The Day I Became Jesus Christ

Greetings! Today, I have something very special to share with you. Something that changed my life forever. I have a unique opportunity to tell you about events that I was personally involved in and make this blog super interesting for everyone. I am here to tell you about how I became Jesus Christ.

It's holiday time for Christians! As I am writing this article, it is Holy Week that celebrates the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is a very big week for Christians all around the world. Personally, this is one of my most favorite times of the year. There’s a lot of activities like street processions that travel around our town. One of which is the cross-carrying procession that marks the beginning of Easter Sunday. There is also a Station of the Cross where different important events during those times were portrayed while people are participating in the procession. And here’s where the story of me becoming Jesus Christ enters.

We have a big tradition of performing the stations of the cross every year in our town where everyone has a role to play—it's basically like the whole town comes together to perform the story of Christ's death. So I had grown up watching my older cousins play the parts of Jesus’ apostles and other folks who witnessed the crucifixion. I have witnesses how they have become so good portraying their roles that it was really believable. Then my time to be part of the picture came. The day I got to play Jesus was such a happy day for me and everyone in our town. I will forever remember that day because there's no feeling like becoming someone you admire.

It was three years ago when I portrayed Jesus Christ by reenacting one of stations of Christ's Passion during the procession in our town. The day I became Jesus Christ was the stations that of the scourging. In the station, my uncle dressed as a Roman Soldier tied me up. I was standing there on my knees as he beat me with a whip. No, don't worry, I wasn't really scourged or even stabbed with a spear. I also didn't die on the cross and then resurrect three days later. Well, not physically at least. But you get my point. Just imitating how it is to be scourged. The person just whipped me with a piece of cloth, and there was no blood (just fake blood) or harm on my body. But the thing was, after a few minutes, I started feeling the pain that Jesus must've felt from those whips and also every emotion that He felt when He was being beaten. It felt like forever, but it only lasted for a few minutes.  I suddenly realized how tough it was for Him to withstand all those pains just so He can save His people. His love for us is incomparable; it is beyond this world.

After people participating in the procession were almost out of that station, and tears began to fall from my eyes because of what happened to me—I felt like I finally understood why He did it. He did it because He loves us SO MUCH! He was beaten and scourged within an inch of His life and yet He never denied Himself of who He really is and why He came to this earth. My eyes were still blurry with tears when we got out of the station, but then when I looked at my family walking with me under the darkness of the cold night, everything got clearer—and I saw their faces filled with joy and hope.

Being a participant in the Holy Week Celebration is one of the most unforgettable moments for me. It was a great pride for our family, since everyone (starting from my great grandfathers) has been taking part on it since the beginning of the century. It was really fantastic and amazing. I was really amazed with the devotion of the people. I felt like I was Jesus Christ during His last days on earth. The feeling inside me was so powerful that it cannot be describe in words in which every religious person will feel.

In this experience, I realized what it must have felt like to be crucified and scourged by Romans. I felt Jesus Christ's pain both on the cross and because of the cruel words that were spoken to Him. The comparisons to how Jesus suffered greatly was an eye opener for me, which made me stop and think that everyone goes through hard times in life. Many times we are tied up at work, in school, at home or wherever we are doing something unpleasant and we feel like someone is beating us up because they are telling us bad things about us. Using our trials in our life can reveal His love to us if we will just open our heart to receive it.

We can also take on the role of the executioner and hurt others through our words. Words can hurt and so can we, no matter what it is that we say or do. So we need to be merciful when we speak to others bad words can hurt them as much or more than physical beating.

The lesson I learned from this experience as Jesus Christ is that I need to be more compassionate toward other people. I need to show people the love of Jesus every day - be more tolerant with people who hurt me because they may not know what they are doing or how much their words can hurt. Most importantly, I was able to understand why we should forgive others and most of all, to forgive myself.

All photos including the lead image are mine.

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