Jeffrey Nemeth Sr., of Frackville, as Jesus Christ. The boy to the right wearing glasses is his son Jeffrey Jr., 13.
Originally published in the Pottsville Republican-Herald on April 16, 2022.
GORDON - Beneath his robes, Jesus Christ wore cargo shorts and an American flag t-shirt. The mountains of Schuylkill County, and crowds of people lining the streets, witnessed his passion Friday.
Christ carried a 20-pound wooden cross, flanked by Roman soldiers and followed by the devout - some in biblical clothes, others in modern-day jeans and baseball caps. Residents peered through their doors and watched from their porches, decorated with Easter bunnies and crucifixes. Many pulled out their cell phones to capture his suffering. People stared and dogs barked.
“Shush,” one onlooker said, putting her hand over her dog’s mouth. “Jesus is here.”
Jesus Christ is Jeffrey Nemeth Sr., of Frackville, and for 44 Good Fridays, he, or a member of his family, has dressed as Jesus and walked barefoot with a cross through the streets of Gordon.
“You don’t even notice it,” said Nemeth, 49. “There’s so much other thoughts going on. Just thinking about making it.”
His girlfriend Lisa Zemgulis says that Nemeth has “baby soft feet.”
“Not today,” he said.
When Nemeth bears the cross each year, his mind clears. All he thinks about is the divine agony that he is reenacting.
“The discomfort that I feel pales in comparison to what (Jesus) went through,” Nemeth said.
It took Nemeth one hour to get into his robes, wig, false beard and crown of thorns (which helps keep his wig from falling off). He carried his cross past cars blaring rap music, a skeleton wearing bunny ears and Chick’s Cafe on McKnight Street, with its Yuengling beer ads and “bikers welcome” sign.
“It was just awesome,” said Lisa Fox of Jonestown, who wore a t-shirt reading “Jesus loves this hot mess.”
“It makes you reflect even more on Jesus and his crucifixion, and what it meant,” she said.
This was Fox’s first time at the Trek of the Cross. She came with her friends Jimmelou and Larry Smallwood, both of Hegins.
“I like his hair,” Larry said about Nemeth. “Looks like Jesus.”
Linda and Walter Payne came from Lansdale with their Havanese poodle, Jules.
“Just the symbolism of Jesus’s trek to the cross,” Linda said, “being honored by the community. It’s such incredible symbolism and meaning on Good Friday.”
The trek started and ended at Simpson United Methodist Church on Biddle Street.
“It was very humbling,” Nemeth said. “I get to continue what my family started, and I get to portray the greatest man who ever lived.”
The Trek of the Cross began with Allen Yost of Allentown in 1979. At first, Yost carried his cross alone, but as time went on more and more people joined him. Yost planned to make the Trek for 12 years, one for each of the 12 Apostles, but died shortly after the tenth trek in 1989. His nephew Edward Labie took his place.
“You don’t think a lot about it,” said Labie, 65, of Girardville. “For me it was more about remembrance of my uncle, and remembrance of being raised Christian.”
The tradition lasted much longer than 12 years, and in 2010, Nemeth began to carry the cross. Even in 2020 and 2021, during the COVID-19 pandemic, he walked.
“I’m very proud of him,” Zemgulis said. “I think it restores my faith, and it brings you back to basics. You don’t think of the materialistic things at all. It’s humbling.”
“It doesn’t really change your faith,” Nemeth said, “it’s just a chance to enforce it once a year. I don’t do it just for myself, it’s mostly for the community.”
Nemeth’s son Jeffrey Jr. walks with him each year. When he is 18, he will take his father’s place as Jesus.
“You got this, right?” Nemeth said to his son.
“Yeah,” Jeffrey Jr. said. “It’s kind of cool, knowing that I’ll be in the same position one day.”
Jacob Sashelben, 19, of Girardville, played a Roman soldier.
“It’s always interesting to see the community come together for this small event,” he said, “which is in reality not that small. It gives me just a little bit more insight to what was really happening all those years ago.”
Jacob Sashelben.
Sashelben has been in the procession for several years.
“It brings a lot of emotion,” he said, “it’s hard to describe just exactly what’s running through my head, because of how eye-opening it is. It’s not even a full reenactment, yet just walking with Jesus gives an entirely new viewpoint on this event.”
The Trek of the Cross concluded with a Good Friday service in Simpson United Methodist Church. As the cross Nemeth carried stood on display, the church was filled with the smell of Easter lilies and the sound of a ticking clock, as well as a fiery sermon from Pastor Susan Hocking.
“Each year we resuscitate those familiar feelings,” Hocking said, “the feelings of anguish and disbelief that accompanied Jesus to the cross. This year it feels like so much more to bear, like salt rubbed into an open wound, due to events in the world… Humble us, God, so that we may feel the pain you went through, and that will prepare us for our celebration of Easter.”
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