Latest / The Lila Rose Show / E140: How to Become a Saint with Jonathan Roumie of The Chosen

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E140: How to Become a Saint with Jonathan Roumie of The Chosen · The Lila Rose Show

0:00
Is it getting harder or easier as you create more seasons to
0:03
play Jesus? Season 5 is the most challenging
0:06
thing I've ever done as an actor, and I think it's going to
0:08
be the most powerful season that we've ever done.
0:11
Was there a moment during those eight years where you felt like
0:14
throwing it in, throwing in the towel and being like, I can't,
0:17
I'm not going to keep trying at this acting thing?
0:19
Yeah, it was three months before I booked the Chosen.
0:21
I was broke in, you know, spiritually and emotionally.
0:24
And I, I had to just get on my knees and just surrender my
0:27
entire life and my career and. Jonathan Rumi, welcome to the
0:35
podcast. Thank you so much.
0:36
Thanks for making time to do this.
0:38
Thanks for having me. I know you're a busy guy.
0:39
A little. Bit it's been, it's been a busy
0:43
season, but God's in charge, so I'm just trying to keep up.
0:47
Awesome, and you've got the crowds following you too.
0:50
And touching your robe. Yeah, the hem of the garment,
0:53
just diving at me, every test of yourself.
0:57
But no, it's been, it's been great.
0:58
It's been a journey. Did you ever, did you ever think
1:01
when you were starting your acting career that you would you
1:04
would be where you are now, probably globally recognized and
1:08
wherever you go, people literally follow you, calling
1:11
you Jesus? I mean, I never conceived of the
1:15
of, of, of the idea of playing, of being known for playing
1:18
Jesus. You know, when you start
1:22
considering the ideas of, of success as a performer, as an
1:26
actor, as an artist, whatever it is, you ultimately come to the
1:32
realization that if there is success, then people will know
1:36
who I am. So they will, there will be a
1:38
certain amount of privacy that you will sacrifice.
1:41
Which is why when I first thought about acting as a, as a
1:45
profession, my, my main interests, my priority was was
1:51
specializing in voiceover. So animation was something that
1:55
really appealed to me. And I thought, well, I have
1:57
complete anonymity pretty much doing voice over.
2:01
So that'll be great because I never wanted to, to lose my
2:05
privacy or my anonymity, but God obviously had other plans.
2:10
So I'm like, thanks. It is what it is, but it's good.
2:14
And he's, he's been he's brought me through it, all of it piece
2:18
meal in a way that is manageable.
2:20
So I'm I'm grateful. A big thank you to our partner
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deepen your prayer life. You when you started doing the
3:14
Chosen, you were. How are you discovered to do the
3:17
chosen? I know a little bit of the
3:19
story, but I want to make sure our listeners know it.
3:21
Yeah, so I did. I knew Dallas Jenkins four years
3:26
previous to to the start of a chosen.
3:28
I got cast playing Jesus in a short film for his church's Good
3:32
Friday service in Chicago, outside of Chicago.
3:36
And and so we had a really good experience with that short film.
3:40
And I literally was on screen for like 5 minutes during the
3:43
crucifixion. It was a short film called The
3:46
Two Thieves, which you can find I think, on Amazon.
3:49
And then so we had a good experience with that.
3:52
And then he asked me to come back the following year to play
3:54
Jesus again for another Good Friday short film for his
3:59
church. And then we skipped the year and
4:00
then the 4th year we did another one.
4:04
And then it was about a year and a half later that the Chosen
4:08
came into existence. And it was kind of like, I get
4:11
to put the sandals back on. It's pretty cool.
4:13
And when he, when you were doing those that role for him, for his
4:16
church, you said you were only wanting you wanting to do voice
4:20
overs before that. So what what shifted for you
4:22
that you were willing to be on screen as Jesus?
4:25
Maybe it was because it was the role of Jesus.
4:26
Well, no. By then I was already in Los
4:29
Angeles. I'm from New York originally.
4:30
I moved to Los Angeles in 2010, and then I met Dallas in 2014.
4:35
So my decision to move to Los Angeles was based on the fact
4:39
that I had come to terms with with my desire to act full time
4:45
professionally because I had had some success in New York.
4:48
Not a whole lot, but enough where I thought, I think I could
4:51
do this. And I was already, I'd already
4:54
been working on camera in New York.
4:55
So I'd done a bunch of commercials the early 2000s and
4:58
then then like 2007, I started booking TV shows.
5:01
I did a few soaps. I did a couple of small parts
5:05
and pretty decent sized films with some big names and I
5:09
thought, I think, I think, I think I could kind of make a
5:12
living at this. And then I went to LA and then
5:15
struggled for eight years before The Chosen.
5:17
Eight years? Yeah, that's crazy.
5:19
Yeah. And and you know, I the the
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previous 12 years prior to that, I started in voice over.
5:27
So I was at it for literally 20 years as an actor before the
5:31
chosen hit. They, they, you know that saying
5:33
that every overnight sensation is 20 years in the making,
5:36
actually. Yeah, yeah.
5:38
So I when I was two years out of college, I was working in
5:43
production on a movie called Analyze This, directed by the
5:48
late Harold Ramis. And I had just started doing
5:51
voice over. My first gigs was were in 1998.
5:55
And that was here we were filming the the movie and and he
6:00
had heard that I was interested in acting.
6:02
And he says, you know, it takes 15 years to be an overnight
6:06
success or 20, depending on who you talk to.
6:08
And I said, yeah, that's for everybody else.
6:10
I mean he literally to to the to the year it was exactly 20
6:15
years. So was there a moment during
6:17
those eight years kind of in the wilderness of LA and you're
6:21
doing some roles and you're working where you felt like
6:26
throwing it in, throwing in the towel and being like, I can't,
6:28
I'm not going to keep trying at this acting thing?
6:30
Yeah, yeah, it was three months before I booked the chosen.
6:33
I, I basically came to a, a career crisis, a financial
6:38
crisis. I was, I was completely broke
6:41
and I, I was broke in, you know, spiritually and emotionally.
6:45
And I, I, I was holding on to my faith and, and I just didn't
6:49
understand why God would lead me here, give me these, you know,
6:55
occasional successes and, and foster this desire within my
6:59
heart. Give me the skills to, to
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clearly be able to do the work, but but not have it lead to
7:05
anything. And what I realized and, and I
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actually documented this process at the time, which you can
7:15
actually see in, in a documentary I did called
7:17
Jonathan Jesus, which is also on Amazon.
7:20
I, I, I got to the point where like, I just, I had to just get
7:26
on my knees and just surrender my entire life and my career.
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And the thing that I hadn't done was surrender my career because
7:32
I was trying to manage the control of it.
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I was trying to check all the boxes, the things that I had to
7:36
do to be a successful actor. And I was doing them and I was
7:39
juggling a bunch of different, you know, side jobs.
7:42
And then all of a sudden those dried up and next thing I know,
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I'm like out of food and I'm like, I don't know how I'm going
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to buy food tomorrow. And I experienced after I
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surrendered hours later, a fun, a literal financial miracle that
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changed my my life. It changed my concept of what it
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meant to surrender to God, to really trust God, to have faith
8:07
to, to activate my faith in a way that I never did before.
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And that changed everything. And the minute I did that said
8:15
that surrender prayer, like the weight lifted.
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And then it was 3 or 4 hours later where I got, ended up
8:21
getting 4 checks in the mail that came from all these
8:23
disparate, you know, companies that some of which I hadn't
8:27
worked in, in years. And there was like, oh, we
8:28
forgot to pay you five years worth of residuals.
8:30
Here's 800 bucks. And I went from a -80 bucks in
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my bank account and thousands of dollars in debt that morning in
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May of 2018 to that afternoon having $1100 in these checks.
8:45
And I was like, I guess that's what I haven't done is just
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completely trusted God that he would take care of me.
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And then three months later I booked the chosen.
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So that's incredible. It's never.
8:56
Been my life's never been the same since.
8:58
When you were working as an actor and before that as the
9:01
voice actor in New York and then LA, what was your life like with
9:05
God? Were you trying to be a
9:08
practicing Christian? You you mentioned.
9:11
I wasn't trying to be a St. OK, now I'm trying to be a St.
9:15
What's the difference? Everything is the difference.
9:18
It's what are your priorities in your life?
9:21
How are you living your, your social life?
9:23
Well? How do you feel about the issues
9:26
of life? You know, what do you measure?
9:32
By what standards do you measure the quality and success of your
9:35
life and the holiness of your life?
9:37
I hadn't considered what it meant to be holy.
9:40
I thought it was, that was something that I would, that
9:43
wasn't attainable for somebody like me, you know, And, and then
9:50
when I surrendered that it didn't, it wasn't just about my
9:53
career. It, it be, it began a series of
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what even prior to that, there began a series of steps in my,
10:01
my personal life and my relationships where I'm like, I
10:05
can't date the same way anymore. Like these things haven't
10:08
worked. Why haven't they worked?
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And here's why. And what I realized is that like
10:14
in my career, God wasn't first in my relationships.
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So it's like, well, I have faith, but if she doesn't, I'm
10:22
that's OK. I mean, live and let live, you
10:24
know? And then I realized like, no, I
10:25
think, I don't think it can work like that for me.
10:28
When you're, when you're on this journey to get closer to God and
10:33
every aspect and to, to, to, to, to achieve, you know, this level
10:39
of, of holiness or this nearness to Christ, It has to
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fundamentally change how you live your life and how you see
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the world and how you think about people and relationships
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and, and, and all of those areas that are fundamental to the
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human experience and the surrender moment.
10:58
This where where the I received these checks.
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It was just a reinforcement of that I have to give myself
11:04
wholly and completely to God. There's no way around it.
11:08
And it's pretty flippant difficult at times, but that
11:13
that is the journey we are asked to do.
11:15
It's never, I mean, a lot of people have the concept of the
11:20
Saint is somebody who lived the perfect life and, and nine times
11:23
out of 10 that it was the opposite of that.
11:26
It's like they suffered and they had, you know, so I was saying
11:29
like they had no problems and they were just perfect and
11:31
pious. Like no, like if you start
11:33
reading about the Saints with Halo, that Halo app does this is
11:37
the Saints and seven days challenge.
11:39
And and I narrated this one for Saint Maximilian Colby, which is
11:43
going on right now. I was cut, which is kind of
11:45
finishing up this week. And like some of the harrowing
11:49
experiences is that these people went through before, you know,
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usually martyrdom were just enough to make you go like that
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guy's doing that. Like I I think I can come up a
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little bit in my life, You know, I mean, I mean, I'm not living
12:03
in, you know, the middle of World War 2 Germany and in in a
12:08
prison camp in Auschwitz. But you know, like what are my
12:11
struggles and how can I offer my struggles to God?
12:14
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12:20
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delicious coffee. What was one of the after you
14:25
had that almost reconversion moment of total surrender?
14:30
And that's so powerful what you share because I believe that
14:33
that's what we were called to do almost daily.
14:34
Daily we have, I mean, I was just earlier this morning, like
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I have to surrender again on all the things like go through the
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list of what you're surrendering.
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Like sometimes you got to get specific and like uncover what
14:43
it is that you're holding onto in your heart.
14:45
But after that surrender, you have this financial miracle,
14:48
then you're going to book The Chosen just a few months later,
14:51
which I want to have a question, of course, questions about that.
14:54
But was there a moment and maybe it wasn't shortly after, maybe
14:57
it was, I don't know, sometime in the last few years where
15:00
there was a huge trial of that surrender associated with that
15:03
surrender that you can share. And how did you deal with it?
15:07
Well, even when I booked the Chosen I wasn't wasn't like I
15:13
was immediately on easy street. I still, I still had to do these
15:17
other jobs to kind of survive. Like it wasn't survival.
15:19
It was, wasn't survival money was less than survival money
15:23
because initially we only had, we only shot 4 episodes and
15:27
there was no money like at all. And it was an almost like
15:32
another six months before we shot the back 4 episodes because
15:35
we were crowdfunding it. And so we were depending on like
15:38
the generosity of strangers to believe in this thing that we
15:41
were doing. And so I still had to keep
15:44
working, but how I perceived my struggles, my and my trials was
15:49
completely different than than prior than but prior to the the
15:53
surrender, I just didn't worry. I didn't, I wasn't concerned.
15:58
And inevitably like I'd go maybe a few weeks without work.
16:02
I'm like, got some bills coming up, but I know you got me.
16:06
Like, I'm cool and inevitably, like the night before, like a
16:13
bill was due or something, a check would come in or somebody
16:17
would call me out of the blue for work.
16:19
Like it just I'm like, you know, it was kind of like God was
16:24
saying, you still trust me? You sure?
16:27
OK. So do you worry at all?
16:30
I mean, I have all kinds of worries, but I have to check
16:33
them at the door every day like everybody else.
16:37
And and I have a profoundly enhanced level of trust and
16:48
faith in God about all the things that I'm stressed about.
16:53
You know, that that when I bring them to prayer, I'm like, I, I
16:57
know you got it. Just help me deal with the, the
17:01
physical side effects of stress because I know, I know he has it
17:06
and I just have to entrust it. And then and that I think that's
17:09
where the prayer life comes in. It's just like, OK, I just got
17:12
to dig, dig into my prayer. I got to, I got to do my rosary.
17:16
I got to, you know, I got to, this is a rosary bracelet.
17:18
That's why I looked at mine. It's not just a regular
17:20
bracelet, but like a rosary in my pocket.
17:21
But I have to, I have to commit to my prayer life in a way that
17:26
allows me to, to live out the things that I'm, I'm trying to
17:33
be a model of for other people myself.
17:35
You know, I have to, I have to follow that or I have to walk
17:39
the walk really in my own life. And, and that's not easy, but
17:43
it's something that you have to commit to.
17:45
On a on a foundational level, it sounds like in that surrender
17:48
moment and then when you ultimately booked the chosen and
17:51
then worked hard to make the chosen what it has known today
17:54
and loved today. As it sounds like you had this
17:58
conviction though, that you had these talents as an actor and
18:01
that you should use your talents as an actor.
18:04
Oh, yeah. I mean, I, even before the
18:06
Chosen, I was convinced that God had a plan for me with the gifts
18:11
that he gave me and that he would somehow use them for his
18:16
benefit to reach or change the world.
18:21
And, and, and I just, I knew that in my bones.
18:25
I just didn't know how, you know, I felt it, I felt
18:28
convicted in it. And I knew it was just a matter
18:32
of staying with it, you know, And when I in that surrender
18:36
moment, I said, or if there's something else I'm supposed to
18:39
be doing, you have to, you have to show me what it is because I
18:41
do not know. I don't, there's nothing else
18:44
calling me or drawing me to, to, to do something different or to
18:48
serve you in some other way. So if there is and I'm not
18:51
seeing it, like I need you to show it to me because I'm, I'm
18:55
blind at the moment. So show me what it is or, or,
19:00
you know, just take this weight from me and I'll hang in.
19:04
I'll continue to hang in and. And he did.
19:08
What's so powerful about that is that you are willing to sit, to
19:10
let it go. Yeah.
19:12
And and that, I think, is where maybe some people struggle.
19:14
Is it because they say I'm surrendering it to God?
19:16
But their mind is fixed on an outcome, right?
19:19
Let me just send this e-mail, just one more e-mail.
19:21
Like I thought I'll surrender it, Lord, But I think if I just
19:23
call this person, maybe that'll change things.
19:25
It's like, OK, well then have you really surrendered it?
19:28
Like what if you can feel the tension released from your
19:31
shoulders after you have professed to surrender something
19:36
and and think out the example of like, OK, well, if this doesn't
19:41
happen, how am I going to feel? And really like get ignation
19:45
about it? Just be like, let me sit and
19:47
what it would feel like if this didn't work.
19:50
And if you're stressed still, then you haven't surrendered it
19:54
truly. Is that kind of like
19:56
contemplating death in a way? Like even if I die this moment,
20:00
it's in the hands of the almighty fuck God.
20:02
I think so, yeah. I mean I.
20:05
It's like it doesn't matter in one sense.
20:06
Like God's got it. I think about that.
20:09
I mean, I have these skull rings that are.
20:11
Yeah, I noticed. That yeah.
20:13
And it's, it's, that's what it is.
20:15
It's like, OK, if, if tomorrow doesn't arrive for me, like have
20:19
I done everything I can today to practice holiness and to grace
20:24
and, and to, to try to serve God the best to the best of my
20:29
abilities? And hopefully the answer will be
20:34
yes. And, and there is this peace
20:38
with, with the concept of, of death that I think as as a
20:45
Christian, as a Catholic, that we're, we're truly asked to
20:49
contemplate because we don't know the day or nor the hour,
20:54
right? So I think it's something that
20:56
we, it's at having a healthy relationship with the idea of
20:59
death. And, and I mean, this is, this
21:02
is just a stopgap anyway. This is just a, you know, one of
21:06
the stops on the journey to our true home with, with our our
21:11
Lord. And so becoming detached to the
21:16
things of the world and the outcomes of, of success and, and
21:20
the, the things we pine for. I think the more detached we can
21:24
be from this world, the better off we're going to be and the
21:28
more prepared we'll be for the next.
21:30
How do you stay grounded, Jonathan, with all of the huge
21:34
interest and I mean the huge fan base that you've developed with
21:39
The Chosen and then Jesus Revolution and your other
21:42
projects, you're working on it. I mean, it's incredible to say
21:44
it's like this, almost like this revival happening where people
21:47
are feeling this encounter with Jesus through your creative work
21:51
that they maybe had an experience before they're having
21:53
it reaffirmed. And then of course, that gets
21:55
connected to you as a, as the actor, you as the talent, you as
21:57
the person. How do you deal with all that?
22:00
I know that it's not up to me. I know that it's, it's by here
22:04
before the grace of God go I and I'm, I'm here because of grace.
22:08
I'm, I'm, I survived the, the lean years and the the wandering
22:13
in the desert by the grace of God.
22:15
And so I have to constantly point to him.
22:17
I kind of feel like I as as a media apostle or a media
22:22
evangelist, if you will, that you know, passively not, you
22:27
know not, I'm not going out doing sermons or anything,
22:29
thankfully, but kind of though. On Instagram, right, you do
22:34
prayers. Then yeah, I mean, I used to
22:35
pray and stuff, but I, I, I don't have that talent, I think
22:38
to, to, to do what pastors and priests do.
22:42
But I can, I can use my gifts to, to be a witness to, to kind
22:46
of point the way in, you know, in, in this modern and artistic
22:52
away as, as could be, you know, reminiscent of a of John the
22:55
Baptist. I mean, he, all he did was he
22:57
prepared the way. And I'm just, I find myself like
23:00
that. So I'm just like, go to that
23:01
guy, go to Jesus. Like I'm, I'm just here, I'm not
23:04
actual Jesus. I'm I'm here, I'm playing Jesus
23:06
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23:11
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23:17
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delivered. Did you have people growing up
24:16
or early in your career who said you look like Jesus?
24:18
You should be Jesus in the movies.
24:21
Yeah, I had when I was in when I was in my early 20s, I had AI
24:25
had a job. I worked in a like a, like a, an
24:29
express mail company, like worldwide that that did mail all
24:33
over the world. And there was this guy that
24:36
worked there that, and I had long hair and a beard.
24:38
And every morning I when I'd see him, he's like, hey, Jesus,
24:44
what's up? Jesus.
24:45
I'm like this guy, you know? And I'm like, yeah, long hair
24:48
and a beard, darker features. Yeah, that's cool.
24:51
I'll. I don't mind it at all.
24:52
You know, I had no clue that that would become a.
24:57
Thing it wasn't a thing in your mind like oh, I could I would I
24:59
would kill it. Jim Caviezel got out of the way.
25:01
I'd kill it as I. Wasn't Jim Caviezel did it so I
25:03
don't have to? Yeah, he, I mean, he's amazing
25:06
too. Yeah, yeah.
25:07
I had no clue that this was where my life would lead.
25:12
How do you prepare for your role as Jesus in The Chosen?
25:16
What do you do to get yourself in the headspace of literally
25:20
God? Well, I can't do that because
25:24
I'm not that, and so I don't even attempt that.
25:28
What I can do is approach Jesus from his humanity, being human
25:33
fully and flawed human that I am his, His perfection of humanity
25:40
is not something I can touch, but the struggle with the
25:43
realities of humanity and the the what it means to be living
25:48
as a human in this world and dealing with fear and lonely
25:51
loneliness and isolation and pain and joy and and mirth and
25:57
suffering and sorrow. Like I, I, I can can identify
26:00
with most of the his humanity. I think his humanity was, you
26:06
know, an emotionally intense experience, like the most, I
26:16
guess if, if, like, if we experience emotions on a level
26:19
from like 1 to 10, like he would experience them at like 100, you
26:24
know, and because I mean, being the author of life, like that's
26:30
I, I don't even know what his humanity could have been like.
26:33
But I can just lend whatever I have to, to that and get out of
26:40
the way for everything else. And my goal is to essentially be
26:45
a mirror reflecting the light and love of God through this
26:50
character, through these lines that I'm given to say through my
26:54
own devotion and my faith and my love for Jesus myself.
26:57
And I hope that it registers and it reads as authentic and, and,
27:03
and trying to really put myself in the time and space of what
27:08
he, he might have experienced and what he might have thought.
27:11
And, and then whatever the result is for the audience is,
27:17
is out of my control, you know, But I just, I try to show up and
27:20
get out of God's way and let him do the, the mystical work that
27:25
comes as a result of, of this performance.
27:29
That, and, and, and like I say, mystical because, like the
27:33
things that people reach out to us about and things that, things
27:38
that have happened in people's lives, like people that were
27:41
going to commit suicide and decided not to because they
27:43
watched a few episodes of the show and it did something in
27:46
their heart that they, like, weren't expecting or atheists
27:49
that have converted and started seeking a relationship with
27:52
Jesus. And, you know, even a letter
27:56
from a Satan worshippers, like, you know, I don't believe this,
28:00
but I really like this show. Like if he's writing in like,
28:03
what is God doing in that guy's life?
28:04
Do you know what I mean? Like, you just don't know.
28:06
You don't know. People are watching the show now
28:09
in prison. It's been seen in every country
28:11
on the planet. It's it's been brought into the
28:15
country of like Madagascar, like there's never been any foreign
28:19
television, you know, that has been seen.
28:21
And like the president of Madagascar is a huge fan and is
28:24
made it accessible for the entire country.
28:27
And like crazy things are happening with it because of the
28:30
show, because of through God, you know, and, and the, the show
28:33
being the, the vehicle by which God is reaching people on a
28:36
whole other level. So it is mystical in that
28:39
aspect. And in as much as I am part of
28:42
creating that experience, I, you know, I know that is has nothing
28:46
to do with me. I just, I show up and be like,
28:49
let's do it And and then these things happen.
28:53
So it's, it's been, it's been pretty extraordinary.
28:56
Is it? Is it getting harder or easier
28:58
as you create more seasons to play Jesus?
29:01
Well, we just wrapped season 5 and that was for me, that was
29:05
the hardest season that I've ever had.
29:06
It was the, the most challenging thing I've ever done as an
29:09
actor. And I think it's going to be the
29:12
most powerful season that we've ever done.
29:17
I can only imagine what the crucifixion is going to be like.
29:19
But most of my dialogue now is in the rearview mirror, like all
29:24
the big speeches have been said. So it's, it's kind of, it's
29:28
bittersweet for me, but I know going into this season, which
29:32
also covers, you know, it covers Holy Week.
29:34
And so we have the Last Supper and we have the Garden of
29:36
Gethsemane and, and I, I, I feel pretty confident that I, that I
29:41
left it all on the floor, you know, left it all in the field,
29:43
so to speak, and. What was the hardest thing for
29:47
you to do The last? Supper and the Garden of
29:49
Gethsemane, both of those were really, really difficult for me,
29:53
so. You personally like emotionally
29:56
or you to try to be Jesus in those scenes?
29:59
All of it just I meant just think of it like imagine you
30:03
have to be Jesus in these pivotal moments in our faith,
30:09
breaking the bread big, instituting the Eucharist.
30:12
Like what do you do with that? You know, like how do I even
30:15
approach that? And.
30:17
How do you approach that? Do you have a spirit?
30:19
Prayer, prayer and supplication and fasting to a point.
30:25
And, and you know, when we shot the institution I had, I had my
30:31
spiritual director in town with me basically praying for me as I
30:35
was shooting and saying rosaries.
30:37
And just like, you know, and, and a lot of my team was there
30:41
praying for me and I, I needed to, to make sure that I had all
30:45
the spiritual firepower behind me.
30:47
And I have, I mean, we have the most amazing fans.
30:50
They're so open and, and, and genuine and, and loving and, and
30:57
just completely committed to praying for all of us and this
31:04
show and how it can touch, you know, the world and change the
31:08
world. And I, and I think it's, it's
31:10
doing that one person at a time just by virtue of the letters
31:14
that we receive. And, and I'd even heard it
31:16
recently. I don't know, I don't know how
31:21
public this has been, but I think I'm OK because it's such a
31:25
remarkable story. But there was an ex Taliban
31:28
member that converted like through this show.
31:34
I mean, that was what I had heard that like, they'd watch
31:37
the show and they were like, they must have been coming out
31:39
of this life and all of a sudden this show got into their hands
31:44
and they're like following Jesus now.
31:46
It's like, that's crazy. That's crazy.
31:52
Yeah, praise. God, glory to God.
31:54
Nice. All right.
31:56
Last question, You're obviously in the very middle of the chosen
32:00
bonanza. I mean, there's the next
32:02
season's coming out and there's much more to come.
32:04
I'm sure they're beyond even that.
32:06
Two seasons. Left.
32:07
We've got two seasons left. When you think about your
32:10
personal life, what are your, if you can share, if you're willing
32:13
to share, what are your, what are your goals?
32:15
What are your dreams? And also professionally beyond
32:17
even the chosen. I mean, do you have a vision of
32:19
what you're aiming at at this point?
32:22
You know, my, my goal would be to continue to reach people and
32:28
get them to think about their relationship with their creator,
32:32
whether it's playing Jesus or some other character.
32:35
I mean, I, I try to participate in stories that have some sort
32:40
of redemptive quality and if it's, if it's skews more on, you
32:46
know, the secular like, you know what, what about the characters
32:51
that I'm playing? Even if it's not a faith or
32:54
faith adjacent kind of story, which, you know, I hope to do
32:59
more of those as well. I think there's always room for
33:02
the character, whether it's spoken or unspoken, to have some
33:06
kind of a journey that informs them to have some kind of a
33:09
relationship with God. And, and what I've learned even
33:12
from playing Jesus is that my relationship with my faith will
33:18
come through, I think, no matter what I'm doing.
33:21
And that is my prayer anyway. That's what I asked God to to
33:24
allow that it may kind of catalyze people who maybe have
33:28
never thought about, you know, what happens when they die or
33:31
where they're going to go or what, what their relationship is
33:33
like with God and who is Jesus Christ and why was he so
33:37
important to, you know, why is he so important to, to humanity
33:41
to at least instigate, you know, somebody to ask those questions
33:45
of themselves. So that professionally and then
33:49
personally, you know, I mean, if there's any, if there is a plan
33:54
of God has a plan for me to have a family maybe one day that's
33:57
I'm open to that. Basically, my, my ammo is to, is
34:02
to just serve him in whatever capacity he's asked me to and
34:07
to, to recognize and to discern those, those choices and those
34:13
decisions that I will have to make, you know, clearly, you
34:19
know, in, in consultation with him.
34:22
And to not ever get, you know, blinded by my own ambition or my
34:28
own interests or, or anything like that is to just, you know,
34:32
serve Him with all my soul, all my heart, and all my strength.
34:36
Thank you for surrendering to God and sharing your incredible
34:39
talent with the world. Thank you.
34:40
It's really special. I appreciate.
34:41
You, Jonathan, God bless you. That was so fun to talk with
34:45
Jonathan Rumi. Thank you for listening.
34:47
I was getting questions from you guys to ask him and I tried to
34:49
squeeze in some of them as we went.
34:51
Tonight I'm going to be actually sitting down with Jonathan for a
34:54
full hour to do another interview with him with our
34:57
friends over at Jay Sarah High School.
34:59
That interview is available to you on Locals for those of you
35:03
who become Locals patrons. So if you go over to our locals
35:06
page and you sign up to become a patron and that way you can
35:09
support the show, you can check out the hour long conversation
35:12
that I have with Jonathan Rumi over there.
35:14
Go check it out at the link in the description.
35:16
Thank you all so much again for listening.
35:18
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35:20
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