Here is the full transcript of Jonathan Roumie’s speech on day four of the National Eucharistic Congress 2024 in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Listen to the audio version here:
TRANSCRIPT:
The Chosen: Filming The Last Supper
Oh, my goodness. You made it. You’re here. And more than that, He’s here. Glory to God. Jesus is here. I knew a year ago or so that I would be here. But until about 2 o’clock in the morning, I wasn’t sure exactly when because I was still in Texas filming season 5 of The Chosen.
Everything I’ve seen, photos and videos that’s been sent to me the last several days, man, what an experience you guys have had. Jesus is just present in the building, not going anywhere and making sure that we all remember that fact. I wish I could have been here with you. But as I said, funny enough, I was filming.
What’s even funnier is God’s timing on everything. So as I said, it was probably almost a year ago that I committed to being here. I knew it might be a little dicey with my filming schedule, but I thought, God knows what He’s doing. But what I didn’t know is that He would put me here the day after I spent a week filming The Last Supper.
The Pressure of Portraying Jesus
And when I tell you that a little bit of pressure to film those scenes, probably the most iconic scenes in Jesus’ life and ministry because the institution of the Eucharist is basically what gave Himself to us for eternity. And so needless to say, my stomach wasn’t the best the week we started, but I had faith and more important than that, I had my spiritual director with me, Father Ian.
He flew out to Texas to be with me to make sure that I had all the spiritual grounding that I needed to go into these scenes properly and with a right heart and with a holy posture.
Because at the end of the day, no matter what I do for the rest of my life, playing Jesus Christ will transcend anything and everything that I do. It is the greatest honor, not only of my career, but definitively of my life. And I can only thank God for the opportunity to serve Him using the gifts that He gave me to impact the rest of the world and the culture. So glory to God. Thank You, Lord, for that.
Spiritual Warfare on Set
I’m sitting there, it’s probably the second day. The first day was kind of like a half day of filming for me. The second day began the hard work, the heavy lifting, and I’m sitting there in the hair and makeup chair, and before I knew it, I felt this weight compressing my chest.
And I started to get this pain that went right through my jaw into my ears, without any indication as to why or what was going on, and I started thinking like, oh man, Satan’s at it again, trying to discourage me, trying to get inside my head and make me think about my humanity versus the divinity of our Lord, and focusing on Him. Whenever we put our eyes on ourselves, that’s when we lose sight of everything. So we keep our eyes focused on Jesus is when things get clearer.
And so I started to pray, and I also knew, as I said, I had an ally with me in the room just above, and it turns out he was praying a rosary for me at that time that I was going through that. And about 15 minutes later, it subsided, and I went upstairs, and he’s like, “Oh, I just finished praying a rosary for you.” I said, “Okay, well, another reason to pray the rosary, as if I needed another one.”
The Weight of Portraying the Eucharist
And I thought about what it was that maybe was stressing me or giving me anxiety about these scenes, about the weight of portraying one of the most important scenes, certainly the most important scene in our faith. Well, I’ll leave Bishop Barron to argue which might have been theologically more important, you know, the Eucharist or the resurrection. I don’t know. I’m going to stay out of it.
I’m not a theologian. I’m not actual Jesus. I kind of have to remind people I’m not actual Jesus. I don’t know the answer. I’m pretending to be Jesus on the TV show. That’s just for all 60,000 of you, so that’s clear. Not the real Jesus. TV Jesus, real Jesus. TV Jesus, real Jesus.
But I think the reason why it became so stressful to me at one point where it manifested in this anxiety was because as a Catholic, I understand the weight. I understand the reality of what it is we believe and what that host represents and what that bread and that wine, once the Holy Spirit comes down and changes them, what that actually means to us and who that actually is now that we are about to receive. And so know that every drop of blood and sweat and tears, and there were many tears going into these scenes for many, many reasons, but the primary being that look what we get to experience.
Look what we get to receive in our lives every day, at least every Sunday, hopefully more than every Sunday. Receiving the Eucharist, going to daily Mass for me has changed my life. The Eucharist for me is healing. The Eucharist for me is peace. The Eucharist for me is my grounding. The Eucharist for me is His heart within me.
So I thought it might be interesting to read a passage of Scripture that very neatly folds into The Last Supper, one which, because of the timeline where we’re at in the series, we will unlikely ever film. But I hope it might give you an idea of what it could have been like when Jesus Himself said these words, if I may. A reading from the Gospel of John.
The Bread of Life Discourse
“Amen, amen, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Our ancestors ate the manna in the desert, but they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that one may eat it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. And the bread that I will give is My flesh for the life of the world.”
The Jews quarreled among themselves saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” Jesus said to them, “Amen, amen, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you do not have life within you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him on the last day, for My flesh is true food, and My blood is true drink. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood remains in Me, and I in him.”
“Just as the living Father sent Me, and I have life because of the Father, so also the one who feeds on Me will have life because of Me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died, whoever eats this flesh, this bread will live forever.” These things He said while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.
And many of His disciples who were listening said, “The saying is hard, who can accept it?” Since Jesus knew that His disciples were murmuring about this, He said to them, “Does this shock you? That if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where He was before, it is the Spirit that gives life, while the flesh is of no avail. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life, but there are some of you who do not believe.”
Jesus knew from the beginning the ones who would not believe, and the one who would betray Him. And He said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to Me unless it is granted Him by My Father.” As a result of this, many of His disciples returned to their former way of life and no longer accompanied Him. Jesus then said to the twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered Him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and are convinced You are the Holy One of God.” The Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, Lord Jesus Christ.
Closing Remarks
Thank you for allowing me that very, very intimate moment in Scripture that I personally have so longed to see. That might be as close as I’ll ever get, so it is a great honor to me that you allowed me to do that. Thank you.
And I say I’ve gone way over my time, so I want to thank you, I want to encourage you, I want to bless you in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ that this time here, this remaining time that you have, be one of the most fruitful, one of the most challenging, one of the most spiritually uplifting and fulfilling times in your life. It’s been an honor to be here. God bless you. Thank you.
