Like one crucified

In the Philippines, the Passion Plays are real. At least, more real than many of us would be comfortable with. Sure, millions of Americans went to see Mel Gibson's movie, but check out these devoted Jesus-actors: http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,476050,00.html. Sorry, the article itself is in German - I was looking for a similar article in English, but the pictures here are worth a thousand words. Click on the slide show two paragraphs down, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The pain on the man's face is not acting. Those nails are actually piercing his hands. He and four others do this every year on Good Friday. One of them is a 46 year-old man who has been nailed to a cross every Passion Week for over two decades. Not being the actual Jesus, they don't die for three days and come back to life, of course. They hang on the cross for 5 grueling minutes, after which they are taken down and given medical attention. Jesus, of course, died after six hours, and other condemned men in the days of Rome hung for more than a day. The nails aren't the mega-spikes that went through Jesus' wrists, rather these 9 centimeter long worker-nails are soaked in alcohol to prevent infection and then nailed (more traditionally) through the hands.

The crucified men are devout Catholics (though the Catholic church itself condemns the acts), and they consider their crucifixions acts of worship, as well as sermons. Ruben Enaje, the aforementioned 46 years old intends to be crucified each year as long as he can, according to the Spiegel article.

Jesus, of course, said that we need to take up our crosses and follow him. Of course, that was not literal for most of us. Paul promises that sharing in Christ's suffering is part of being a complete Christian. Many of the earliest Christians were martyred on the cross, just like Jesus. Tradition holds that Peter was crucified up-side down. Perhaps other Christians are (and will be) literally crucified as Christ was.

Jesus, of course, mercifully commands us to remember his suffering through eating and drinking. The sermon here, of course, is the Gospel itself: that by living here the life we were meant to live, and by dying the death and facing the Father's wrath we deserve, we now have life abundant. We sang "Rock of Ages" at church today, reminding that this act was a "double-cure." In living the abundant life, we are overcoming sin, and we are living in God's favor, for eternity. I hope these crucified Philippinos, as they perform this brutal work, remember that it is this kind of grace that has saved them. I hope we remember it to. Happy Easter, everyone.