‘It was a work of love’: Why this construction worker portrayed Jesus on Good Friday

Actors playing Roman soldiers laughed as they repeatedly kicked Jesus, played by Marcos Gonzalez, to the ground while he carried a solid wooden cross nearly twice his height. One of the falls left him with pain in his elbow after the emotional Good Friday mass at Queen of Peace Catholic Church on Telephone Road.

“Right now, it hurts, but it doesn’t compare with none of the sufferings of Jesus,” he said afterward.

Before Christians across Houston celebrated Easter Sunday, Gonzalez played the part of Jesus walking to his death on Good Friday while being beaten and kicked down. The 45-year-old construction worker from Guanajuato, Mexico, has been attending the church for six years. He usually plays one of the soldiers, but on this occasion, Gonzalez decided to bear the cross himself.

As Gonzalez circled the 81-year-old church, emotional spectators cried and yelled Jesus’s name as actors whipped him with ratchet-tie straps and foam noodles.

He was finally “crucified” outside the church. Tears rolled down the eyes of actors and viewers alike. Gonzalez’s draped body was carried inside. The loud jeering just moments before was replaced by a somber and quiet nave, with families packed into the aisles and crammed into corners.

Gonzalez cleaned off the fake blood dripping down his head and chest, changed into a fresh shirt and pants, and joined the mass. He took communion with the rest of his community.

“The truth is that it was a work of love,” Gonzalez said. “And now, yes, the people gave and felt the suffering of our lord Jesus Christ.”

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