Does Eden Have a Miscarriage in The Chosen?
Season 3 Episode 5 of The Chosen begins with a harrowing scene involving Eden, Simon’s wife. Over the course of the groundbreaking series, and as we’ve followed the life of Jesus, we’ve watched countless individuals become healed and freed from diseases, disabilities, and injuries both physical and spiritual. In that time, and throughout history since then, Jesus’ name has become all but synonymous with miraculous healings. “Clean Part 2” begins with a jarring situation without a simple resolution: a miscarriage. Read on for a breakdown of one of the most emotional storylines in The Chosen thus far.
Did Eden Miscarry?
In Season 3 Episode 5: “Clean Part 2” of The Chosen, Simon’s wife Eden suffers a miscarriage. The scene is haunting, dissonant, and raw.
At the beginning of the episode, a bleeding Eden is rushed by a friend to a local doctor. She miscarries what would have been hers and Simon’s first child in his home. This experience leads Eden to sit in her pain, creating emotional distance between herself and Simon, who can’t seem to figure out what’s gone wrong.
Jesus arrives, and as He’s dining with and teaching His disciples in Simon and Eden’s home, He senses her pain. He teaches the group that the “ways of the kingdom” of which He counsels are new and won’t fit into any old frameworks or traditions, which makes a mark on Eden as she visibly works through her experience.
The rest of the episode follows Jesus as He both heals the woman with the issue of blood and raises the daughter of Jairus from the dead. Eden watches, in visible emotional turmoil, as these individuals are thanked for their profound faith and are blessed with life-saving miracles, and as the group celebrates the day’s incredible events. Her confused looks tell us that she doesn’t understand why others were blessed with healing, yet her unborn child was not.
Miscarriage is a difficult topic for many. The deep pain and grief associated with mourning not only one’s child, but a life with said child that that parent was deeply expectant for, are typically only fully understood by those who experience it. There is, of course, one exception: Jesus, who understands it all perfectly. It’s difficult to watch Eden undergo this isolation and grief, while it’s also inspiring and empowering to see Jesus’ incredible healing of others. This episode of The Chosen stretched viewers' understanding of miscarriage, grief, the nature of our hardships, and occasions when—despite faith—miracles do not occur.
How The Chosen Explores Loss and Grief, Among Healing
The Chosen explores every aspect of what it was like to follow Jesus during His earthly ministry, allowing present-day believers to draw connections to their own experiences as His followers. As we watch the events of Jesus’ ministry unfold within the episodes of The Chosen, we see that His followers two thousand years ago experienced the same human emotions, triumphs, and setbacks as we do.
Eden’s situation is not unlike the situation of many of Jesus’ faithful followers, both today and, presumably, during His life on Earth.
This episode presents one of the most complex motifs we’ve encountered thus far in the show: the duality of Jesus’ miraculous healing of countless people as an answer to their faith, and a faithful follower suffering a tragedy that, for reasons unknown to her and ourselves, goes unfixed or not prevented. Part of what made “Clean Part 2” so compelling is that it explored what happens when the healing doesn’t happen, or when a prayer isn’t answered in the way one expects. Because Jesus is out of town, we see Eden go to another rabbi for help. She looks on as Jesus is available for Jairus and the woman with the issue of blood. Both were strangers to Jesus, while Eden frequently sent her husband off to travel with Him.
Amid the joyful and miraculous events of this particular day, we see Eden looking on in the background, devastated. While it can be difficult as a viewer to reconcile the joy of the others with Eden’s pain, The Chosen not only paints us an accurate picture of life, but teaches a powerful lesson about perseverance. As depicted in this series, even faithful followers of Jesus experience grief and pain as indispensable elements to our existence. No matter how strong the faith or actions of Jesus' followers, certain trials will not be prevented from plaguing their lives.
The Chosen Eden Miscarriage
The powerful message and imagery of this episode are but a sample of the richness The Chosen has to offer. This show isn’t like anything you’ve ever seen. Enrich your life—and enjoy light-filled entertainment—by catching up on all three seasons of The Chosen here.
Have you been inspired by The Chosen and its real, relatable retellings of Jesus and His disciples? Help us fulfill our mission to bring this story to the world and Pay it Forward today. Be part of the movement to swim against the current like our heroes of old.
