Killing Jesus

False king,

God has no mercy on you.

He shall fester you with boils...

spawned by your many sins.

A child born in Israel...

will be a far greater king than you.

He is born to destroy you...

and those of your seed.

- - God's wrath...

has come upon you.

Did you see him? Did you see Isaiah?

Did you see him? Did you see him?

Fa-Father- Father, it's me, Antipas.

Antipas.

Wake the priests of the Sanhedrin.

Very well, Father.

Now. I will see them now.

Does Your Majesty value truth?

For there is harsh truth in your dream.

I will hear it.

To step beyond these walls...

is to know King Herod is despised.

The zealots denounce you as a puppet,

enthroned by the Roman emperor...

against the will of the Jewish people.

Zealots cannot enter my father's dreams.

Unless endowed by sorcery.

Sorcery? You did not see Isaiah.

You saw a specter,

a figment.

- Figment. - The creation of a sorcerer's skill.

But through prayer,

it can be vanquished.

You are a warrior king.

Your voice can make a vapor of phantoms.

Yes.

- A vapor. - Come to the temple.

Through prayer, your strength will grow ever greater.

Make way for the high priest!

Well done.

To vanquish phantoms, he prays.

Whatever his faults, the bond between the throne and temple serves order.

And order serves the preservation of our people.

Please, sir. Allow me.

Please, sir.

Greetings.

Greetings. Greetings, sir.

Greetings to you.

Father, the nobles who are served by these men...

offer you gifts from the land of the Hind.

What do they say of their masters?

That they are from beyond Parthia.

Wanting what of me?

They ask that you hear from their own lips for their purpose.

Arrange entertainments.

Majesty,

an alignment of the stars has drawn us here.

These stars-

They foretell a great event.

A child, born in your kingdom,

is the God of Israel's chosen.

The Messiah. The Messiah?

A king of the Davidic line to restore the glory of Israel,

as in the prophecy of Isaiah.

Isaiah.

Go!

Of all the infants born in my kingdom,

how will you find this one child...

destined to be the Messiah?

Knowledge that the day and time of his birth...

match the position of the stars.

And the child will give us a sign.

What a blessing. Yes.

Find this child.

Send me news that I may come and...

venerate him.

I welcome your holy mission. Majesty.

Joseph?

What is it?

This attention, adulation of our boy.

We must leave. Leave?

Why? Herod.

No king allows a rival to his throne.

But our home. Enough.

I know what I feel.

You're leaving?

There's danger here.

- Where will you go? - Wherever Herod is not.

Elizabeth, pack our things.

We will go as well. Go on.

Our purpose was visiting your cousin, and now we have none.

On this day, give no thought to what you do.

By King Herod's order, the male babies, all of them!

You seven this way, the rest with me.

In there.

You two, there.

- Is it a boy? - It's a girl!

Show me.

Please!

No.

Where are your children'? No! No!

No. Please. I beg you. Don't kill my son!

Who's there?

Antipas?

My heart.

Help me.

Antipas, Antipas.

Anti-Antipas.

Antipas.

You find comfort here, where your father once ruled.

Comfort.

Better said lament.

I too. I married to be queen.

Tell me, Antipas,

tetrarch of fair Galilee,

am I a fool for wanting more?

If so, we are both fools.

Promise...

I will someday find you here...

not lamenting, but ruling Jews-all Jews-

as your father ruled.

All powerful, not a puppet of the Romans.

I will not rest until I'm on this throne as king.

With you by my side.

Greetings.

The wheel of my cart has broken on my way home.

I'm a trader from Jerusalem. Please, can you help me?

Jerusalem? Shalom.

Shalom.

Some years back, I heard of old Herod's death.

Did his rule pass to one of his sons?

No, no son of Herod rules now.

Rome sends governors to rule.

And there's order. The Romans value that.

What has become of the sons of Herod?

They remain as tetrarchs. Each has limited rule over a piece of the kingdom.

How is life for the Jews?

One gets heavily taxed, but one gets by.

Here in this land of dog-headed gods,

I made great efforts teaching my son our scripture,

dreaming he might become a man in the land given us by God.

Perhaps it is time to return, hmm?

So this is the holy city of the Jews?

Why don't they hail their new governor?

I don't come seeking their love, Claudia, only respect.

How do I dress when we are taken to see the Jewish God?

No one sees him.

They believe hes everywhere.

Everywhere? But cannot be seen?

How do they know he exists?

Maybe he doesn't.

Come on, children.

Ah, he's here. Jesus.

Our cousin Elizabeth has not seen you since you were a baby in arms.

I've heard so much about you.

I'd given up hope,

but a trader spoke of a Joseph of Nazareth who'd returned from afar.

I fell at once it was your Joseph.

He brought us six years before he died.

Then blessed be God.

He left you a life that's good.

Is John a priest in the temple, like Zechariah?

My son, the Baptist, is not beloved of the temple, nor they of him.

John found God in the wilderness.

Like Isaiah.

Hmm.

Talk prophets with Jesus,

and he'll recite them till our meat grows cold.

You're blessed with such a child.

Jesus too. He's learned in scripture.

Hmm. Argues with the scribes and Pharisees in the synagogue.

Then you and John would find kinship.

I must first find him.

You should.

This attack on me-it was beyond insult, beyond threat!

Hold it to their noses.

Let them know what I have suffered.

Put your nose to the stench that is your people,

who hurled filth at me!

But for the brave legionnaires who surrounded my litter,

protecting me,

I should have died under the hail of stones.

That my wife is attacked in your streets.

Governor-

I should level this holy city...