Page 11 - Sanger Herald 4-5-18 E-edition

Lifestyles
SANGER HERALD • 3B • THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2018
Crucifixion brought to life at St. Mary's
Sanger
By Mike Nemeth
Sanger Herald
Vic Leyva and his fellow Roman centurions took on perhaps the greatest challenge of the night.
Their task was to repeatedly beat a man with truncheons so viciously that hundreds in the audience cringed. The blows rained down. Some cried. Children stared in awe.
And blood was spilled. Lots of it.
Leyva expected he, too, would get emotional.
And he did. But like a good soldier, he did his duty. However, his conscience questioned his actions.
“When I was putting the nails in his hands, I saw his face,” Leyva said. “It was him, and I kinda stopped. But I had to keep going.
“He was the son of God.”
Leyva belonged to a crew of 35 actors who staged a live-action Stations of the Cross event at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Sanger on March 30. The Good Friday enactment, in its sixth year, began with the last supper Jesus of Nazareth had with his disciples, sharing the bread that represented his body and the wine that represented his blood.
Leonardo da Vinci’s painting on the refectory of the Convent of Santa Maria dell Grazie in Milan from the 15th century captured what many regard as the quintessential image of that moment. But the professionalism and care the everyday parishioners of St. Mary’s put into the production immediately captivated the imagination of those watching.
Their carefully created costumes and props, all rich with detail, set the clock back a couple millennium transported viewers to a backwater of the Roman Empire overseen by governor Pontius Pilate and controlled by a vindictive cabal of high priests. Jesus, as is sung about in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” was just a man, but he made powerful enemies.
And there on the grounds of the large Catholic church at North and Bethel avenues, the story that may be one of the best known on the planet was acted out in all its painfully unjust detail — the betrayal,
The Case For Christ’s Resurrection
This last Sunday we celebrated the Resurrection of the Jesus Christ.
In his book, “The Case for Christ,” journalist Lee Strobel gives compelling circumstantial evidence for the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
Timothy McVeigh, the man behind the Oklahoma City bombing, received a lethal injection for killing 168 innocent people, even though no one saw him commit this heinous crime. All the evidence against McVeigh, you see, was circumstantial. Indirect testimony: That’s what circumstantial evidence is. It’s an accumulation of facts from which one can draw
Miike Nemeth / Sanger Herald
High priests condemn Jesus of Nazareth to death, and he is sentenced to die alongside two others. Below right, centurions beat Jesus as he drags his cross to the site of his crucifixion.
the church grounds. Little heed was paid to his corpse, which swayed slightly like Nina Simone’s subject matter in her song “Strange Fruit.”
Barabbas, a criminal, was chosen over Jesus Christ by the crowd for clemency in the customary pardon prior to Passover. Once pardoned, Barabbas leaped into the air and disappeared into the crowd. He looked nothing like Anthony Quinn, who played the notorious character in the 1961 film and is haunted by the image he carries of the messiah for the rest of his life.
Once he was burdened with the cross, Jesus fell three times. On his third collapse, he was consoled by Mary Magdalene and she shed tears when faced with his pain and impending death.
The climax featured Jesus hoisted alongside two others on crosses to die as daylight disappeared. One of the centurions nailed a sign that read, “INRI.” The acronym represents the Latin phrase Iesus Nazarenus Rex Iudaeorum, which means Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews.
His death was chronicled in Luke 23:44-47, “It was now about noon and darkness came over the whole land until three in the afternoon because of an eclipse of the sun. Then the veil of the temple was torn down the middle. Jesus cried out in a loud voice, 'Father, into your hands I commend my spirit'; and when he had said this he breathed his last. The centurion who witnessed what had happened glorified God and said, “This man was innocent beyond doubt.”
Velazco was that centurion.
“What do you think?” Velazco asked afterward. “We had some mistakes. I’m happy. We’re not actors. So I think it turned out pretty well.”
Rodriguez offered this: “Every year, we’ve been improving, making it better.”
The reporter can be contacted by email at nemethfeatures@gmail.com or by phone at the Herald at (559) 875-2511.
testify that more than any single thing in their lives, Jesus Christ has changed them.”Circumstantial evidence earned Timothy McVeigh a death sentence. But sacred circumstantial evidence about the resurrection of Jesus Christ canleadallofustoamuch better verdict: everlasting life in the presence of God. Would there be enough circumstantial evidence to convict you of following Jesus?
Pastor Sam Estes is city advance director and facilitates the Sanger Community Task Force that meets the first and third Tuesdays every month. He can be reached at pastorsam51@gmail.com.
the jealousy and the fear shown by the priests. They dreaded losing power to a man believed by a growing crowd of followers to be the messiah.
Jesus was arrested in the Garden of Gethsemane, betrayed by Judas, who told the Jewish high priests where his friend would be. For his role, Judas received a bag of silver.
Loudspeakers on the back of a pickup provided the dialogue and storytelling. The actors mouthed the
intelligent conclusions.
As a newspaper reporter covering the courts, Strobel saw how circumstantial evidence is used to expose what really happened during a crime. So, in the midst of a spiritual quest, Strobel began to wonder: Could circumstantial evidence verify that the resurrection of Christ
really happened?
He took his question
to philosopher J.P. Moreland. In a challenging voice, Strobel asked Moreland: “Can you give me five pieces of solid circumstantial evidence that convince you Jesus rose from the dead?”
“Certainly,” Moreland responded. First, there’s the evidence of the skeptics. Some of those who were most hostile to Jesus prior to his death
words expertly. While the language was Spanish, even solely English speakers needed no translation. Imprisonment at high priest Caiaphas’ palace and beatings by a cadre of centurions explained everything.
“We’re not professionals,” said Samuel Velazco, an event organizer. “We’re just from the community. We try to simulate the past as best as possible.”
Velazco played a centurion. While he didn’t beat Jesus, he did pass judgement and facilitated his crucifixion. “(But) I’m the good soldier,” he said. “Because he’ll kneel and say, ‘He’s the son of God.’”
Lupe Rodriguez played
one of the high priests. “The ones who crucify him,” he said.
Rodriguez said the high priests caused the events of the past because they saw Jesus as a threat to their power. “Just like today,” he said. “You challenge the power, and they’ll kill you.”
Juan Mirales, a math teacher in real life, played Pilate, the man who said, “I find no guilt in this man.” Yet, he had Jesus tortured and beaten. When he tried to release Jesus, the priests objected and demanded he be crucified.
“It’s a necessary role,” Mirales said. “It’s part of the story. I like to think of myself as a conflicted guy.”
At that point in the story
as portrayed by Velazco’s troupe, the messiah suffered serious injury from the continued beating. He had been stripped and his skin laid open. Blood flowed freely.
Lots of blood.
Leyva said every moment was part of a plan to directly involve the audience. “They can feel what happened to Jesus,” he said. “They can find out why he died for us. Find out what happened.”
Alejandro Cisn ros played Jesus. And like Leyva said, he became Jesus.
Judas immediately regretted his actions. He killed himself by hanging. He was seen actually hanging from a tree on
for his beliefs. These men spent the rest of their lives witnessing about Christ. They frequently went without food and they were mocked, beaten and thrown into prison.
In the end, all but one died a painful martyr’s death. Would they have done this for a lie? Of course not. They did it because they were convinced beyond a doubt that they had seen the risen Christ. Even if we doubted 2,000-year-old evidence, we all have the circumstantial evidence we could possibly want — right in front of us.
“It is”, Moreland said, “the ongoing encounter with the resurrected Christ that happens all over the world, in every culture, to people from all kinds of backgrounds and personalities. They all will
PASTOR’S CORNER
became his most
ardent supporters afterward. Second,
the ancient Jews
had a number
of immensely important religious rituals.
These included
the offering of
animal sacrifices, obeying the Mosaic law and keeping the Sabbath.
But within five weeks of Jesus’ death, more than 10,000 Jews had suddenly altered or abandoned these rituals. Moreland asked: “Why would they relinquish rites that had long given them their national identity?”
The implication is that something enormously significant had occurred.
Third, we see the emergence of new rituals: the sacraments of
Communion and Baptism. The early Jews baptized in the name of the father, the son, and the Holy Spirit, “which,” Moreland said, “meant they had elevated Jesus to the full status of
Pastor Sam Estes
God.”
Fourth, we see the rapid
rise of a new church, beginning shortly after the death of Jesus. Within 20 years, this new church (begun by the companions of a dead carpenter) had reached Caesar’s palace in Rome and eventually spread throughout the Roman Empire.
And then, Moreland said, there’s the most convincing circumstantial evidence of all. Fifth, the fact that every one of Jesus’ disciples was willing to suffer and die