- Joshua.
How many more in the night?
- Some 300, sir.
- Where will you bury them?
- The men are trying to dig a trench,
but the ground is hard and rocky.
With respect, Moses, my concern is not for the dead,
but for the dying.
Hundreds fall by the day.
And for every serpent we kill another ten appear.
- Maybe we should leave the bodies here, in this tent.
- At the rate people are dying,
there would not be enough room,
even if we stack them to the top.
- Then we'll have to leave and find someplace else.
- We're not leaving anytime soon.
Too many are sick and cannot walk.
- After today, the only Hebrews too sick to walk
will be those who choose to remain so.
- Is there medicine in that bronze?
You told the people that you would ask God
to forgive their rebellion, to heal their serpent wounds--
- I did.
- Then why are you hiding in a tent.
- It wasn't my idea, Joshua!
- That is a pagan symbol.
You did not ask Him if He was sure?
Maybe you misunderstood Him.
- I've learned to do what He says without questioning.
You remember what happened at Meribah.
- Just to be sure,
we could send a messenger to Ezion-Geber, beg for aid--
- That pole...
Hand me that pole.
- The people will say it is a cruel joke.
- Let them say that.
- Help me understand.
None of this makes any sense.
- How do you explain the Red Sea?
The manna and the quail?
The pillar of fire?
Joshua, any Israelite who looks upon this bronze serpent
and believes in the power of Adonai will be healed.
It's an act of faith...
not reason.
Faith.
♪ Oh, child, come on in. ♪
♪ Jump in the water.
♪ Got no trouble with the mess you been. ♪
♪ Walk on the water.
♪ Oh, child...
♪ Walk on the water.
♪ Got no trouble.
♪ Walk on the water.
♪ Walk on the water. ♪
- Gaius.
Why are you here?
- I'm escorting you.
- Because you feel indebted for your promotion.
- You're complaining about safely walking the streets?
- I didn't help Quintus for you.
- Oh, I know.
You couldn't help yourself.
- I spoke up because I was right.
- You got lucky.
- Luck doesn't exist.
- So, you knew Quintus would not kill you?
- He was smart to go after fishermen,
but he must have been desperate to enlist Simon.
- I don't buy it.
You were terrified.
- Gaius, what if you were suddenly
the only Roman in Capernaum?
- I think I'd change clothes.
- Exactly.
When you realize that nobody else in the world
cares what happens to you, you think only about yourself.
- For a fool, your brain has taken you far.
I admit it.
- I thought so, too.
- Praise Adonai, he's healthy and alive!
- What are you talking about?
- I received word from Jerusalem.
Havilah gave birth to a son.
You're a grandfather again!
- So soon?
- A month early, but all is well.
Oh, blessed be He!
We'll have the rest of our things sent.
- What? No, no, no!
My research here is not completed.
- But, we have to make it back in time for the bris,
we have only eight days.
Less than eight.
- The circumcision can be performed
by any number of people, Zohara.
- Nico, this is your own grandson!
- Fifth grandson.
Havilah will understand.
- Do you know what people will say when they learn
that the Great Nicodemus missed his own grandson's name day
because he was doing research in Capernaum, of all places?
- Research that concerns not just one Jewish boy
but all of Israel, past, present and future.
- There is nothing in Capernaum
but demoniacs and insolent school boys.
Come to your senses.
- I have never been closer to my senses.
- That is not how it looks from the outside.
- Many things are not.
- I am ready to leave this place, Nico.
I miss my children and my grandchildren,
including the one I haven't even met yet.
- Oh, Zohara--
You can't just barge--
- Oh, I believe I can.
- Praetor Quintus.
- Zohara, is it?
A pleasure to see you again.
- I trust all is well.
- Why would you trust that?
- Please, please, do make yourself at home.
- We really will have to discuss the people's tithing.
- This is why you've come?
- I need to know if we have a problem, Nicodemus.
- I have complied with every request
Rome has made of my office,
even when it infringed on custom.
- Let me rephrase.
You and I want the same thing.
We want rules followed, we want order.
Soldiers, money, votes, that's my world.
Demons, prayers, oddballs, that's yours.
I need to know if our worlds are on a collision course.
The so-called miracle worker.
- Jesus of Nazareth.
- Don't even know what Nazareth is, but yes, Him.
- Anecdotes and rumors.
- And a stampede in the eastern ghetto
that delayed Herod's envoy.
That really made me look bad.
I hate that.
- The unrest began when your soldiers
waded into the crowd brandishing weapons.
- It isn't an isolated event.
I've heard reports,
and my source has an unwavering knack for accuracy
and a compulsion for the truth.
So, again I ask you...
is there a problem?
- No.
- You don't seem sure.
Maybe I could get better information from this...
Shmuel?
He's very eager to see me.
- The only way to learn this Preacher's intentions
is to speak with Him directly.
- So speak to Him.
I hate crowds,
they take time and resources
and then the cleanup is a pain.
When you arrange a private meeting,
I want to know when and where.
Understand?
- What troubles you about this Man?
- Preachers have a habit of becoming politicians.
They sprout up like weeds and spread.
Your wife is a gardener.
She understands.
- Some flora spread their seeds when trampled.
Who's to say you wouldn't be creating a martyr?
- I'll take my chances.
- You sympathize with this Preacher.
- Will we be safe here?
- What do you mean, safe?
- They'll be looking for us
because of what you said about forgiving sins.
- Ah, we won't be here very long.
After what happened yesterday,
we'll keep moving from town to town.
- Is that what you want?
- What do you mean?
- To roam about,
not be able to stay in one place?
- I want to do the will of my Father.
And I want to spread the message of salvation.
So, yes, I am happy to not stay in one place.
- Rabbi?
- Yes, Thad.
- I should prepare firewood for how many days?
- Uh... five, I think.
- I thought you said that we wouldn't be here very long.
- Leaving some for the next weary traveler.
Hospitality isn't only for people who own homes, John.
- Mary?
- Are you all right?
- Me? Yes, thank you.
Uh, may I speak with you, Rabbi?
- Yes, of course.
Keep going.
- I wanted to apologize for yesterday.
- For what?
- I was trying to help those people
get closer to the sound of Your voice.
I had no idea they would open the roof
and disrupt Your teaching.
I truly--
- You regret that a paralytic is enjoying his first full day
on his own feet, huh?
- No, just that I caused a scene and cut short Your teaching.
- Who's to say it was cut short?
With their faith,
they would have found a way
whether you brought them to the roof or not.
- But, there's more.
When we were leaving, a Pharisee stopped me
and asked for a private meeting with You.
I told him I would ask.
- A Pharisee.
- Do you know this man?
- He visited me... before.
- A Pharisee in the Red Quarter, hmm?
- Rome sent him.
I doubt he wanted to be there.
No, I wouldn't think so.
- But I saw him again, after I was better,
and he wanted to know how I was healed.
Of course I didn't tell him who You were,
but, he seemed...
- What?
- Earnest.
He wasn't offended to learn that someone else had succeeded
where he had failed.
There was--there was a hunger in his eyes, not fear.
- Not like the Pharisees at the window yesterday, huh?
- I am sorry to have brought all this on You.
- No, no.
No, there is a reason you met this Pharisee.
- Nicodemus.
- Nicodemus; of course.
I've heard of him.
- Oh, I don't know who is known and who is not.
This is all new to me.
- Don't worry about which men others think are important.
Send word to Nicodemus.
I will meet with him.
Little James will know the location.
Thank you, Mary.
- Yes, Teacher.
Where are you going?
- To be alone.
I need to think.
And to pray.
- I will pray also.
That I have not put You in terrible danger.
You have not.
In fact, I have made plans already
for tomorrow night.
- Plans?
- Yes, spread the word.
A dinner party.
In the northern district,
the tall house just past the arch.
- But that row of homes--
- I know the kind of people who live there.
Trust Me.
- I will tell the others.
- Matthew?
- Hello, Eema--
or--or--or Elisheva, I mean.
Hello.
- Matthew.
- I don't receive visitors, myself.
Is this a custom?
- If your father were here, I couldn't do this.
- Where is Alphaeus?
- I think a dog followed you.
- He's with me.
He'll stay out here if you'll let me in.
- Will Alphaeus be home soon?
- He's away on a work trip.
- Where would work take him?
Does he no longer make leather goods?
- His shop was robbed.
Many of the shops have been.
Crime is rampant.
It makes it very difficult to reopen.
- He loved his shop.
- But we still have a roof over our heads,
which is more than some people can say.
- You can ask me for money if you ever need it.
- How can you say that?
- It's quite common.
I've seen many parents entirely dependent on--
- Your father would sooner die than take your blood money.
- I know you are ashamed of me,
but your decision is irrational.
Rome will continue to collect taxes no matter what.
I'm skilled with numbers--
- Did you come here to justify yourself?
- No! No!
Everything's like sand... in a flood.
The things I thought I knew to be true--
- Are you in trouble?
- Do you think that impossible things can happen?
That overturn the laws of nature?
That cannot be explained?
- That is what people asked when you were a boy.
Even the rabbis were astonished
at your talent for reading, math,
the way you could think faster than any other child.
They thought you would become someone great.
- Great at what?
I'm rich.
I have an armed escort.
I am trusted by the Praetor of Galilee--
- We never dreamed
you would use the talent God gave you
to bleed your people dry!
- But have you ever seen anything miraculous?
- Matthew--
- My whole world...
everything I thought I knew...
What if it's wrong?!
- I think you should go.
You never even asked about your sister.
- She looks well.
I came to celebrate Shabbat a few weeks ago.
But then I left.
Good-bye, Eema.
- Well, I'm not sure this is a good idea.
Why not?
- Well, it could be a trap.
Nicodemus cooperates with Rome.
They're the ones who sent him to Mary
when she was possessed in the Red Quarter.
- I'm well-acquainted with risk, Simon.
So are you,
if I remember our first meeting correctly, huh?
- Risk is his oldest friend, I'm afraid.
Simon...
Mary is an excellent judge of character.
She has known some of the worst kinds of men
in this world,
and she finds him earnest.
You should trust her instincts.
And Mine.
- Um...
Rabbi...
I've got it.
- Ah, let's take a look.
- Can you keep her quiet, please?
No one needs to know Eema is sick.
- I can't tell her not to cough, Simon.
- I just don't want our burdens to become His, okay.
I don't want to be the one to distract Him.
- He's made up His mind about you.
He's not going to kick you out of the group.
It's perfect!
Well done.
Though I think I could fit all of you in here with Me, huh.
- You won't be recognized in that.
- Has the owner of the house given permission?
- It's all arranged, Rabbi.
And I'll be waiting at the door.
Thank you, Andrew.
You go on ahead.
But remember to relax.
You are there to guide our guest,
not to be My protector.
Are you sure you don't want me to come?
The more eyes watching the streets for trouble, the better.
- Not tonight, Simon.
Stay here with your wife, and your mother-in-law.
- You see?
- Mm...
Welcome, Nicodemus.
Don't be alarmed.
He's waiting for you.
- I asked the owner of this house for more lanterns,
but he said they would draw attention.
- Yes, I imagine they would.
- The human eye is drawn to light.
We can't help it, it just happens.
- There are many things we are drawn to
without our thinking,
or our ability to explain why.
Thank You for agreeing to meet.
- Thank you for trying to help Mary when you did.
- I was no help.
- You were meant to be there.
- Me?
So I could fail miserably at an exorcism
in the Red Quarter?
- If you had not been there that day,
would you be on this roof tonight?
- I don't know where to start,
I have so many questions I--
- Shall we sit first?
- Oh, yes, of course.
The eastern slums.
- Mm.
- Many wandering preachers have succeeded in gathering crowds
with their rhetoric and fiery tone.
- I heard a few of them over the years Myself.
- So You know the type.
- Mm-hmm.
- But I have never heard anyone tell a paralytic
to get up and walk,
much less it actually happens.
- So, what is your conclusion?
- I believe You are not... acting... alone.
No one can do these signs You do
without having...
God in Him.
Only Someone Who has come from... God.
- And how is that belief going over in the synagogue?
Which is why we're here at this hour.
What else?
- What have You come here to show us?
- A kingdom.
- That is what our rulers are worried about.
- No, not that kind.
- Then, what?
- A sort of kingdom that a person cannot see
unless he is born again.
- Born... again?
- Yes.
- You mean like a new creature,
a conversion from Gentile to Jewish?
- No... no, that's not what I'm talking about.
- Then, what is "born again"?
I hope You don't mean return to the womb,
because that would be a problem for me.
My mother, may she rest in peace,
is dead.
- Truly, I say to you,
unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God.
That which is born of the flesh is flesh,
and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
That part of you,
that is what must be reborn to new life.
- How can these things be?
- A teacher of Israel,
and yet you do not understand these things.
- I'm trying, Rabbi.
- I know, I know.
Do you hear this?
- What?
- Listen...
What do you hear?
- The wind.
- How do you know it's the wind?
- Because I can feel it,
and I hear its sound.
- Do you know where it comes from?
- No.
- Do you know where it's going?
- No.
- That's what it is to be born again of the Spirit.
The Spirit may work in a way that is a mystery to you,
and while you cannot see the Spirit,
you can recognize His effect.
- My mind is consumed with thoughts
of what a stir these words would cause
among the teachers of the Law.
- Yes, and I do not expect otherwise.
I speak of what I know and have seen,
and it's not been received by the religious leaders.
- It is hard to receive.
- So, if I have told you of earthly things,
and you do not believe,
how can I tell you heavenly things?
- I believe Your words,
I just fear You may not have a chance
to speak many more of them before You are silenced.
- I have come to do more than speak words, Nicodemus.
- More miracles?
- Yes, but even more than that.
Do you remember when the children of Israel
complained against God and against Moses
in the wilderness of Paran?
- Yes; they wanted to return to Egypt,
and they cursed the manna that God sent them.
- And then?
- They were bitten by serpents and they were dying.
- But...
- But, God made a way for them to be healed.
- Moses lifted the bronze serpent
in the desert,
and people only needed to look at it.
So will the Son of Man be lifted up
so that whoever believes in Him
may have eternal life.
- Our people are not dying from snake bites.
They're dying from taxation and oppression.
- I'm sorry to disappoint you,
but I did not come to deliver the people from Rome.
- Then from what?
- From sin.
From spiritual death.
God loves the world in this way...
that He gave His only Son,
that whoever believes in Him
shall not perish but have eternal life.
- So this has nothing to do with Rome?
It's... all about... sin.
- God did not send His Son into the world
to condemn it, Nicodemus,
He sent Him to save it through Him.
It's as simple as Moses' serpent on the pole.
Whoever believes in Him will not be condemned,
but whoever does not believe stands condemned already.
- Have you ever heard anything like this before?
- Shhhhh.
- When I met Lilith-- Mary--that day...
I told my wife and my students...
she was beyond human aid.
Only God could have healed her.
And then I saw her... healed.
And here You are...
the Healer.
My whole life I have wondered
if I would see this day.
- Follow Me...
and you'll see more.
- Follow You?
- Join Me and My students.
In two days' time we leave Capernaum.
Come see the kingdom I am bringing into this world.
- But I can't--
- "I have a position in the Sanhedrin,
You have family."
You are getting advanced in years.
I understand,
but the invitation is still open.
- Invitation to what, exactly?
To lead a nomadic life?
To--to give up who I am?
- It's true.
There is a lot you would give up.
But what you would gain is far greater and more lasting.
- Is this another one of your "born again" mysteries?
- Ah, maybe.
I know mysteries aren't easy for a scholar.
Think about it, hmm?
Take your time.
On the morning of the fifth day, we leave,
and we'll meet by the well in the southern quarter
at dawn.
- Is this...
Is the kingdom of God really coming?
- What does your heart tell you?
- Oh...
My heart is swollen with fear and--and wonder
and can tell me nothing
except that I am standing on holy ground.
Holy roof anyway.
- I do hope you'll come with us, Nicodemus.
You don't have to do that.
What are you doing?
- "Kiss the Son,
lest he be angry and you perish in the way."
- And "Blessed are all who take refuge in him."
Did you see the Parthian foot races last night?
Darius ran like a gazelle.
- Jews don't go to the foot races.
- Your old friend Simon himself
used to run the wagering tables.
- We're not friends.
Next.
- Okay, fine, so you did not go to the races.
You stay home?
- I went to see my mother.
- Ugh...
that would put me out, too.
She ask when you're going to give her grandchildren?
- She didn't ask.
- I thought your parents don't speak to you.
- I had questions I couldn't ask anyone else.
- A mother of a son with talent like yours
should be proud.
- She's ashamed that I would use a talent God gave me
against God.
Next.
- You're good at something.
You found a way to make a living doing it.
It's that simple.
- It must be nice to live in a world so simply ordered.
- We live in the same world, Matthew.
- Next.
- Besides, what else are you going to do
with a mind like yours?
- Matthew.
- Matthew, son of Alphaeus.
- Yes?
- Follow Me.
- Me?
- Yes, you.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa...
What are You doing?
- You want me to join You?
- Keep moving, street Preacher.
- Do You have any idea what this guy's done?
Do You even know him?
- Yes.
- Listen, I said--
What are you doing?
Where do you think you're going?
- Gaius, let me go.
- Have you lost your mind?
You have money.
Quintus protects you.
No Jew lives as good as you.
You're gonna throw it all away?
- Yes.
- I don't get it.
- You didn't get it when I chose you, either.
- But this is different.
I'm not a tax collector.
- Get used to different.
I'm glad we passed by your booth today, Matthew.
- Yes.
- Shall we?
We have a celebration to prepare for.
- You will regret this, Matthew!
- What's the tablet for?
- I grabbed it without thinking.
I can put it back.
- No, no, keep it.
You may yet find use for it.
- Where are we going?
- A dinner party.
- I'm not welcome at dinner parties.
- Well, that's not going to be a problem tonight.
You're the host.