BEAVERTOWN -- In the chilly spring air and under cloudy skies, his cries of pain echoed off the trees and rolling hills of rural Adams Township, Snyder County.
His mother, Mary, friend Mary Magdalene and disciple John, knelt in front of the cross, weeping, while Roman soldiers mocked his kingship and cast lots for his clothing.
Myron Reich, of Winfield, who portrayed Jesus Friday in a re-enactment of the biblical story of the crucifixion, stood on a platform under a wooden cross, his arms held up with strips of rope. Fake blood covered his body, fake nail holes driven into his hands and feet. A crown of thorns covered his head, above which was a sign that declared him to be the King of the Jews.
It all followed a 40-person hike that began at 3 p.m. Friday in the parking lot of St. Peter's Independent Bible Church along Middle Road in Beavertown, and proceeded up a grass-filled hill to the three crosses, two of which already constrained the two infamous thieves who hung on each side of Christ.
As Jesus walked to his death, the Roman soldiers mocked him and denounced him the whole way.
It all seemed cruel, hopeless.
But after hanging on the cross for some time, he breathed his last and cried, "It is finished."
And that's when the real hope began.
"He didn't mean his life," actor Clark Camp, of Beavertown, and owner of Rayauda's Restaurant in Beaver Springs, said after the re-enactment. "He meant the job was finished.
"He was the first blood donor," he said. And his blood "saved the whole world."
Camp played the Roman centurion who immediately regretted what he had done when Jesus died.
"He truly was the Son of God," is his well-known declaration.
"I was as mean as the rest of the Romans," Camp said of his character, "but I realized it at the end."
Camp said his faith is the major reason why he became a part of the re-enactment.
"Without Good Friday and Easter, there is no Christianity," he said. Any fear of an unstable world is taken away at the foot of the cross, he said.
That's the purpose of this re-enactment, summed up in the age-old hymn, "The Old Rugged Cross," which the crowd sung after Jesus' "death."
Norman Reich, event coordinator and owner of the land on which the three crosses were located, said for several years since 2001, members of St. Peter's Independent Bible and St. Peter's United Methodist churches, along with community members, have joined together to remember the significance of Good Friday.
"People get lost in the celebration of the season and forget the real meaning," Reich said. "It (the re-enactment) is always meaningful to those who come to see it."
Myron Reich, Norman's nephew, agrees. As he plays Jesus, which he has done for several years now, he tries to look at the audience as he hangs on the cross, remembering how much God loves each person.
"You put yourself in Christ's place," he said.
"You can't grasp what he went through," Myron said.
But to him, it is as real as the day it happened.
"It becomes real to me because I know what Christ has done in my own life."
n E-mail comments to tpursell@dailyitem.com
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Participants: Re-enactments bring them closer to Christ
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