I had the chance to visit the set of "The Chosen" while the cast and crew were filming scenes of the seventh and final season.
Jonathan Roumie, who portrays Jesus, was preparing to film a scene at the empty tomb, with prosthetic nail marks on his hands. As I spoke with Jonathan and members of the production crew, I sensed a bittersweetness on the set. After years of filming, traveling, creating and telling the story of Jesus and his Apostles, they were nearing the end of a remarkable chapter. Something more than a television series was coming to completion.
If you have been following "The Chosen," you know what lies ahead. Season six brings us into the final days of Jesus' earthly ministry as he embraces his passion and offers himself for our redemption through his death on the cross.
The weight of portraying these scenes was not lost on Jonathan. He describes filming the passion and death of Christ as the most grueling and intense experience of his career. "It broke me wide open. ... It felt like the most sacred thing I've ever been part of," he says.
There is something different about portraying the passion of Our Lord. It is not simply another dramatic scene. For a Catholic actor, and perhaps for anyone who enters deeply into the story, the cross cannot remain merely an artistic subject. It is at the heart of our faith -- the place where we encounter the depth of Christ's self-giving love.
Not since Mel Gibson's "The Passion of the Christ" have audiences been confronted so directly with the physical reality and spiritual power of Christ's suffering and death. Yet "The Chosen" has taken a different path. By spending years with Jesus and those who encountered him, the series invites viewers into the Gospel story through relationships. We come to know the disciples not simply as names on a page but as men and women with personalities, weaknesses, questions, hopes and fears.
Perhaps that is one reason the series has resonated with so many people.
Season six will premiere Nov. 15 on streaming platforms, leading audiences into the height of Jesus' passion and death. The final two episodes will then be shown in theaters during Holy Week.
The series raises an important question: Can media help us encounter a reality that is ultimately bigger than the screen?
Media can inform, entertain and move us emotionally. But at its best, it can also awaken a longing for truth, beauty, meaning, relationship and ultimately for God. A television series is not Scripture, nor can a dramatization replace the Gospel itself. But good storytelling can open a door into the imagination and heart, helping us see familiar truths in a new way.
That is why I find the possibility of watching "The Chosen" together in a parish particularly intriguing.
The Come and See Foundation is offering Catholic parishes free access to host an advance screening of the season's first episode before its Nov. 15 release, along with prayer resources and discussion guides.
The value, however, is not simply in getting an early look at an episode. It is about coming together as a community.
Father Paul Aveni of Winthrop, Massachusetts, has watched every season of "The Chosen" and sees the potential for this communal experience to enrich prayer.
"Watching 'The Chosen' together and engaging in discussion and prayer afterwards can help people encounter Jesus in his Word and in the community," he says. "It doesn't replace the Scriptures but can help people put a face on the characters and relate situations to their everyday lives."
Father Leonard Marrujo of Walnut Creek, California, is enthusiastic about the opportunity, saying, "I'd like to share this with my parishioners so we can deepen our faith together."
A parish screening can create an environment where people gather, watch, reflect, pray and perhaps discover something new about Jesus and their own relationship with him.
My own journey with "The Chosen" began with Season One on The Chosen app. I knew Jonathan Roumie years before he began working with Dallas Jenkins, and he told me about the opportunity to portray Jesus in what was then an uncertain project. He wasn't sure what would come of Jenkins' idea, but he trusted that this was where the Lord was leading him.
What began as an uncertain crowd-funded endeavor has grown into a global phenomenon, with "The Chosen" now translated into 125 languages and reaching millions of people worldwide.
In a culture where so much media consumption happens alone, gathering in a parish to watch and discuss a story of faith creates an opportunity for communion. "The Chosen" offers not another series to watch, but an invitation to come and see -- and then to go forth and live as disciples!
Check out comeandsee.net/parish to sign up for a pre-screening event in your parish!
