A desperate David fasts and prays for days. His first son with Bathsheba has been struck ill.
When David hears of his child’s death, he prepares to eat and worship before the Lord—as he fasted only while there was still hope.
Bathsheba questions why David still worships when the Lord has not answered his prayers, as has happened on so many other occasions.
Unable to answer, David reminds Bathsheba that the separation will only be for a time. Until that day comes, they will worship the Lord in their sorrows and joys.
This Old Testament prologue to episode three of The Chosen’s fourth season leads with Catholic-centred questions about suffering, ritual and unanswered prayers, which Jesus and his disciples unpack amid intense scrutiny from both the Romans and Israelite leaders.
At the steps of the synagogue, Jesus heals a man who was blind since birth, explaining that his blindness is not due to sin, as the Pharisees teach, but an opportunity for him to glorify God.
Jesus calls out the Pharisees for being too focused on ritual purity and man-made traditions, rather than inner purity and the law of God.
And as the growing crowds begin demanding their own miracles, Jesus refuses to perform signs for them, insisting they are a faithless generation.
Like Bathsheba, the crowds cling onto a “pagan” view of miracles, expecting God to dish them out as long as they perform the right rituals in the right way.
It isn’t about being clean or unclean; it is about faith and trust, that from our miracle or in our suffering, God will be glorified.
This difficult truth is realised as the disciples experience their own tragedy during the chaos of the public debate between Jesus and the Pharisees.
It is one thing to accept that God isn’t obliged to grant miracles in response to ritualism and custom, but what happens when you keep the faith and the outcome is the same?
What happens when your cry goes seemingly unheard?
The Chosen writers gives us their best answer in the form of a merciful Christ, sharing in our grief, offering us his love and reminding us that, like David and Bathsheba, our suffering will only be for a time.
Episode 3 from Season 4 of The Chosen can be watched via The Chosen App or http://www.thechosentv.com.au/