The creator and director of The Chosen is defending a Season 4 plot twist that has sparked pushback from some fans, saying in a live stream this week it was included in the series to convey a biblical truth: “Jesus does allow suffering.” (Warning: Spoilers ahead.) The plot twist occurs at the end of Season 4, Episode 3, when a Roman official, Quintus, grows irate at his inability to capture Jesus in a large crowd and begins swinging a sword. In his anger, Quintus stabs Ramah, the fiancee of the apostle Thomas in the series. Quintus then flees the scene.
With Ramah lying on the ground, bleeding and dying, she urges Thomas to “stay with” Jesus. Thomas then pleads with Jesus to raise her back to life. A tearful Jesus expresses remorse but responds, “It is not her time. I love you, Thomas. He loves you. I’m so sorry.” Moments later, the credits appear on the screen.
The scene ignited a debate among fans when the episode aired in theaters and is receiving renewed attention now that Season 4 is streaming.
Dallas Jenkins, the series’ creator and director, addressed the debate during a livestream Sunday after the episode had its streaming debut.
“This was not something that we just did to be interesting or to be shocking. This is something that we have thought about and planned since season 1, actually -- since we were first coming up with all seven seasons of the show,” Jenkins said of the scene. “... What you just saw is not something that took place in Scripture … but the truth, the spiritual truth of what we portrayed just now, is extremely important.”
Suffering is “something that people go through every day all over the world,” Jenkins added.
“And Jesus does allow suffering,” he said. “On this side of heaven, we will experience suffering, and in the Old Testament, in the New Testament, yes, even in the Gospels, Jesus does not heal or resurrect everyone,” Jenkins said. “It is a painful, painful spiritual truth that I think not only doesn’t contradict the Gospels, or contradict the character and intentions of Jesus, but it actually is an essential truth that we must accept if we are to follow Jesus if we are to accept that Jesus is good, that God the Father is good. We must wrestle with and navigate through the fact that He is good, in spite of and during, and because of our suffering.”
Jenkins cited a line from the Bible study God’s Goodness for The Chosen, which is a companion to Season 4. “God’s goodness eclipses our suffering,” he said.
Season 4 can be watched for free in The Chosen app.
On YouTube, the most popular comment was supportive: “As a mother who lost her 26-year-old daughter in 2022 to brain cancer, I have been deeply grateful for The Chosen for how you portray suffering. I have never felt more seen and heard. When Jesus says no is the hardest of roads to walk. Yet, I was given no choice. Thank you to the writers of The Chosen for seeing me.”
Photo Credit: ©SWN/The Chosen
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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