Killing Jesus

---

1

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 he's 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 felt 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...

and cake the ruins with blood.

Governor, though some

oppose your rule...

And who are they?

You, who claim authority, do you know that?

If not, what value

are you to Rome?

Governor, my temple guards

have learned...

that the attack upon your noble

wife was led by a zealot...

Samuel of Peraea.

And why is he not

here in chains,

tortured, begging that death

relieve his agony?

Why?

He and his followers have fled

to the wilds of Galilee.

Your place of rule.

I'll offer rewards.

He'll be betrayed.

Easily found.

Found and killed.

Along with all of his followers.

Killed by you.

By me?

Do I sense hesitation?

Do I tell the emperor our enemies

find sanctum in your realm?

No.

I'll find him, kill him.

Hacked to shreds.

All of them.

Governor, we share

your fully justified fury.

The enemies of order,

the enemies of us all.

Then prove it.

The bodies of those who disrespected

my wife and my office here...

that I may see them, and soon.

Who were those people?

They're zealots.

Rather than submit,

they cut their own throats.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes