As March 2024 approaches, the month has always had a lot of meaning to me. Not only for my birthday on the 27th or spring but also for the approaching summertime. Not even for St. Patrick's Day. March also lets me reflect on a great time in my life- the Journey to the Resurrection.
For 16 years, I enjoyed the best revival of Christianity imaginable. During late February, until the end of March, and sometimes into April, it was Journey time. For that entire month, practically everyone who attended Trinity United Methodist Church participated in the passion play about the final hours of Jesus Christ's life on Earth. Of course, it culminated with Christ's resurrection, hence the name. But it was one of the most fun times of my adult life, stretching from 2004-2019. In the first year of the Journey, I played the disciple John and followed a traveling group around the church composed of Jesus, Peter, James, John, Mary, and Mary Magdalene. We always referred to the Jesus' as the Jesi, because we had three of them that year. Having multiple traveling groups allowed for various times for people to attend the Journey and walk through immersing them fully in Jerusalem 2000 years ago. I had very few lines; in fact, I only had 4 total in the entire play, but the fun was the atmosphere and camaraderie the Journey offered.
"Father. The time has come to satisfy your plan. Be glorified through me. Open to door to save all people so they may have eternal life. Guard my disciples. My friends for the trial is upon them. You have given them to me, and I have given them the words that you gave me. But Father, my soul is sorrowed to it's depth. If there is any other way, release me from this cup of death. But if there is no other way, be glorified through me so that the whole world may know you. For not my will, but your will."
This scene was a powerful moment for Jesus, showing his humanity in the face of his ultimate mission to save humanity. Truly my favorite moment of the whole performance.
Each spring I started growing a beard in January, so it was nice and full by March for the performance. I would try to diet and get my weight down some coming out of the Christmas holidays. Sometimes I lost a lot and sometimes, eh, not so much. But no matter what I always had fun doing the performance.
We were all a bunch of jokester and of course had things go wrong during the performance. One time the disciples in the upper room got bored and ate all the bread for the scenes. Half the time the rooster wouldn't crow in the Peter denial scene, but then the real live rooster would never shut up during the market scene when Jesus was trying to address the public. One time I broke character for a moment because I was about to smite that rooster and gave it a dirty look. I could barely hear myself think much less talk trying to deliver lines over that ridiculous creature's crowing.
One time, one of the other Jesi was thrown down so hard in the Pilate denial scene, his wig fell off, and the actor had to look down trying to get his wig back in place while still delivering lines. He came out looking like a band member from Nirvana by the time he had to turn around and face the audience. Another time when the Roman guards came to get Jesus in the garden, Judas came in to show he had betrayed Jesus. When Judas came in, James spoke up and said, "Judas Priest." It was hard not to want to laugh at that, but you couldn't when you're standing in front of the audience during a serious moment. So, when stuff like that happened, you just looked down and maintained your composure. Another time Peter, James, and John tried to see who could hit the Upper Room table the hardest with their hands. I had to fight like crazy not to laugh when they all three did this, once again just looking down. I also had the time I started delivering my lines in the waiting area before we went out to do the Market Place scene, but delivered them as The Grinch. You don't really know biblical scripture until you've heard it in the original Whoville Grinchness. :) There was also the time that my cousin was in the crowd in the resurrection scene while I was delivering my lines. When I was done, she yelled, "Happy Birthday, Jesus!" You know, it was my birthday that day, so she knew what she was doing. Everyone else though was probably really confused since it was March and not December.
But there was one time that none of that worked. It was the final performance of the Journey in 2006. I was the final Jesus performing along with my traveling group and we all decided we wanted to go out strong. "Let's go out with a bang" I think is how I put it. Craig Bario was the Judas for my group and like me he is an avid Star Trek and Star Wars fan. So, we jokingly said let's have Jesus and Judas have a lightsaber duel in the Upper Room Scene. There won't be any sharing bread this time! It was funny, all in jest, or so I thought.
You see, when I said let's go out with a bang, I really didn't know what I had just gotten myself into. When I peeked in the Upper Room scene where all the disciples were waiting for the final run through I knew they were up to something. Brandon Grooms said, "We're ready for you, Jesus." He had a big smile on his face. I was now terrified. What are they going to do?
The Upper Room scene is a somber place during the Journey. It's the moment when Jesus first reveals to his disciples that He will not be with them much longer. So, this is a difficult time for Jesus and his followers. There's confusion, distrust, uncertainty, denial, and even anger. So, there's really no room for laughs in this scene at all. It's a serious moment. So, as you can imagine, for this one final time that year, seriousness went right out the window, caught on fire, and crashed into a puddle of gasoline surrounding a propane tank before it exploded.
I actually prayed before I walked into the room alone, asking God to give me strength for whatever was about to happen. I met up with Matthew, played by Patrick McGee, and he delivered his lines per usual. So, no tricks there. I was able to deliver all my lines as I went around the table and over to the bowl and pitcher to fill it with water. After I filled the bowl with water, I placed the towel into it with my hand, and that's when I discovered the first trick.
The water was ice cold!! I mean, really cold. As I stood there for a second, all I could think was, Geeeez, that is freezing! And I've gotta put Peter's feet in that?!?! Have you ever seen Dumb and Dumber? You know that part where Harry has his hands around Lloyd's throat, and Lloyd starts complaining Harry's hands are freezing then screams like a little girl. Yeah, that's what I wanted to do, and I only had part of one hand in the water.
I walked over to Peter, played by Stephan Jones, and sat the bowl beside his feet. Stephan is a really good actor, and the next year he started playing one of the Jesi like me. I'm convinced this final moment in the Journey that year is why he started doing that. We delivered our lines, but I kept having to look down some because I couldn't look at Peter. For the scene, I should have been looking at Peter, but I couldn't look at Stephan playing Peter because I knew what was about to happen. Finally, the moment came when Peter put his feet in the bowl, and Stephan is a good actor remember that. He stuck his feet right into that ice-cold water. It was all I could do not to start laughing. I couldn't look up because I knew if I saw Stephan's face, I was going to start dying laughing. I could only imagine the shock he had when his bare feet went into that water. And then I had to take the rag and ring it out with more water on top of his feet.
So, we got past the Mr. Freeze bowl of cruelty, and I thought, Oh man, they got us good. Wow. I didn't know what they were going to do, but that was a good one. I continued my lines going around the table to have me finish in the spot where I would sit with the other disciples. But as I finished the last part of the lines, "Now that you know these things, you will be blessed if you do them," suddenly I got this thought in my head, do you really think that's all they did?
Remember, we were going out with a bang. When I got to my spot where I kneeled down to join the others at the table, that's when I saw it. There, lying beside the pillow I was about to kneel on was a green lightsaber. It was the lightsaber Qui-Gon Jinn used in Star Wars: Episode I, The Phantom Menace. I looked at, briefly looked over at Craig, who was grinning ear to ear and tried with all my might not to start laughing.
All I could think as I stood there a second looking down at this green lightsaber was, cue Duel of the Fates. I knew Craig had a lightsaber somewhere over there with him. This was it, the chance to see Jesus and Judas duel it out once and for all, winner takes all, right in the Upper Room. But we couldn't actually do the duel because it wasn't scriptural, and they didn't have lightsabers back then...as far as we know.
So, I kneeled down, got comfortable and just decided to ignore the lightsaber and deliver the lines. I was doing good about it, too. I had almost forgotten the lightsaber was there until I had to do one thing. I had to hand Judas a piece of bread and talk directly to him. I dipped the bread in wine (grape juice-this was church after all), leaned forward and started to hand Judas the bread to deliver the line, "What you are about to do, do quickly."
That's when it happened as if the spirit of Qui-Gon Jinn resurrected and used the Force to make his presence known. When I leaned forward, one of my knees brushed the lightsaber that was still lying there. Unfortunately, the area of the lightsaber it hit was the activation button. When my hand reached Judas' to hand him the bread, the lightsaber roared to life, with the familiar hum many people seeing Star Wars movies had heard throughout the years. When the lightsaber came on, Craig almost started laughing as he took the bread. He had the benefit of grabbing the bread and then running out of the room as quickly as he could, all the while trying to hold back laughter as he left. I on the other hand was still having to sit there, now dealing with this lightsaber that was active.
When I leaned back, my knee kept hitting it and now the lightsaber was making noises like it was being struck by another lightsaber, over and over and over. Chris Brown, playing John, was beside me. He reached down, grabbed the lightsaber and threw it aside down to another end of the table away from me. No one saw him do that, but I was starting to crack up. I was almost in tears trying not to laugh and still deliver lines. At this point, every disciple at the table was looking down also trying not to laugh, and certainly none of them wanted to look at me. We all knew if we made eye contact, the show was over. We were all going to die laughing. And I still had lines to say along with Peter before the scene was done.
Mercifully, we made it out of the Upper Room and headed to the garden. When we got there, we had to let the laughter out some. Paul Wright was behind a black wall and played the angel that comes to comfort Jesus in the garden. He came out from behind his toilet seat, as I called it, and asked, "What are y'all doing?" We told him what happened. He just looked back at us, shook his head and went back to his toilet seat. Ok, sidebar moment here, when Paul sat back there, it was just empty space and a chair. To me, it looked like a bathroom stall. Hence, I called it his toilet seat. Now you get the picture.
Fortunately, there were no more antics for the rest of the performance, but that went down as the funniest moment in the history of the Journey to the Resurrection. What made it funnier was that people thought that me, as Jesus, and all the disciples were playing the Upper Room so seriously that time. They were all so humbled and moved by what Jesus was saying and doing, and all of the disciplines were bowing their heads in humility as well, it was a beautiful thing to them. Nothing could have been further from the truth, but hey, we're glad that's how someone saw it. That's all that matters, what the audience saw, and not what we were experiencing. Needless to say, a new rule was made for future Journey performances, no lightsabers allowed.
I wanted to share this story with you because the Journey to the Resurrection was one of the most fun times of my life. Portraying Jesus and helping others come to Christ in this manner was a blessing and one of the most cherished experiences I'll ever have, and I hope they bring the performances back again one day. Being Jesus during that time made me feel a part of Him even more. I could only hope to be like Jesus. But I'll certainly take being saved by Jesus.
But as I've said in prior blogs, Jesus has been with me through thick and thin. He reveals Himself when you least expect it and in ways you can't imagine. Once again, Jesus made Himself known to me around the time that the Journey typically began. Tune in next time for 10: The White Light.
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