For Christ's sake

Every year, the Lenten season sees a chosen few playing Jesus Christ in performances that cover
the last agonising hours of Christ’s life. Joanna Lobo speaks to a few who willingly carried this cross.

The whip hits him hard, the faux leather strips sting his bare back. He flinches. The afternoon sun beats down on his already tired body. The heavy wooden log on his back falls to the ground. The whips come down again, harder than before. Somewhere in the crowd, his mother starts weeping, unable to see her child in pain. Veon Henriques lifts himself up, picks up his cross, and stumbles on. He was, much like the man he was playing, on a mission.

The 40-day period of Lent that culminates on Easter Sunday is a time when Christians meditate upon Christ’s sufferings. During this period, they follow the ‘Stations of the Cross’ — a procession of 14 steps that mark Christ’s journey from His conviction to His death and burial.

Every year, young men like Henriques find themselves playing the role of Jesus Christ during such processions. The belief is that the dramatic enactment of Christ’s suffering brings people closer to God. “There is power in drama. It increases people’s devotion and calls to mind Jesus’s suffering,” says Father Warner, parish priest at St Jude’s Church in Malad, Mumbai.

Henriques, 19, was determined to ensure his portrayal of Christ was as close to narratives in the Bible as possible. “Long ago, the ‘Stations of the Cross’ I saw being enacted was very unreal... it was amusing. I felt if people needed a bit more reality,” he says.

When he played Jesus last Sunday, he encouraged his fellow actors to whip him like the real Christ was whipped. And he was. His clothes were stripped, he wore a ‘crown of thorns’ fashioned out of telephone wires, and walked barefoot carrying a log representing the cross on his back.  There was a point when he didn’t think he would make it, but faith prevailed.

Ashley D’Souza was 20  when he played Christ at his Ghatkopar colony’s ‘Stations of the Cross’. His long hair was an advantage, he says. Once chosen, he got “inquisitive about how Jesus managed to survive for so long” and started researching his role. This involved watching Mel Gibson’s Passion of the Christ, reading about the events surrounding Christ’s crucifixion and death, and fasting. “I would just eat one meal the entire day... it helped. I felt more connected to Christ,” he says.

Clinton Fernandes, 20, didn’t have to do all this. He was part of a Lenten reflection musical that covered the entire Passion scenes in a couple of minutes, ensuring his emotions and acting had to be spot on.

Playing god
The highlight of the ‘Stations of the Cross’ for anyone who plays Jesus is the scene in which Christ is nailed to the cross and left to die.

But it’s also the trickiest part. Imagine hanging on to a shaky cross, a few stray ropes holding you down, the hot sun beating on your half-naked body and your fear of falling hindering your attempts to be still.

The hardest part was ‘playing dead’, says Baptist Fernandes, 32, who played Christ at the St Vincent Pallotti church at Marol, Andheri, last year. “I was shivering on the cross. I had to wait for the hymns and reflections to end... I couldn’t move even though I was itching to do so.”

Henriques had an even tougher time. Because of the realistic nature of his performance, and because the ‘Stations of the Cross’ can take 2-3 hours to be enacted in its entirety, he was battling exhaustion and pain towards the end.

“During the crucifixion scene, I was shivering. The cross was around 100kg and I was hanging almost seven feet in the air. My only fear was that if the cross fell, I wouldn’t be able to do anything,” he says.

Not everyone is convinced about the need for such plays though. “They are common in more traditional churches, but the first time you see it live, it can shake you. It’s worse for young children because they do not understand what is happening,” says Father Baptist D’Souza, parish priest at St Joseph’s Church in Kurla.

But for those playing Jesus, there are advantages. It changes the way people look at you, says Ashley. Though he claims he was always a ‘good boy’, playing Jesus made him one in the eyes of fellow churchgoers.

Sometimes the changes are deeper. Baptist Fernandes says the biggest change happened within. “I would practise every day. Yet, when it finally came to standing there in the hot sun with a heavy cross, the enormity of what Christ did for us dawned on me. I fell in love with Him all over again,” he says.

However, most who play Christ say it’s a role they would rather not play again. Ashley has a solid reason: “I cut my hair. I don’t think I will be chosen again.”

l_joanna@dnaindia.net
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