I’m a huge fan of The Chosen, and not just because it clears a low bar of what we’ve (sadly) come to expect in terms of the quality of Bible-themed films and series. The series, now in its second season, is quality TV by any standards. If you haven’t watched it yet, get your family together and dive in. It’s a beautiful, faithful, insightful exploration of the lives of the earliest disciples of Jesus.

Last year I wrote about four reasons The Chosen works so well. One reason is that the show has compelling characters—characters who embody real quirks and real emotion. “They aren’t flannel-graph cutouts made to regurgitate Scripture verse by verse,” I wrote. “They are humans with specificity.”

One of the most interesting characterizations in the show is Matthew the tax collector, portrayed as a being on the autism spectrum. Today at TGC we published an excellent piece by Old Testament scholar Andrew Abernethy, who looks at The Chosen’s Matthew in light of his own personal experience with disability. Jesus doesn’t call only the able-bodied or attractive to follow him. Jesus himself was unattractive (Isa. 53:2) and “like one from whom people hide their faces” (53:3 NIV). And that’s good news. As Abernethy writes, “An autistic Matthew reminds us that Jesus even calls the disabled to lead and uniquely participate in his mission.”