Oberammergau Passion Play: The day I met Jesus and his Bavarian twin
Oberammergau Passion Play: The day I met the 2010 Jesus and his bearded Bavarian twin
Tom Chesshyre
Jesus is late. No one has seen him this morning. The priest in a white cassock by the door to St Anne’s Church in the Old City in Jerusalem shrugs as though he wonders where Jesus is, too.
Divine presence: Tom Chesshyre (midddle) meets Andreas Richter (left) and Frederick Mayet, the men chosen to play the role of Jesus in the 2010 season of the Oberammergau Passion Play
The early morning sun illuminates the church courtyard. A ginger cat
skips along a path into the shade of an acacia tree before disappearing
through a hole in a hedge. Beyond, by a sign that explains that ‘Jesus
healed the sick man near these medieval baths (John, Chapter 5)’, there
are the excavations of the Bethesda Pool, where he performed the
miracle.
A group of Venezuelan pilgrims wearing matching red, yellow and blue baseball caps walk past with a guide. They gaze into the dried-out baths, which are now surrounded on the far side by ramshackle white houses with clusters of rusty satellite dishes on their roofs.
There’s still no sign of Jesus. But then a couple of bearded, hippyish-looking men shuffle towards us. The priest hurries to welcome
Article source: https://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/article-1218098/Oberammergau-Passion-Play-The-day-I-met-2010-Jesus-bearded-Bavarian-twin.html