Sermon Illustrations
Actor Feels Unworthy to Play Jesus Role
The popular series The Chosen features an actor named Jonathan Roumie. He has the audacious task of playing Jesus on the series. In an interview for The New York Times Roumie said:
Very often, I don’t feel worthy of playing Jesus. I struggle with that a lot. But I also acknowledge what God has done for my life as a result of playing Christ and how God has changed my life.
On set in Season 1 — it was the first time in the series where I actually started preaching directly from Scripture as Jesus — I was standing at a doorway looking onto a crowd of about 50 extras, dressed as people coming to hear the teacher. This overwhelming anxiety swept over me. I had to tell Dallas Jenkins, the creator of our show, “Hey, man, can we stop for a minute?” He said, “Why?” I said, “Because I don’t feel worthy to be saying these words right now.” He pulled me aside and said, “Listen, man, none of us are worthy to be here doing this, but God has chosen you and I and everyone else here to tell this story at this time. So, know that you are meant to be here.”
Source:
Tish Harrison Warren, “He’s Not Jesus, but He Plays Him on TV,” The New York Times (4-2-23)