'Whatever Jesus went through, at least he was spared the Irish weather'

PASSION PLAY:IT SEEMED superfluous to pour a jug of water over Pilate's hands after he had assented to the cry of the mob for Barabbas on Dublin's Werburgh Street yesterday.

All the Roman had to do, as a thinly covered Jesus stood before him on the steps of the Church of Ireland’s St Werburgh’s, was extend both hands – and the deluge would have done the rest.

The downpour prompted one unintended mob member – he had been strolling by when he heard the shouts – to say, “whatever Jesus went through, at least he was spared the Irish weather”.

Two centurions roughly ushered Jesus to assume his cross and walk, first down the steps of the church and on to a sodden street, where it took little imagination to sense that Jesus was feeling the weight, as much as pretending to. He, junior doctor and amateur actor Myles Gutkin, struggled past Burdocks and the Lord Edward pub, where he fell the first time.

He was roundly abused by the centurions, who pushed back the crew of loudly keening women following. They included Mary his mother and Mary Magdalene. One centurion approached two gardaí at the junction with Dame Street and advised them to keep the traffic away, as a wet, bewildered young couple looked on.

As the wet troupe neared the gates of Dublin Castle, Simon of Cyrene (Gabriel Peelo) stepped forward to assist the wilting Jesus. Also there was the Archdeacon of Dublin, David Pierpoint, with a wet hat that betrayed another passion, that for Leinster rugby.

Jesus fell again. From the Castle gates could be heard a haunting female voice singing what sounded like a lament. It seemed appropriate – a thought compounded by Jesus’s third fall at those gates.

In the courtyard, Jesus was raised on his cross and died at a pace which was a mercy to all there standing in the rain. All that remained on the Castle cobbles were red rose petals and a bag containing 30 pieces of silver.