you're an actor you're looking for work your agent or somebody calls you and says we'd like you to play Jesus what's that like it was an answered prayer [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the person who made that call was uh um a friend and a colleague by that point guy by the name of Dallas Jenkins who created The Chosen and I had played Jesus for him for uh his Church's Good Friday service in these little vignettes uh three times over the course course of four years between 2014 and 2017 just literally in a church in a church so we'd go and we shoot out on a farm these vignettes whatever built sets into this in his church had like a little studio and and so we would but mostly on location we would film these little uh films that would be in the spirit of Good Friday or illustrate a particular gospel passage or scripture scene and that that was um in line with the theme of of the the service for that year and yeah so the first time I played Jesus in one of those short films uh was the crucifixion it was I was in it for five minutes um the the the the film itself it's called the two thieves you can actually find it I think on Amazon still um and it was about it was a it was a wh if story about the two thieves crucified on either side of Christ like who were they how did they get there how do you go in like one of gospels in in one paragraph from you know he was being mocked and reviled even by the thieves next to him to all of a sudden the penitent Thief as he's referred to gives his life basically to Jesus in that moment said Lord remember me when you come into your kingdom and Jesus says truly today you will be with me in paradise and he basically it's like the first confession on the cross and and he grants him access to the kingdom and so how does that how do you go from being one of the mockers revilers to this sudden conversion on the cross and so he tries to Dallas tries to answer that question in the course of this 25 minute film I I actually read for the penitent thief because he's got this uh this fantastic narrative Arc and then and I thought I'd had a great audition it was in it was in LA at the time and I knew it was an opportunity to to like you know get paid a a nominal stien for some work in another city in this this case suburban Chicago and I thought man I would audition for the short film I don't care if it's for a church it's all it's great story script is great so I so I go and I audition I had a great audition I'm like I think I nailed it couple days later I get a call back to come back in but this time to read for Jesus and I thought to myself ah man I didn't get the first role and then I looked again at the script I'm like said Jesus got like five lines in the whole thing but I had happened to have played Jesus six months prior for another completely independent project up in Washington state at a studio for this Catholic company called St Luke Productions about this uh Saint in the early 20th century named St FAA who was considered a Mystic she had these Visions she wrote an entire diary that was sort of dictated to her by by Christ himself in these visions and so I played Jesus in The Vision aspect of that story for this traveling one woman show where it was an actress playing the saint uh a screen behind her couple of rudimentary set pieces and then all of the other characters in the show in the play including these visions of Jesus was projected on a screen that she would choreographically time out her scenes with with for 90 minutes so fast forward 6 months later I get audition for the two thieves I didn't get the the peniton thief I go and I audition for Jesus because I'm like you know what I enjoyed playing Jesus six months ago like this would be cool if I got if I got anything it' be cool because I wasn't working steadily consistently and the way Dallas tells the story about 10 seconds into the audition he's like that's Jesus that's my Jesus for this show and so we did that film and it was screened he brought me back to to view it like a month later at the Good Friday service with his church about seven Services it was like 15,000 people saw this thing in a matter of a day and a half and it was remarkably well received it was so beautiful and it was it was the essentially the the foundational bones of the concept of the chosen which is this um sort of ignatian spirituality this ignatian uh insight into uh the gospels which is basically you put yourself in the gospel you ask in the gospels you ask yourself a series of questions and that's how you meditate on the gospels through this form of spirituality and so this this process of film making was kind of like a a living example of that on on cellul or digital Celluloid and so we did it again the following year for a different kind of scene and then we skipped the year and then 2017 the spring of 2017 I did one more film with him for his church and then it was in probably the summer of 2018 where he called me and say hey want to put the sales back on I think we're going to do this four episodes of uh a crowdfunded TV show probably not going to go anywhere but it'd be some consistent work and I jumped at the chance I thought okay I had now played Jesus for him a few times I was getting really comfortable with the role I was also pulled in during that time between like 2016 and 2019 I started doing um these passion plays being involved as in these passion plays that are friend of mine was was uh directing and then I helped co-direct and then I co-wrote a version of of the passion that we would um put on for our church and so for whatever reason like God was putting me in these situations in these um in these stories about Jesus so often in such a short I mean a relatively short period of time in a few years I'd played Jesus like five six seven times and I started to think like Well there must be something to this like I I don't know what it is yet and then when I got the call for the chosen the penny dropped and it was like oh all of that was preparation for this and it became much more than anyone thought it would be I would say so yes the four episodes that probably wouldn't go anywhere became Eight Episodes of a first season of the show that was crowdfunded by selling shares to fund the show and then released in the fall of 2019 re-released for free because we were charging I think 15 bucks for the season the entire Eight Episodes on DVD and streaming and and then when the pandemic hit the chosen the folks at the chosen said we want to do something to kind of ease people's burdens and and and give the show away for free and it exploded after that like Beyond anyone's imagination and since then it's it's always been free on the App The Chosen app so uh and then now we just did a deal with Amazon Amazon is going to be our exclusive window for the streaming of the show after its initial theatrical run which for season 5 will be March 28th it'll be in theaters for about a month then it'll go to Amazon for 90 days exclusively and then it'll go to the app where it will remain free I mean it's turned into the biggest you know thing in that genre maybe ever yeah yeah they don't often nobody really releases figures in streaming for viewership uh and any of that kind of data but we do cuz we're like well we don't care we want to tell people like it's been estimated right now that about 280 million people have seen the show globally 340 million in the un States total so that's that's pretty deep penetration as we say in TV I would say so that's amazing so the reason I asked the question and you didn't Flinch was that I think some people would feel like that's a pretty heavy role it's Jesus yeah basis of the world's largest religion yeah God himself according to Christians did you ever feel that on you like that's a lot in the first season I did um there was this moment especially um which I've kind of talked about at times where and it's still I think it still sort of affects me I actually like telling the story because it's a reminder for me to to remember what it's all about and who I'm serving as I as I Endeavor to portray this role and so we were about Midway through the first season and the time came for for me as Jesus to start preaching you know um full-on sermons and we started filming and then as I was going through these words I I suddenly it's like I kind of felt I was outside of myself listening to myself preached to a crowd outside the doors of of in our story uh zebede James and John's father zebedee's house and there was a crowd of people that would was growing crowd of of of onlookers you know and our wonderful background actors that participate in the show and and many of them of whom have participated for years um there this crowd starts growing outside the house as Jesus begins preaching and the scene's not specifically about Jesus it's about other stuff that's happening in the background that becomes the foreground of the story and in the background Jesus is preaching but I still have to preach I still have to say these lines from scripture convincingly and and try to Mesmerize and Galvanize the people that are listen listening to me and get their attention and they seemed really attentive so much so that it made me really self-aware yeah and I thought what am I saying what are these words like these are holy holy words set by the holiest being That Ever Walked the face of the earth I shouldn't be doing this this this feels wrong and and so I would have those feelings and then you know we would stop and then move on to the next setup and put the camera in a different place and then as it as it went on I I just had to stop the production for a moment to talk to the director to Dallas changins and I said can we just can we hold can we just slow down a second and he said what's what's going on and so we I I took him aside I said listen man I I'm I'm having a hard time right now like I was starting to feel panicked and overwhelmed um almost like they be I've only had one panic attack in my life and and started to feel like it was creeping into that and I didn't know what why or how well I kind of knew I thought I knew why and um and what was going on but I just said Can Can we slow it down and he said what's what's going on and I said I'm saying these words and it's and hearing them hearing myself say them I don't feel worthy to be saying them this is why I tell this story because it drives home the point of the gift that I've been given in playing this role and he puts his hand on my shoulder and he says brother none of us are truly worthy but here we are I mean it's you and me here we are we're doing this so that the world may know his story those who haven't heard his story story we know the impact that he's had on the world and on our lives personally and I'm slightly paraphrasing because it's been many years since since we shot that but that that was the essence and it settled my spirit and and I thought you know he's right he's right for whatever reason God saw fit to put for whatever reason God saw fit to put me in that role and not somebody else nobody else auditioned there wasn't there weren't auditions for the role he had just called me up and said you want to do this again and I said yes of course I didn't hesitate and but then when we got to that moment it started to dawn on me the weight of what it was that I was being given to do and would then inform the encounters and the experiences that I would have as the show progressed and as we now arrive here at season five the dawn of season five when you started the series did you believe did you believe it did you believe in the gospel oh yeah I was raised Christian I was baptized Greek Orthodox uh we lived in New York City and then when my family moved into to the suburbs there weren't really Greek Orthodox options so my dad having gone to a Catholic School in Egypt and my mom being Catholic from Ireland and raised in the faith as well um were more than happy to just go down the street to the local Catholic Church was familiar to my dad and part of my mom's grow up upbringing and and for myself and my sisters it just it it didn't feel different it just felt right and uh so I in my first communion and my confirmation as a Catholic and probably when I got into my early 20s I was revisiting the idea of my Orthodox Roots as as uh cousins and family members were getting married in the Orthodox church and I saw admired the beauty and and and the the sanctity with which they they approach the Liturgy which is qu which is quite different than uh Catholicism for the most part I mean there's Eastern Catholic rights which are more similar to to Greek Orthodox but uh it it was different but it didn't draw me to go back completely cuz I think I just felt like no this this feels this feels like the truth as I understand it in God's eyes this seems true and it's the church that Christ himself ultimately started and for for the reasons God knows uh and despite every every effort to thwart it especially the the largest Empire in the world at the time despite the the Roman Empire's attempts to stamp it out through murder yeah it didn't happen it's still going and and that means something to me um and so doing the show um playing the character of Jesus uh working with the Hallow app um you know doing all these prayer and meditation challenges with them learning more about other stories of Faith other people of Faith through like the challenges that we have coming up for for Lent here um I've grown deeper in my faith it's drawn me closer to the church to want to know more about the aspects of the church that I didn't necessarily grow up learning you know um I went to public school so I had uh Tuesday afternoon catechism or whatever the day was where you went to catechism CCD CCD after school and I you know I I didn't learn any of the things that I've learned in the last several years because it's just not that's just not designed that way and it's the church has such a rich history and tradition it's it's so vast it's a it's such a storehouse there's so much to know and to learn um and through the experiences of of playing Christ and and getting to uh force myself to to go into um prayer and meditation prior to every season um through these these periodical uh prayer challenges like we just did one in Advent for and and now we're doing the pray 40 which which starts uh today Ash Wednesday um it's it's it's forced me to just spend more time in the presence of God and it wants me to get closer to him what is Lent lent is begins today begins today is 40 days of uh prayer fasting and almsgiving leading up to to Good Friday the Friday before Easter the day Jesus Christ dieded on the cross and gave his life for Humanity 2 Days Later 3 days later we say if you include Friday Easter Sunday Jesus resurrected from the dead and original sin uh on uh you know on the the stain on mankind is lifted through our belief in Christ and so uh lent you know for me lent is is a time to I think simplify and it's a time to sacrifice and it's a time to draw myself closer um through You Know the Way of the Cross basically the theme of how's pray 40 challenge this year is called the way and it's the way of surrender you know the the way of of Christ basically um and and everything that he did uh leading up to his passion death and Resurrection is something for us to meditate St on in that 40 days typically we try to we try to make some sort of meaningful sacrifice some people say oh it's the time to give up chocolate well if if chocolate is chocolate is uh something that gives you joy and happiness then yeah that might be a good thing for you to give up for 40 days and it can be really hard for some people like me it' be coffee uh for some people it's alcohol for some people it's cigars or cigarettes or something do asparagus every year it's not the toughest L program say does does asparagus give you Joy because if it doesn't just kidding tuer I would think you may want to revisit you think that okay lent is here the period before Easter the 40 days and it's a unique chance to get closer to God that's the point of it hallow the world's number one Prayer app can help you do that joining their prayer 40 challenge it's a great way to connect with Christians all over the world and unite in preparation for Easter which is the payoff of this season it's called the way it helps participants focus on how Jesus is the way to heaven if you join the challenge you'll embark on a spiritual journey with some of America's most convicted Jesus followers powerful stories prayer you grow in your ability to sacrifice that's what lent is it's a sacrifice and taking thought-provoking sermons and true stories of faith in action which are amazing this year is going to be the best lent ever thousands of people praying together all over the world and you can be part of it through hallow which by the way is in use in my house and a nightly topic of conversation so you can sign up at hall.com Tucker when you join check out thousands of guided prayers meditations music and everything there's a ton on Hall all designed to help you find peace and closeness to God download the Hallow app and jump onto the lent pray 40 challenge right now so what how do you observe it well I start typically by going to mass uh getting ashes which I have not yet done um and then um fasting on well especially Ash Wednesday but typically um and it's not an obligation but I like to fast on Wednesdays and Fridays sometimes uh it's nothing but maybe water sometimes it's just no meat uh Fridays in Lent especially no meat um fish soups broths are even okay it's like fasting from the flesh you're denying the flesh you're denying yourself it's about denial you know and it it uh recalls Christ's 40 days in the desert prior to the start of his ministry when he denied himself everything food water um The Temptations that he was faced with in in the desert uh he he uh he held steadfast and and um came out ready to basically start his ministry and and there's a the practice of fasting is spiritually speaking is super powerful I mean if there's if there's obstacles or challenges that you're experiencing in your life that just don't seem to be resolved through traditional prayer um you know Jesus himself was confronted by the disciples at one point I think they were trying to cast out these demons um of these in in this in their community and it wasn't working and they had been given the power to do that and he comes up on them and and um and they basically said well we we tried everything we tried you know cast them out in your name and everything it didn't didn't work Why didn't it work and he said paraphrasing some demons can only be cast out through prayer and fasting and so that's that there's an extra it's like an extra superpower level that you get given when you commit to denying yourself the things that the body needs with the intention that you are offering something up to God have you experienced that yeah yeah I I've um there have been decisions that in my life that I'd really been or not even people I'll go I'll go even more personal um people that I prayed for that were um we're sick we're in like a comose state and through prayer and fasting um remarkably on a particular day that I did this uh came out of it and they for like weeks just unresponsive really yeah yeah it's it's a game changer fast yeah in fact in fact so to tie to to to part of the reason why I'm here today it's um on Fridays in this prayer Challenge on hallow Mark Walberg and Chris Pratt handle the fasting portion of the challenge so you you go through this challenge seven days a week and on Fridays which is the day we typically fast from Meet um they get into the spirituality and the psychology of fasting but the the the the potent spirituality of denial and what that means and um it's super powerful man it it it affects change like few things do really yeah yeah and and that's like a true fast to not eat yeah yeah I mean it's something that I would pray about like if if for some people having just bread and water is extremely difficult or even just like a a bowl of soup or water or like you know there's the the Church Catholic church has uh sort of a a a suggested guides so it's essentially one meal and like partial meals not not a full second meal I believe is one meal a day but if that's if that's too easy for you and you're like well that's not I I I I don't feel like I'm sacrificing anything by just one meal like I want to go no food at all or maybe just some water or couple of pieces of bread you know bread and water then that becomes your fasting so I think it it depends but it's always something that I I take to in prayer first Lord what do how how do you want me to approach this fast how can I I deny myself what what do you need from me in this fast and how can I serve you better through this fast it's funny fasting is the one piece of religious observance that has pretty much disappeared in public conversations about religious observance I mean fasting sounds like of an evil practice well especially here in the west you go to the Middle East it's like what are you talking about of course I'm fasting where's a full month yeah we're right now yeah no food or water or tobacco or sex during the day period wow yeah no water um but there you know it's considered like a celebration yeah as you know but uh well I also find like even the the um Middle Eastern Christians like Orthodox Copic Orthodox they um they're much more culturally rigorous when it comes to fasting not just meat but no Dairy and same thing with with Muslims no no Dairy no uh believe no no meat no dairy uh no oils like there's a there's a number of different levels but the same thing with with the Christians and my family like wow we don't we don't do like Catholics don't do the the no Dairy thing but uh yeah you're right I mean here in in the the West it's it does make you wonder if you say you're fasting people say why then you got to explain you know it's foreign I mean it's it's all over um the New Testament references to fasting yeah and um and as you just said it's it's not simply Christianity it's like it was just a a feature of religious observance like from the beginning of time yeah and it's gone and you s in the mainstream it's gone so you wonder like is there a connection between like eating and spiritual awareness clearly there is MH is there a connection between overeating and spiritual dullness maybe there is and if you wake up and everyone's fat which is true including me from time to time so not judging um there's just there's like a spiritual component there no or am I like well I mean just a crazy suggestion one of the seven deadly sins is gluttony yeah doesn't have to be food but it can be like how are you being gluttonous in your life is it or are you hoarding things you keep if is it food like is it just not putting any kind of boundaries on your satiety like just like you know what and and and I think it's it's something that can can fuel other sort of um leeches into to Breaking that spiritual connection to the Divine I mean there's no doubt it one of the most striking things about having grown up and living in the modern West is realizing things later in life that are like glaringly obvious and you think to yourself like how did I not notice that of course gluttony is bad right greed is bad worshiping money is bad these are all violence is bad these are all the things that I've realized in the last couple of years have never occurred to me not one time well then you see movies I mean here's the power of entertainment you see a movie like Wall Street you got Michael Douglas who was a superstar at that time height of his career greed is good I mean isn't that the phrase from that movie yeah but the funny thing is like I'm old enough to remember when that came out which I think was in the late ' 80s and it was used it became political immediately and it was like this is what the Reagan Era is like and they're all greedy and whatever and so of course you know I was not a liberal so I was like oh shut up um but I do think that was the it's been almost 40 years that was the last time I remember anybody in the United States saying greed was bad that was the last time have you heard anybody say that maybe some like far out wacko protester or something but no one you'd ever meet yeah I ever heard anybody say greed is bad yeah since then have you no no it's it's I mean it's yeah but it's everywhere too it's everywhere which is maybe why you eating every day till you get fat also bad again not judging I've been greedy and I've been a glutton so like I'm not again not judging but it's bad like why not say I don't know sorry I'm just I'm just coming to the these very obvious conclusions well I mean I think luckily we have I mean that's what repentance is for yeah you know in the Christian Life it's it's you know becoming aware of your faults and the way that you've hurt people or hurt yourself even yes and if the body is truly a temple of the Lord a reflection of of the creation and of the Creator or God and you're hurting yourself then it's like it's an affront to God which is why things like gluttony are sinful because but it also dulls you it's like a bon head or you know three beers or something it like keeps you from experiencing anything beyond yourself kind of yeah yeah you're you're you're now creating a a wall around the ability to be to be uh connected to from from the Divine you know it's like you're Walling yourself off from from God in a way it puts cheesecloth over your hole that's right exp you know what I mean I love that you used food as a reference to I'm just thinking of like something that kind of dulls the camera and makes the the edges softer and you sort of don't fully perceive what's happening you eat two Big Macs um you know you're not as aware of anything oh my gosh it's like talk about comos you're just it's a head injury right yeah 100% And so fasting is the opposite you're hyper aware that's right and your mind is just like you you you sense everything interesting it's and the longer you do it it starts to you know I once I tried I know people who have done like 40-day water fasts I don't like with electrolytes and stuff that's not you know where they're it still sounds dangerous but I I don't know how I tried it for a week one length I got through four days of it and I'm like this isn't going to work your body starts to do stuff that you have nool control over you're like I can't imagine and it's like I think we're dying so let's just get rid of everything I'm like wait whoa whoa whoa I'm I'm at work I this isn't I'm on a I'm on a set this doesn't work I can't keep running to the so I said Lord please forgive me I can't continue this if I'm going to work for the rest of the week because I just I unless you make it stop it's not stopping so I got toi but friend of Truth last winner who was coming off a 3E he's a very spiritual man and I happened to be at his house when he broke his fast and he the first course was soup and he put he hadn't had one thing in his mouth for 3 weeks other than water that's it 3 week water three weeks 21 days and he puts the spoon in the soup and he holds it he's talking and he holds it in front of his mouth he's making a point and I'm watching this everyone's looking at it and then he puts it down and then he does it again and he's making this point and then he puts it down again like eat the soup that's self-control yeah so as well at that point I would think you almost don't want to break it you're like how long can I go that's totally right how far can I go with this so funny though people go like you know climb you know pay to climb Everest or you know what I mean or go you know participate in some radical sport or and they take these crazy risks and they push themselves to you know past obvious boundaries and I'm not critic I admire that it's great but no one ever thinks to just like not eat for a week and see what happens yeah that is a pretty bold thing to do and maybe we're trying I I think everybody should try fasting if they've never fasted everybody should try fasting I mean you know if you've got medical conditions I'm not a doctor but but but I think discern it pray about it and like it I've only found it helpful and I think it just even if it's just like for a day like see what denial denying yourself food what does that do for your mind for your spirit you know I mean if I don't know if you don't have a sense of spirituality might not mean anything it might just be like a challenge like wonder if I can do it you know but I think the point is not to do it for the sake of doing it I think of course to do it for the sake of of depriving yourself and offering up the pain and and the discomfort and for some people the suffering that that might cause yes taking that pain and suffering and discomfort through the fast and offering it towards an intention a sick person um the decision to to move to a new home um the problems that a child is having in school yes any any kind of obstacles or challenges that seem insurmountable fast fast about it pray and fast about it and and see what the Lord can do with that and with your with your heart because then it's what you're doing is you're opening up your heart you know it's not about well if I do this exactly X Y and Z I mean that Jesus's whole thing issue with the Pharisees you know you cleanse the outside of a cup but then you you you the stuff that's already inside you is just is rotten your thoughts and your heart is rotten so it doesn't matter that you wash your hands before you eat this and and you eat that like he was calling out the Pharisees at one point for being so um specific and attentive to the law but meanwhile he could see in their hearts that they just had malice and they had evil and they were weren't doing the right thing for the priests and of the time what they should have been doing the same thing it's like fasting for just just to see if you can get through it doesn't really serve anyone other than your own ego that's right but offering up the pain and that comes with the fasting the denial that comes with fasting the hunger pains that then gets applied in a spiritual way that that that then assigns spiritual rewards to you by by offering that for somebody no that's right and it's it's by the way just for in point of fact I know because I've done a lot of fasting actually and I love it um but it's not what's been the biggest thing that you've that you've seen it's not an effective weight loss appro at all in fact I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who's Muslim who said I always get fat during Ramadan you know cuz a second the sun goes down you know you're you're pounding a dozen dates and yeah going crazy with the hummus um which is awesome but I don't think I'm not don't ever go to me for medical advice of course but I you know I don't think going to fasting to lose weight is like effective at all but I do think I think this way it's like if they're pushing on you weed Xanax and endless bread baskets maybe there's an agenda which is to make you duller and less aware of what's going on around you and I think sicker and sick and of course sicker that's exactly right but i' i' I must say I'd rather be dead than dull you know what I mean it's like sick is bad but unaware is worse yeah in my opinion yeah there are a lot of really enlightened sick people out there actually you know joyful sick people yeah oh yeah of all the New Year's resolutions your you're likely to put off the one you're most likely to put off and keep putting off is buying life insurance and you should have life 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policygenius.com Tucker okay so you said you made reference to Jesus's um exchanges with the Pharisees I'm reading Matthew right now I'm really struck This Time by the intensity of his rage at the Pharisees like he doesn't he's pretty gentle with everybody else L including like the you know the Roman officer the occupying Army Pagan worshiping the stars or whatever yeah Jesus is really kind to him Pharisees I mean it is just it Matthew goes on for like five pages like he's mad yeah what what do you make of that well I think you have to ask yourself well why is he mad yeah and what is he mad about and who are the Pharisees to him and I think it's it goes back to what I was referencing in that here you have who are people that are supposed to be models of God's law and and Rule and um Grace um the the Pharisees like the the the priests the people that the people look up to for Spiritual advice and wisdom and guidance and because Jesus can read souls and read their know what's in their hearts he sees their they're probably the worst of them and he knows that they they have ill will towards him and they have they they don't have the interests of the people in their hearts because they're so enraptured by the letters of the law as he said you're so concerned about the letter of the law that you that you're not even considered about the heart of the law which is you know God's mercy and Justice and and how are these people like how are you treating these people I mean the fact that they would go every year on Passover the poorest of the poor trying to bring their offerings and sacrifices that through extortion were getting charged 500% may you know what probably more than than what they should have I don't know the exact numbers but like the point was that they were being extorted every step of the way by their own leaders these Pharisees and that for him was the straw that broke the camel's back and the next day he's C clearing the temple you know he flipping the tables over flipping tables whipping you know um using a whip to clear money changers stands and and and you know just outraged God's righteous anger yeah it's not the gentle Jesus at all no no excuse me no it's not it's um it's it's the fury of the Lord really come to visit them uh it's not you know fire from heaven but it's fire on Earth in this man's eyes and and uh all also you know the precursor to what sets him up for the crucifixion I mean I think on some level he knows number one he has to he has to make an impression and he and he is um Vindicated through his actions because of who they are who the Pharisees truly are deep down inside but also that this will then continue the chain of events that have been set into motion that will put him on the cross so that he can redeem mankind seems like all of his anger is reserved for H Hypocrites mhm they get singled out repeatedly um he seems to really hate that yeah and the people in charge the powerful that's my read I mean I'm the opposite of Theologian I I mean I think I think you know with power you know there's greed there's hurting people at at you know the at at someone else's expense yes um there's you know taking advantage when you have the all of these forces that try to um I think take control over a a society and a people um through through power through influence um and there's nothing that those people can do I mean there's it's it's the definition of Injustice yes and God is about Justice um blessed are those who thirst for righteousness who thirst for justice basically um it's it's it was it was the thing that one it was one of the things that was most important to him that people experience you know to have Justice and feel human and be seen and be and be not discounted because of their status because of their you know Financial um you know situation because of who they were who what family they were born into or what what what what what cased for lack of a better term that they were born into you know um so I I think it was it was something that he it was a last stand for him basically in in the when he cleared the temple and it was all the preaching and and and the teaching didn't have enough of an effect on the Pharisees for them to change with they were doing no it didn't so he I think he had to he had to show don't tell he had to show and not tell so when you're reading your scripts when you're preparing yeah you're basically reading the gospel yeah gospel plus I I'll say it's you know because as a TV show it's not always you know the scriptures as they are don't always give us the full picture of a conversation definitely don't of a character of a person so we have to through you know uh biblical uh these a group of biblical Scholars that and advisers that help us uh and and give insight into the things that we're writing uh we we how have to craft these plausible hopefully uh authentic backstories that create believable characters that could have existed in the first century that um augment the world that the gospels give us a glimpse into so a lot of it is scripture yes but then there there is some creative license taken just to be able to make a good TV show because at the end of the day this this isn't this isn't the Bible we're not saying this is the Bible where're we have a TV show first and foremost that is based on the Gospels and hopefully is compelling enough for you to really you know get hooked into it and binge it just like you would binge any other TV show and then start asking yourself well what what did Jesus really say did he say these things did is this is this character really like this like let me I want to explore and then if you if you can get people to read the Bible and then want to have a a relationship or even Explore what it means to have faith if you you've never had Faith uh or even be curious about Christ uh I mean inevitably that is the relationship in a person's life that will change their life irrevocably I mean forever so if we can create an entertaining story that is based on the truth of the gospels and who Jesus and the disciples were maybe it'll introduce people to to Christ in in a way that the audience is introduced to him and maybe they'll want to follow him too how did it change your life the gospel I think the more I read the gospels the more I discover the Bible is the Bible is alive it's the The Living Word right they say the Bible is alive and so at any given time you can read passage from scriptures from the gospels even from the Old Testament the letters of Paul the acts um that somehow will apply to your own life especially when you're struggling with something you know if I'm struggling with something I just I just can't figure it out I just don't I have no ideas about where to go to resolve it inevitably there's the answer is somewhere in the book and it's it's a matter of sitting down with it and reading it and I mean it's remarkable the amount of times like I I've had something in front of me that I just didn't know how to deal with it and then I would flip to a random page and it's like the answer is right there it's right there so I stopped being surprised about it I just like of course that's this is yeah and I I take I take notes sincere Christians never seem surprised by anything I've noticed that it's amazing it is amazing and I've I've I've met those people where um and and we kind of talked a little bit about this at one point where the craziest things are Happ happening that they kind of already had a an intuition what's going to happen like I don't even know what it's a good example there' have been so many times where it's like somebody uh wanted to wanted uh to to uh trying to get rid of their house or something like that try to sell their house and and uh like they you know they had a like a certain amount of time it's just an example like they had like a week to get out of their house for somebody to buy their house and and you know somebody just comes knocking on the door and says hey you got a beautiful house you you're not selling this by chance are you and you're like well as a matter of fact I am and it just so happens that they're like Lord just let us find somebody that wants this house like we didn't even put it on the market yet but and then somebody knocks on their door like an hour later or you know like I mean crazy crazy stories and they're like yeah just God just did it I'm like how what you you don't seem phased and yes and that to me even is just I totally agree remarkable and to flip it over they they never seem shocked by how screwed up the world is I'm shocked every single day like I can't believe they're committing abortion outside the DNC or I can't believe this that the other thing I'm always like I can't believe the persecution of Christians why would you persecute Christians yeah like they've never mugged anybody like the nice even if think they're religion silly they're like the most peaceful people in the world their religion commands them to be yeah why are we hating on them and you know Banning their apps in Europe or whatever we're doing putting them in jail for praying but sincere Christians like well yeah I mean what did you think was going to happen yeah do you know what I mean yeah because he kind of Jesus kind of set it up that way kind of did he kind of told us 2, years ago you know you'll be hated because of me persecuted because of me like he he he he he lays it all out 2,000 years ago but just know it's okay I overcame the world it's it's you're good just remember that you're good when things hit the fan just remember that well I still find it infuriating sure sorry I'm obviously not a good person no it's a natural response there's a lot of persecution of and I'm really bothered by it yeah your family at least on one side is um Arab Christian M awful lot of Arab Christians get killed in a bunch of different countries all the time yeah and no one says a word about it you notice this I do yeah I do a lot uh Christian persecution is something really close to my heart in fact I I just executive produced um an animated short film called the 21 which uh came out uh towards the end of uary on the 10th anniversary of the martyrdom of the 21 Martyrs in Libya and who were all well 20 of them were Coptic Christians from Egypt one of them was non-Christian initially from Ghana and they just rounded up all these guys the Isis came and rounded them up and tried to force them to deny their faith they're just migrant workers like just like just trying to they went off to work for a few weeks try to make some money and and uh they got rounded up just captured and Isis was like yeah deny your faith and we'll let you go don't deny it we'll kill you like oh well we're not going to do that so and they they tortured them for months and um even the guy from Ghana I said them like you can go you're not you're okay you're not Christian you're not one of these guys and he's like no no no their God is my God and so they say he converted and he died with them and so six years ago um this producer friend of mine named Mark Rogers he he was in Egypt and he saw he knew about the story and he saw the image of one of these Martyrs who had um who had like a lazy eye uh and it reminded him of the image which actually is on this little Medallion of uh Christ the pantocrator like you know basically it's that figure of Christ that it's got two both sides of his face have uh one one side of him represents the Divinity of Christ one side represents the humanity of Christ and in one of the side oh his eye and one side is kind of drooped and it reminded him of of this image of Christ and and he got this idea to create this animated short film about the martyrs and their story and uh it turned out to be stunning 21 film.com people want to see it um it's an it's an extraordinary short film um beautiful beautiful that that implements Coptic iconography into the uh the animation it was actually on the Oscar short lists it didn't get nominated but it found its way onto this short list of 15 selections and then they Whittle it down to the top five it had no marketing had no advertisement nothing but somehow I think enough people saw this like no this is amazing and it tells their story and and the um the mystical nature of their experience and of actually the the their their captors what they experienced with these you know while they had these guys in captivity and like the the the divinely mystical experiences that they had are captures yeah yeah are are are represented in the short film fact if you haven't seen I'll send you a link but it's it's gorgeous and at the end of the day what people walk away with is that these guys had the opportunity to say no no I'm not Christian and then live but none of them did it they would they they went to to their graves literally and they were just random migrant workers migrant workers not evangelists just people Christian migrant workers poor migrant workers I think construction or farming or something and and uh they they wouldn't deny their faith and so I got a chance to screen this film for the first time with the families of the martyrs 10 years later oh my gosh which was an words family because it was such an overwhelmingly powerful experience to be there with them and kind of have them sort of reliving this experience but when you talk to them full of joy full of joy and they more than one of them thanked their captors because they they they feel and and you know as Christians we believe this that because they died for their faith they got a straight shot right to the Divine Right to God they're like we thank them because they sent them right to heaven so the Coptic Church declared them saints and then very recently the Catholic church it's the first time it's happened Catholic Church also considered them saints because they died for the faith in the way that they died yeah it's so inspirational it's unbelievable and so uh right now I'm trying to get the film out to for more people to see and get it out there so people are aware of that these stories exist like this is a reality for people for Christians in the Middle East this is a reality you know that that their lives are on the line for their beliefs that's for sure you know time for another true life Alp story I got a call from a friend of mine yesterday honestly true story who said his girlfriend had just broken up with him over Alp he wouldn't stop and I thought to myself that's kind of sad and he said no it's not sad imagine if I'd married her now I know I was saved then the next day this same friend is driving at twice a speed limit through a major American city pulled over by a cop in a speed trap cop takes his license registration goes back to the patrol car runs him comes back looks in the window and sees a tin of alp on the dashboard pauses stunned says to my friend you use Alp yeah I do says my friend so do I says the cop we all do he looks at my friend thoughtfully and goes drive safely sir and hand back his license and registration no ticket so in 2 days he's saved from a tragic marriage to a girl who doesn't like Alp and a speeding ticket all true it's more than a [Applause] nicoe in an age to 350 million people are guessing they're about 350 million Alp stories email us yours we want to know and read it on the air email tell all at Alp pouch.com tell all at Al pouch.com give us your Al story you must learn a lot from playing this role I have yeah I I've learned how much I have to learn it's just I I don't know how often we think of Jesus as fully a man though as you pointed out he was yeah what's that like trying to get inside the head of Jesus well um I don't think I can ever do it successfully like completely I can the only thing that I I mean I I can't do it successfully at all the only thing that I can do believing Jesus was fully God and fully man but sinless in his Humanity the only thing that I can relate to is the humanity part and my own flawed Humanity at that deeply flawed deeply deeply flawed Humanity but luckily I I don't have to rely on me I don't rely on me I rely on him and so my job is to Simply show up come with a an open heart I do a lot of praying and fasting before the every season I pray before every scene and then do the best that I can to to Simply Be for lack of a better term a a a mirror of the Divine so I'm like I just show up and I'm like I'm just trying to mirror the Divine reading the words that I have um being a a vessel for which the Holy Spirit can use me to reach the truth of the Gospel to to the people that want watch this show and and if it goes beyond entertainment for some people awesome I mean um between the show and between the Hallow app the amount of [Music] feedback and changed lives that have uh occurred um the stories that that we get about people that you know that are they were they were atheist all their life and somebody gave them the show and all of a sudden they something tweaked in their heart and they're like why do I feel this way about this guy like I want to I want to know this guy or people who have been haven't been to church in 30 years elapsed Catholics like I haven't been in church in 30 years I started going back to church went to my my first confession in 30 years until my first confession in 15 years like I've heard all of these things I even once I was in confession once myself when I a guy came out of the confessional and he recognized me he's like oh yeah and so he starts talking to me and then he starts starts to tell me what he was telling the priest in the confession I said no no no no no you see you anything interesting you keep it in there I wouldn't let him get that far no I said that's that's not for my ears save it for the Confessor so it's uh I'm not Catholic but I've always thought that um confession is the coolest thing they do it's a it's a gift man it's a life of course we when it became Psychotherapy and you put like an atheist with bad judgment on the couch across from you it I don't think we lost something do you know what I mean yeah yeah but the human need to connect to unburden yourself you know what's wrong by the way most people know you know you don't need to be a Christian to know what's wrong everyone inside you you know when you're doing something wrong yeah and to say it out loud to articulate it in words yeah um is to rid yourself of it to some extent I think and yeah and then and then for for the sacramental part of it that's that's where the healing comes in that's where the spiritual healing comes in so it's like it's like if you're a cheesecloth full of holes right and you go into confession and you receive the sacrament of of reconciliation from the priest and the priest you know we believe he's been given Divine Authority that has a maybe a not visible but a tangible physical metaphysical effect on on the casing of your soul and it's like mending the little holes every confession is like you're you're closing up the those holes and restoring that connection with God in a way that that is essentially repairing your soul that's that's what the the sacramental part of confession is for us which which is hugely comforting and also um physically tangible for me I I feel just chemically slightly different after every confession that I go through in a way that's like okay I can breathe a little easier I believe I believe that completely I've never experienced it but I believe that it's it's uh it's like nothing else what's it like for you to be recognized on the street for playing Jesus I know just from having dinner with you last night and telling people you were coming here there's a lot of intensity like you're I've been on television for 30 years I've never experienced anything like what you experienced for example in my house last night people are very intense when they see you it's bound up in their feelings for you but also their feelings for Jesus what's that like I I give I give God all the credit I give Jesus the credit and uh you know like I'm like like our buddy Russell Brand like I was once his standing I I I feel like I'm Jesus's standing Jesus is the star and I'm standon you were Russell BR standon I was Russell Brand standon looking at you I'm not that surprised not that if I was casting a standon for Russell Brand I I think it would be you not too bad he it's all right it's so we had a good time with d yeah he's all right he's a good mate he a good guy he's a good man I that man I love him so much I totally agree um but I mean it without getting like too personal it's going of affect your life yeah yeah like maybe not all positive like what's whole like for you oh depends on what part of town probably probably not too many people watching the shows in a Whole Foods but like a normal atheist grocery store no but I mean let's take Whole Foods so in some parts of the country uh I you know I got to go in with a hood and glasses and in other parts especially the coastal cities like New York and La it's it's just another day um so it it can be uh they mistake you for a bike messenger but in Michigan they know that's that's very appropriate yeah uh that's very appropriate it can it can be um interesting I think because of who I'm playing and because there is this oftentimes this front-loaded relationship that they already have with Jesus and then I become stand in like the face of that relationship that they now when they read the Bible I've been told this my face pops into their mind as they're hearing scriptures or they're seeing I mean even for myself when the when I'm at mass and the priest is reading the gospel and he's talking about Peter I'm I'm thinking of Shahar Isaac who plays Peter in our show and I'm like okay yeah I can't get him out of my head yeah but okay I love Shahara and he's great as Peter and so yeah it's just you try even as an artist like you you still suffer that you you can't quite make the separation yeah because you've you now have this relationship with these people and these characters and so to be the face of what is often the most important relationship in a person's life I mean even beyond their family it's like God first and then family family and then everything else to be the face of that four people uh I I don't often I try not to think about that yeah it's it's more than being the sidekick on Seinfeld yeah yeah and and I think God's given me the the the the gift and the grace of kind of being somewhat blinded to the magnitude of it and the weight of it that's good sometimes I can feel it most of the time I think I'm shielded from it because I think if I if I was aware of [Music] exactly what what that implication was even for a single person yep it would crush me yeah selfawareness is a burden I would not recommend it at all I don't have any so it's never bothered me but um I know people who are highly self-aware and they're like in agony all day yeah I mean other things I I like I have a lot of that in other areas but when it comes to playing this character I'm glad I don't have much smart no it's so what a that is a blessing i yeah what is hallow and how'd you hook up with it hallow is the world's largest and from my money the greatest prayer and meditation app a person can ever find mind like ever there are thousands and thousands of ways prayers and challenges and meditations that people can use in their daily life to the point of automation they just set it up and you get reminders and where you can just connect with God in the most creative ways for me it has been a way to keep me completely focused on God when I'm in the middle of life it can be it's an opportunity for me to to access um my faith in a consistent way and uh and to to to get through life's biggest challenges I mean there's there are so many prayers on this app that I use daily like daily um and you know for instance there's a prayer called the the surrender Novena no Novena just is it's a Latin word just means nine days so it's a it's a prayer you say for nine days and this uh this particular prayer has been so valuable to so many people basically it's it's very simple but you repeat it like 10 times and there's all in in in the app like it it walks you through it but the the essence of it is this prayer where you simply say oh Jesus I Surrender myself to you take care of everything oh Jesus I Surrender myself to you take care of everything and you repeat that like 10 times and the number of people that have experienced profound Grace and um just ease of their burden a lightness of the weight in their life has been I mean I I've I've never I've never heard of a prayer that's had such a profound effect like the rosary is another one so there was this couple they were trying to have their first baby they had a miscarriage they were in a a pretty severe State crisis depression everything that comes with that yes they see an ad for how they download the app they start praying specifically they start praying the surrender prayer that I was telling you about this surrender noven and the rosary and they were catholic as well so they're familiar with them so they prayed the rosary super powerful weapon and the surrender noven and they get pregnant again and their relationship is really growing together in faith and in God's strongest that it's ever been 5 months in they lose the baby and they're holding their past son would passed away and the words that come to mind for this woman is is the surrender prayer oh Jesus I Surrender myself to you take care of everything it's the first words that come to her mind and they told us they they said that if they hadn't gotten into this consistent routine of communicating with God through prayer if their faith hadn't been strengthened that second miscarriage would have destroyed their marriage but it didn't and they kept going a year later they had a healthy baby [Music] boy and the first words that came out of her mouth that time was the prayer from numbers Lord bless you and keep you Lord shine his face upon you be gracious to you the Lord look kindly upon you and give you peace I think their son's name is Jack I think and so the power of of having that relationship the power of prayer the power of being in a constant dialogue with God it's what we were made for we were designed to worship we were designed for that relationship it's in our DNA and the more we try to ignore it or or squash it or bury it or ignore it or pretend it doesn't exist or that it's not there or replace it with something else the more we just run in circles the more we try to fill that hole with something else with some other uh Vice some other um um Endeavor some other you know uh righteous indignation of something um some some some other effort that will never substitute never replace our need for God it'll never replace it and so for me it's it's like playing Jesus in The Chosen it's one of the the most important things that I've ever done artistically I for all of this for me feels like an apostolate it feels like I'm a media Apostle I feel like that's what I was sent here to do like at this time and place to kind of be a part of this what I see is this growing movement in film and television in the culture that is that is truly counterculture to the current culture that's for sure you know and to be a part of the ushering in of this this opportunity of expression that supersedes the previous iterations of what this looked like because it's so attentive to Quality like the chosen aims to be a great TV show first and because because of that the fact that the people making it are really invested in the subject matter make it that much more powerful and then from a very myopically human level and then God sees that and he takes it and he multiplies it he's he he multiplies the magnitude of it the the the efficacy of it is then energized and multiplied globally but even just reaching one person and changing one person's life Dallas I tell you this as well it's worth it just for one person all the discomfort or whatever I may or may not feel in in the world is people who approach me wanting to take a selfie in in the gym or in the in the supermarket when I'm clearly trying to like get in and out I mean all of all of that discomfort for me personally and it's I've been through worse you know like I've been through real discomfort that it's nothing something but it's it's relative you know what I'm saying so all of it's worth it because one person decided to go get baptized and now they have like they have a whole new life they have a whole new they have a spiritual awakening it's amazing to me how successful is been and it's amazing to me the reaction to it um baned in China yeah it's not calling for the overthrow of the CCP it's not calling for the halap is banned in China yeah halap is banned in China yeah um it's also effectively banned in Europe in a fact because Mark Zuckerberg's company meta has shut down all advertising for religious oriented faith-based advertising yeah um so it can't operate in Europe yeah that was a tough one they just they had just lost in Polish and Italian and I think German and like all these languages and and now they can't people can't know about the app because they've why is that a threat I mean it just does tell you everything right I mean it's like it's like understanding things in Reverse yeah it's like why would they be upset with that that's like the kindest least threatening you know only want to help people like why is that bad exactly i' be curious to hear the eu's answer for that or meta's answer for that yeah Mark Zuckerberg's answer for that um and China's answer for that like what what's wrong with that yeah it tells you a lot but you you don't seem shocked by that at all no no you're not I mean when you read of the stories for decades of people smuggling Bibles into countries you know underground churches Even in our in the story that we we cover in the pray 40 challenge for hallow uh the story of this guy tekashi nagai I mean he was living in Nagasaki Japan right around the time of the the second world war when the when the bomb was dropped on his town on Nagasaki and Japan had just come out of 300 years basically of Christian you know persecution like they had they had gotten rid of any you know they I mean I think in the the late 16th century they were crucifying people oh yeah and and and then three 300 plus years later Nagasaki is now the largest Christian Hub in all of Japan and it wasn't the first Target for the bomb no they tried to drop the bomb somewhere else this is all in the story that people hear about this this uh length uh it's an it's an amazing story this man's story is amazing t kashion a guy he's a radiologist doctor um they the first Target they tried to drop the bomb and it was too cloudy they couldn't they didn't they couldn't see and they didn't have the conditions appropriate to to drop an atomic bomb so their second target was Nagasaki oddly enough right above a cathedral and it blew up Deton detonated right over the cathedral and wiped out everything and he survived uh nobody else his family everybody died killed the majority of the Christians in nag Nagasaki which was the Christian capital of Japan yeah y yeah and and I mean it kill love to hear an answer for why people are very enthusiastic about that and think it's great I don't think it's great and I I think there should be a law that American armaments can't be used to murder Christians abroad that's pretty simple but I agree um there is a thing that I wanted to read that he read that he said right after the bombing which he had converted from atheism I think it was Shinto and then he was atheist and then he converted to Christianity uh and Catholicism and he was he was uh influenced by the the writings of blae Pascal so he gave a speech to his community he was one of the very few survivors in his community and this just goes to show you the resilience and the mindset of of him and what and how having faith can completely change the perspective especially when you're effectively living in Hell on Earth which is what Nagasaki was after the dropping of the bomb people were walking around asking for water with while their skin is melting off like it's literal hell on Earth he said I have heard that the atom bomb was destined for another city heavy clouds rendered that Target impossible and the American Crew headed for the secondary Target Nagasaki then a mechanical problem arose and the bomb was dropped further north than planned and burst right above the cathedral it was not the American Crew I believe who chose our suburb God's Providence chose urakami the suburb and carried the bomb right above our homes is there not a profound relationship between between the annihilation of Nagasaki and the end of the war was not Nagasaki The Chosen victim the lamb without blemish slain as a whole burnt offering on an altar of sacrifice atoning for the sins of all the nations during World War II happy are those who weep they shall be comforted we must walk the way way of reparation but we can turn our mind's eyes to Jesus carrying his cross up the hill of Calvary the Lord has given the Lord has taken away blessed be the name of the Lord let us be thankful that Nagasaki was chosen for the whole burnt sacrifice let us be thankful that through this sacrifice peace was granted to the world and religious freedom to Japan wow is that not a profound perspective that is a that is not a normal secular perspective I would say no no that's amazing that is the power of a relationship with Christ that's what that does so for people haven't heard it tell us what you do for hello so I am one of the main voices on hallow for prayers so if you want pray a specific prayer chances are I've recorded it and you can hear me pray it or um for any of the challenges like the the pray 40 challenge I will be guiding people through this challenge telling people about um tekashi Naga story and uh I'm also kind of a creative adviser as well and come to them with ideas and and and work with them on different things that they're doing and um yeah I I I love working with them they've been such great partners and and I think the reason is is that they're Believers themselves you know they're they're doing this I mean you had Alex on the show and you heard His Story I mean he originally created the app to for himself and you know God took that desire and that intention in his heart and then Amplified it and and now it's it's the largest prayer app in the world it's a frequent conversation in my house I told you yesterday my wife's very kind never scolds me for anything but when she saw my schedule and saw you were coming and that we hadn't invited you for dinner she actually did bark at me cuz she's like your biggest fan what what pretty detached from my schedule but um yeah so yes thank God for your wife they got for my wife not the first time I've thought that thank you it has really been wonderful the last 24 hours to to talk to you and um it's been my honor thank you very much thanks [Music] Tucker so it turns out that YouTube is suppressing this show on one level that's not surprising that's what they do but on another level it's shocking with everything that's going on in the world right now all the change taking place in our economy and our politics with the wars on the cusp of fighting right now Google has decided you should have less information rather other than more and that is totally wrong it's immoral what can you do about it well we could whine about it that's a waste of time we're not in charge of Google or we could find a way around it a way that you could actually get information that is true not intentionally deceptive the way to do that on YouTube we think is to subscribe to our Channel subscribe hit the little bell icon to be notified when we upload and share this video that way you'll have a much higher chance of hearing actual news and information so we hope that you'll do that