaning of Jesus’ actions.
Jesus’ actions also seem to be an allusion to the poetry of the Old Testament prophets, who sometimes imagine Israel as a vineyard (Isaiah 5) or a fig tree (Jeremiah 8:13) which God approaches in search of fruit, only to find it empty or rotten. We’ve already seen how Jesus draws on this imagery in the Parable of the Tenants and he also uses a similar image in his famous, “I am the True Vine” poem in John 15.
Jesus also seems to be drawing on the words of Moses, who describes the defeat of Pharaoh at the Red Sea as God casting the Egyptians into the sea like a stone.
Now ask your group:
When Jesus arrived in Jerusalem for Passover, what was the “fruit” that he was looking for? Instead of finding fruit, what were the misleading “leaves” that he found?
What spiritual fruit do you think is most lacking in the church today? What are some ways that we attempt to cover up our lack of fruit with the “leaves” of false religiosity?
Just as Jesus judged this fruitless fig tree, who/what does he pronounce judgment on during Holy Week?
The Temple in Jerusalem was famously associated with the mountain on which it was built. If “this mountain” refers to the Temple Mount, what is Jesus imagining that his followers can do by faith?
More broadly, mountains in the Bible symbolize political and religious forces opposed to Yahweh. What are modern “mountains” that we should pray for God to metaphorically “cast into the sea”?
Why is it difficult for us to believe that religious and political “mountains” can be defeated?
How can stories like the defeat of Pharaoh at the Red Sea help us when we are doubting our ability to oppose the religious and political mountains of our times?
In the Old Testament, God’s people had to go to the Temple Mount and ask the religious leaders to make sacrifices in order to experience cleansing and forgiveness. In the new reality that Jesus is ushering in, what do God’s people have to do in order to experience cleansing and forgiveness? What makes this change radical?
Jesus spoke these words about the importance of forgiveness just before he went into the Temple and forcefully denounced the current religious establishment. What does it look like to follow Jesus in opposing corruption and religious hypocrisy while also practicing radical forgiveness?
After Watching The Chosen Season 5 Episode 5: Bible Study & Discussion Questions
After watching an episode of The Chosen, I typically ask people a couple basic questions:
What stuck out to you about the episode? What did you connect with the most?
Did you have any questions? Was anything unclear?
As always, if the conversation takes on a life of its own, I encourage you to run with it instead of feeling bound by the questions that follow. However, if you need more structure, you can ask some of the following questions:
In Episode 5 what do we learn about Caiaphas’ family and his relationship with his father-in-law, Annas, and his brother-in-law, Ananus?
What kind of attitude do many of the religious leaders seem to have toward one another? How does their attitude compare to the type of leadership that Jesus wants his disciples to exercise?
Have you ever caught yourself falling into this type of attitude or leadership? What can we do to guard ourselves from falling into this mindset?
Shmuel applies Psalm 69:9 (“Zeal for your house has consumed me.”) to himself, while the disciples apply the same verse to Jesus. How is Shmuel’s zeal for God’s house similar to that of Jesus? How is it different?
Have you ever witnessed this type of genuine but misplaced zeal? What is the best response?
As Caiaphas prays for wisdom, he bemoans how God’s eternal word has been slandered and his holy temple has been ravaged. How is this ironic?
The disciples struggle to accept and make sense of Jesus’ ominous words about his coming suffering and death. Some try to deny the clear meaning by arguing that he’s being figurative, while others try to fit what Jesus is saying into their pre-established expectations and framework, and still others consider whether they will still be able to believe if what he says is true. Have you ever seen Christians struggle with Jesus’ words in similar ways?
What does it look like to trust Jesus, even when his words challenge our current expectations and worldview?
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