Don’t let this blog post title offend you. It’s not blasphemy, I promise. It’s more like a “divine comedy” which less than a hundred people can actually remember witnessing. It all happened in 1979 at a small church in Decatur, Alabama. It could have been a disaster, but ended up being a blessing– and a hilarious one at that.
In my early ministry days I served as a youth pastor for a most remarkable youth group. We called our youth ministry “Resurrection Company, “which eventually encompassed a choir, a touring drama team, and a weekly radio show. The core of the Resurrection Company youth group loved Jesus with all their hearts, and were always sitting on GO for any ministry opportunity.
On our very first ministry tour we took a simple dramatic presentation to several small churches. Our short play presented the story of Christ in a contemporary setting, with most of the characters dressed in normal street clothes.
The most moving scene of the play actually included a crucifixion scene where Jesus declared his love for all mankind, even for those who killed him. Jesus, a Roman soldier, and a few weeping women were the only ones dressed in first-century costumes. The actors in modern dress, mixed with the ones in biblical costumes, was quite avant-garde for 1979. Audiences were shocked as they witnessed their peers screaming in anger at Jesus who was dragging a large, heavy wooden cross down the aisle of the church. Moms cried when they heard Mary’s piercing wail as the Roman guard drove nails into his hands. With music blaring, spotlights shining, tears flowing, and emotions on edge, the stage crowd of hateful souls raised-up the heavy cross, lifting Jesus high above the heads of the audience.
The guy that played Jesus, Jimmy Cook, was in every way excellent. He was blessed with sparkling blue eyes, and curly light-brown hair– a totally Anglo-Saxon Jesus (not really biblical, but the best we could do.) Splattered with fake blood and wearing only a modest loincloth, He knew just how to express the pain of a crucifixion and the love of the Savior at the same time. He was a superb actor– the one I could count on to deliver the message with heartfelt passion. Feeling the moment, My wife and I watched and waited for the big finish, praying fervently for the Spirit to move on the congregation.
But there was a problem– a MAJOR problem. In every other performance we had utilized a platform or stage that was at least two or three feet above the main floor level. To raise-up the big cross simply required planting its base on the main floor where Mary and the other women had collapsed in grief, and then having the angry crowd on stage lift-up the heavy cross and hold it in place. On cue, a voice would scream, “If you’re the Son of God, come down!” Then Jimmy (AKA Jesus), would take a brokenhearted gaze across the auditorium, finally crying out, “Father forgive them for they don’t know what they are doing.”
But at this particular church, there was no raised platform. It was flat. One level. As soon as the Jesus haters raised the cross all the way up, the horizontal cross piece became too high for their hands to hold– and the cross slipped right out of their grip and kept going– straight toward the pastor’s family on the front row! Like a lumberjack’s nightmare, Jimmy (AKA Jesus), and a sixty pound piece of wood were poised to impale the young family in full view of the congregation!
Since Jimmy was not actually nailed to the cross, he couldn’t hold on, and so he leaped off– landing right on top of Mother Mary and her crying friends. Then, like Samson of old, Billy Lawley, the quick thinking, brave Roman soldier single-handedly wrestled the wooden projectile all the way to the floor– using both muscle and adrenaline to work a miracle– a real miracle. The pastor’s family never knew what almost hit ’em.
Jimmy (AKA Jesus) in slow motion stood up from the floor (where he had just crushed three wailing women and given them a real reason to cry), and stretched out his arms to imitate the cross. Then he painfully…. dramatically…… lowered his head…. and died. Brilliant. Right on cue.
It was a moment of sheer terror and of artistic expression beyond anything I have ever seen on stage. A near disaster had been averted. What WE KNEW was an epic fail, became a resounding success. The invitation to come to Christ that night was one of the best ever. One teenaged immigrant from India told the pastor, “When I heard them say, ‘If you’re the son of God come down’….and then he did….it all made sense to me.” Go figure. But in the end– instead of lives being lost, souls were saved.
I am reminded of the words of Joseph in Genesis 50:19-20:
Joseph said to them, ‘Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God? You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.'”
It’s true.
“What the Enemy meant for evil, the Lord has turned for good.”
Only God can do that.
