"(James) And Jesus said, "This is my commandment:" "Love one another as I have loved you." "There is no greater love than this -- that a man should lay down his life for his friends." "(John) Take home Jesus' love." "And keep it by giving it to others." "Amen." "(all) Amen." "Peter... (PETER) I came as soon as I could." "Here, drink this." "James, you lead us well." "Twelve men, praying in a grotto." "Deceit and betrayal are everywhere." "It's true, then, they've taken Stephen." "They're holding him in prison." "He's to appear before the Sanhedrin." "What harm is Stephen to them?" "His mission was to provide food to our poor." "He got into an argument on the Temple steps." "He quoted the prophets to prove that Jesus was the true Messiah." "There were bitter words." "He was warned by the guards to move on." "Things went against him very fast." "Informants in the crowd reported him to the Council." "He's charged with blasphemy." "They have no right to try a man for a capital charge." "The Romans forbid it." "Rights?" "Rights no longer matter." "There are reasonable men among the Sanhedrin." "They can't be all of one mind." "The Zealots are in control." "Reasonable men can no longer oppose them." "They see themselves on the brink of destruction under Roman rule, highways of Jews being crucified all over Palestine." "John, Who was with him when he was taken?" "No one." "No one?" "None stood up with him?" "Where are our voices?" "Keep yours down." "What justifies your words?" "To shame us?" "No." "No, no, no." "You fulfill your duty." "It seems to be some special providence that all we can rejoice in is suffering." "God will one day repay us." "I do not believe that was my pact with Jesus!" "Stephen goes too far!" "And we desert him?" "There is nothing any of us can do." "dramatic music" "(high priest) Saul Paulus of Tarsus, it's in your charge!" "(Saul) Witnesses identify yourselves!" "Sallum of Alexandria." "Sabhah, the Cyrenian." "Caleb of Cilicia." "Who is ready?" "(STEPHEN) Lord Jesus, receive my spirit!" "Do not hold this sin against them!" "dramatic music" "Rabban Gamaliel." "(GAMALlEL) Thank you." "Thank you." "You look worn, Saul." "I have felt concern for you." "I have never seen a man being stoned before." "It's something that I will never forget." "ut, it was necessary and it was also a moral right if we are to preserve the Law." "It was considered remarkable that you came to us with such a fund of knowledge of the Law." "Well, whatever my own feelings are in this matter," "I cannot afford to take account of them." "I've wasted too much time as it is in thinking and I..." "Besides, I have my commission from the High Priest." "I have heard of this commission." "A house-to-house search for other followers of Jesus, is it not?" "Yes, Yes I myself asked for the commission to go to Damascus and to the synagogues there and to arrest these people and bring them back to Jerusalem and there by make them either renounce their faith of suffer punishment." "You should be of great service." "We are waging a just war!" "And They're the ones to be blamed." "Heathen still at heart, this Stephen called us." "Heathen still at heart, And Deaf to the truth!" "That we had the law brought to us by angels and that we are the ones who have not kept it that was the insult, that was the monstrous insult!" "and to say that Jesus paid for our sins?" "That this Jesus paid for our sins and that we only by accepting Him, can we be forgiven ours?" "Jews and Gentiles alike?" "I must go against them!" "But against whom?" "We are occupied by Rome, not by followers of Jesus." "Rome, whose force is overwhelming, who corrupts our leaders, subverts from within, who throw us into bitter opposition against each other, until we see threats and act against them more in passion than reason." "And Jews, in the name of salvation, turn against Jews." "They would destroy the T emple!" "Would they not?" "It is against them that I turn." "Not the Jews!" "What are they if not Jews?" "Rabban Gamaliel." "Saul Paulus." "Be cautious in deciding what you do with these men." "Leave them alone." "If this idea of theirs or its execution is of human origin, it will collapse." "But if it comes from God, you will never be able to put them down, and you risk finding yourself at war with God." "[wind starts to blow hard]" "Tell me, Lord, who are you!" "I can't see!" "I'm blind..." "(high priest OF DAMASCUS) This man has important work to do here in Damascus." "He was to be brought to me." "His companions brought him." "To leave him like this?" "Why?" "He will take nothing, no food no water." "He will say nothing." "Keep me notified of his condition." "Save me, God!" "I am sinking in the deepest swamp, there is no foothold;" "Worn out with calling, my throat is aching, My eyes are strained," "looking for my God." "Please, Pull me out of this swamp;" "let me sink no further," "Do not let the waves wash over me, do not let the deep swallow me or the Pit close it's mouth on me." "In your great kindness, Father, answer me." "Who's there?" "My name is Ananias." "Ananias?" "Why are you here?" "I am directed here, by a vision." "vision?" "Ananias, it called out to me..." "'Go to the street called Straight and ask for the man from Tarsus named Saul.'" "Are you Saul?" "Yes." "I often heard of you and all the harm you have done my people in Jerusalem." "That you were sent here to Damascus to arrest anyone who followed Jesus of Nazareth." "And was it a true vision that came to me." "I too had a vision." "I saw a light shining all around me and around my companions." "It was a light more brilliant than the sun itself." "We fell to the ground, and then I heard a voice, saying to me, "Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me!"" "I said, "Lord, Who are you?"" "And the Lord replied," ""l am Jesus, whom you are persecuting." "I have appeared to you for a purpose." "Get up and go into the city" "And you will be told what you have to do."" ""Go", the Lord told me, and tell this man that I have chosen him to serve me, to make my name known to Gentiles and kings and to the people of Israel." "And I myself will show him all he must suffer for my sake."" "Saul, my brother may you be filled with the Holy Spirit." "(Saul thinking) And Isaiah replied," ""Listen, now, descendants of King David." "The Lord will give you a sign... a young woman who is with child, will have a son and will name him 'Immanuel.'" "A child is born to us!" "A son is given to us!" "He will be called 'Eternal Father,'" "'Prince of Peace.'" "His royal power will continue to grow;" "His kingdom will always be at peace." "He will rule as King David's successor, basing His power on right and justice" "From now until the end of time."" "And then Jesus addressed the people and his disciples with these words saying:" "'The doctors of the law and the Pharisees sit in the chair of Moses;" "therefore do what they tell you;" "pay closely to their words." "But do not always follow their practice;" "for they say one thing and yet they do another." "They make heavy packs and pile them on other men's shoulders" "But will not raise a finger to lift the load themselves." "What ever they do is done for show." "Some of these men, they like to go about with large tassels on their robes;" "and have places of honor for feasts and the chief seats in synagogues, to be addressed respectfully in the streets, pay no heath to these men." "They're waiting to kill you at the gates." "We'll wait until nightfall and then we can arrange your escape." "I won't run." "I won't be driven out." "There is suffering in survival." "You'll see." "One of my horses needs attention." "Is the hoof split." "There's a swelling there in the upper part of the front leg." "Right here?" "Here?" "You don't know much about horses, do you?" "I'm a tentmaker." "Not many tents are sold in Jerusalem." "I work where I can find it." "And speak where you will." "No one has spoken the words of Jesus on the Temple steps since Stephen." "You've done so more than once I heard you." "Who sent you?" "I come for myself." "what's your name?" "Barnabas, a follower of Jesus." "This is my young cousin, Mark." "Tell me, You have said," "'Faith becomes supreme of all human acts', tell me, how do you know?" "Through whose authority was the Word of the Lord conveyed to you?" "Through Jesus." "The Lord spoke directly to you?" "Yes, told me what I am to do." "What are you to do?" "I am to take the Word elsewhere." "Then why are you here in Jerusalem and not elsewhere?" "I am here to learn." "What?" "From whom?" "From those people who where with him... with Jesus and Peter." "You would see Peter?" "Yes, that's why I'm here." "It will be difficult." "Well, as I say, give my horse a good scrubbing, we'll be back." "Come." "We thank you Lord for the blessings you have bestowed upon this house." "For this house which has been offered to us for prayer and for fellowship by this good gentle woman, Mary." "For Barnabas who sustains us with his personal treasure for God... who's rich in mercy even when we are dead in sin." "Who has quickened us together in Christ by grace we are saved." "Amen." "(All) Amen." "Tell them cousin Barnabas, tell them." "All in good time." "Jacob of Beth-horan is still without work." "How is the family for food?" "Too proud to ask." "But the baby cries." "While we have this and a warm kitchen to sit in?" "Mark will take them food in the morning." "The man Saul Paulus of Tarsus preaches on the Temple steps." "So it is said." "We heard him." "He speaks out openly in the name of Jesus..." "A trick, to gain our trust." "We spoke to him." "He works in a stable." "He says he has seen the Lord and heard His voice." "And we've heard yours." "Take him." "Enough for now, I think." "Bring your supper." "Mother, I'm not finished." "Good bye, Mark." "You went to him!" "Yes." "We decided against it." "We agreed to avoid him!" "I would like to hear more from Barnabas." "A knock on the door, does it always mean a friend?" "It could be." "Then you open it, brother of mine." "I say the man is our enemy." "I agree." "I think something different." "It's a trap!" "I've met the man." "There's been a change." "That takes my appetite!" "He has been beaten for preaching in Damascus." "He barely escaped the city with his life." "It was probably arranged, I still say it's a trap." "Enough, James." "I've heard him speak of things we are meant to do and do not." "Such things as?" "That the Word be taken to all nations." "We have yet to reach beyond Judea." "Peter," "He asks for a meeting with you." "Tomorrow..." "I'll see him tomorrow." "You can tell him where." "dramatic music" "I've heard you want to know of Jesus." "So." "Sit there." "It was here that we spent our last night with Him." "All of us, here, together, before the Passover festival." "He knew that his hour had come." "At supper, He arose and poured water into a basin and washed our feet." "I objected." "'You Lord, washing my feet?" "'" "He answered," "'So that you will do just as I have done for you.'" "'One of you,' He said, 'will betray me.' 'lt is the man to whom I give this piece of bread.'" "And he took it and dipped it in a dish and gave it to Judas, son of Simon Iscariot, who was sitting where you sit now." "'Even my bosom friend in whom I trusted, who ate of my bread has raised his heel against me...'" "I know the prophecies as well as you." "Though I am unaware that Judas, also, was to rise from the dead." "Are you Judas?" "Come." "You asked to know." "Then come." "He came with us here that night to this garden to wait." "Three times we slept while He prayed." "And then, near midnight, we awoke to hear Him say," "'The hour has come!" "Let us go forward." "The traitor is upon us.'" "Judas appeared with a great crowd." "'Hail, Rabbi!" "' he cried out to Jesus and kissed Him, which was a signal." "They came forward and held Jesus fast." "I took up a sword and struck off the ear of a Temple servant." "'Put up your sword,' Jesus cried to me." "'All who live by the sword, die by the sword!" "What is it you want?" "T o do what He has told me to do." "Why should His teachings be entrusted to you?" "You have condemned Him, denied Him, executed one of His followers, persecuted others!" "Yes, didn't any of you doubt his word when you first heard him?" "Didn't you all experience your own conversion?" "I would no more deny Him than you, Peter." "They led Him away as we fled, all of us deserting him." "He was brought before the High Priest and the Sanhedrin." "I was sitting outside." "A serving maid stopped and said," "'You were with Jesus the Galilean.'" "I denied it." "'l do not know what you mean,' I said." "'This fellow was with Jesus of Nazareth,'" "Someone else said." "And again I denied it." "'l do not know the man!" ", I said." "'Surely, you must be one of them, the way you speak gives you away,' said someone else." "And again, I said, 'l do not know the man!" "'" "And when He died?" "None of us was there to be with Him." "Save one." "And that one was John." "We are not Jesus." "We are only men." "But, believe in Him and we are forgiven." "Isn't that the great gift?" "In Galilee once, I asked Him," "'Lord, how many times am I to forgive my brother if he goes on wronging me?" "As much as seven times seven?" "'" "Jesus replied, 'l do not say seven times;" "I say seventy times seven.'" "Show me Galilee." "I told Jesus once," "'Master, we've fished all night and taken nothing.'" "'Put out into deep water,' He said," "'And let down your nets for a catch!" "[laughing as the boat dips] Sit, sit, I have no other boat." "We made so great a haul that night, our nets began to split, and we loaded our boats until they almost sank." "'Henceforth, you shall catch men,' He said." "That was his mission to you?" "I send you out like sheep among wolves,' He told us." "To heal the sick, bring to life the dead of spirit, cleanse the lepers, cast out the devils.'" "'Be wary as serpents, yet innocent as doves.'" "That is my mission, also." "After His death, He came to us once again" "By the Sea of Tiberias." "Quite alone to me, He said," "'Peter, I tell you this in very truth:" "When you were young, you fastened your belt around you and walked where you chose;" "but when you are old, you will stretch out your arms and a stranger will bind you fast and take you where you have no wish to go.'" "Can you go there with me?" "I'll wait for you there." "James... you honor my house." "There are assassins waiting for you in Jerusalem." "Where did you hear of this?" "There was a messenger, from the Temple." "There's an uproar over your preaching against the Law." "Then he'll stay here." "They'll find him here." "We'll hide him." "To what end?" "To the end that there will be no end if we don't stand up against them." "You are thinking with your pride, not your head!" "The man steps forward as only one of us has done, as Stephen did!" "And what was that result." "Ahh, is there's something else." "It is clear that Peter has accepted you." "As Barnabas has." "Others are not so certain." "I accuse them of jealousy!" "I accuse John of not being forceful!" "You, of being timid...!" "I am for one thing only -- the survival of the Church." "You didn't build the Church!" "Nor were you in Jerusalem with Jesus!" "That's true." "I wasn't." "But you commissioned me to lead, you and the others." "I didn't ask for it." "I was asked to assume it when none of you would do so." "His sacrifice has been greater than any one of us!" "His sacrifice is nothing if the Temple is goaded to violence and the Romans close in!" "They'll send chosen troops" "And we'll be crushed in the middle!" "He cannot remain here." "You must leave Judea!" "Home to Tarsus." "I should feel happy, but, I feel nothing." "We'll send for you." "Find work for you." "You'll receive letters and instructions." "Messengers will come." "I wont' be idle." "I'll cast my net into deeper waters." "He spoke to me, and I with him." "We spoke of many things." "What did you talk about?" "We talked about you." "Ah, you never did." "For fifteen days that he was here I felt...renewed." "Do you know what I mean?" "Tell me." "As though a ceiling were lifted and there was fresh air." "He's really affected you." "Afflicted me." "With all that's gone before and we committed to do and do not." "Words." "I am afflicted with words." "Words are what the Master gave you." "T o act upon." "I do not act." "'You are my rock,' He said to me." "James leads." "James..." "I honor James, he does not lead!" "He prays..." "Behind closed doors and shuttered windows." "Only one, this one, this Saul, stands fast in the open, and we send him away!" "I fear... it could end in words." "Just words... behind closed doors." "[remembering Jesus' words] 'l send you out innocent as sheep among wolves,' He said." "'For men will flog you for my sake... all will hate you for your allegiance to me;" "but the man who holds on to the end will be saved...'" "A better place for tents than Jerusalem." "Saul, it's me." "Along while, hey?" "Yes, eight years." "As long as that." "Well, they were eight difficult years I can tell you." "Not once have I heard from Jerusalem-- by letter, by messenger or by word of mouth, not once." "I've been abandoned." "Y es, I've been abandoned, Barnabas." "You will understand, therefore, if I am not overjoyed by your visit." "But, I am." "Besides, I don't come from Jerusalem." "Why are you here?" "For the fish." "So, you continue to preach declaring your new views?" "Yes." "In synagogues?" "Yes, until I was driven out." "And then..." "I spoke where I could, in the streets." "This is your birth place, isn't it?" "What of your father?" "He mourns me as if I were dead." "Tell me, who are they who listen to you in the streets?" "Greeks." "It's a Greek city, T arsus." "Greeks?" "But, they are Gentiles, heathens." "Yes, with a concept of religion." "Based on ignorance and superstition." "Jesus said, 'Make my name known to Gentiles and Kings...'" "You're testing me, Barnabas." "Of course I am as I test myself all the time, believe me." "Now listen..." "I'd heard what you've been doing." "That's why I'm here." "Now, In Antioch, you see, some Greek-speaking Jews, such as myself, have started to preach directly to the Greeks, like you." "And we need help." "I thought of you." "Will you come?" "Where, to Antioch?" "Yes, we could leave in a few days." "We could leave tonight if you'd like." "Oh, good." "What's happening in Jerusalem, where's Peter?" "You haven't heard?" "No." "I thought you knew." "What?" "Jerusalem is starving." "The first order of business in Antioch will be to raise some money for our people there." "Y es, Jerusalem is starving." "[people screaming]" "Your esteem..." "Save your reverence." "I was almost set upon coming out of the Temple." "the situation is desperate..." "You understand it wonderfully well." "Starvation is upon the city..." "Starvation is upon world!" "You answer for Jerusalem." "You rule Judea." "I am King, not High Priest." "You rule the house of God, not I." "Is this not a Godly choice?" "I am for myself and these good men, certainly not the object of God's wrath." "We uphold and protect the Law." "Our lives are given over to the Law." "We are creatures of Rome, you and I." "We rule so long as Rome is satisfied." "My King, we are Jews...!" "Yes, we are Jews!" "But not as they are Jews." "[people screaming]" "There is something in their character which awes me." "They are for Israel with a passion for independence, even as they break apart from each other " "Sadducees, Essenes, Pharisees." "In time enough, they'll unite against the Caesars... but not in my time." "The Law... meanwhile." "The Law controls them, as long as there is control." "We are holy men, My King." "We can do nothing but conform to the Law..." "Then give them someone other than ourselves to cry out against." "Listen to them!" "Might not the fault lie with this Jesus sect..." "Yes, they rebel and reject and thereby bring God's wrath on all of us!" "Is it not written in the Psalms:" "'See how the eye of God is on those who rely on His love...' '..." "To rescue their souls from death and keep them alive in famine.'" "'As for the wicked... they shall perish, these enemies of God.'" "So it is written." "James!" "This one's for tomorrow." "Keep him upright." "These people like to kneel." "dramatic music" "Put it with the rest, We'll store it later." "How'd you get it past the guards?" "They are starving, too." "That's the last of it." "[knocking at the door]" "Ask who it is." "[knocking at the door]" "Who is there?" "(outside door) Peter." "It's Peter." "The girl's mad, he's in prison." "Of course, lets hide the food." "[rapid knocking at the door]" "Peter, Peter... how did you escape?" "The Lord delivered me... it's true." "But listen, you must leave quickly." "I'll give you water." "No, there's no time." "A house-to-house search is certain." "Where will you go?" "To Galilee." "There will be refugees." "I'll join you." "I'll go, too!" "No Mark!" "I won't be left behind!" "He'll come with me, to Antioch." "Tell them all I'm safe." "Yes, there was a time when you were dead." "There was a time when you were dead to your sins and to your wickedness, when you followed the evil ways." "Now, I say to you," "Remember that former condition -- you, Gentiles," "You, 'the uncircumcised,' so called by those who are called 'the circumcised' remember your former condition." "Barnabas, it's good to see you." "Barnabas has just returned from Jerusalem." "Yes, remember your former condition." "Because at that time you were separate from God." "Your world was a world without hope." "But now in blessed union with Christ Jesus... both Gentile and Jews, he has made the two one." "The God of peace be with you all." "Thank you." "The God of peace be with you all." "Barnabas... it's good to see you back." "Welcome back." "It's good to see you." "Who is this?" "Mark." "Mark?" "not the little Mark I met eight years ago eight years." "It's good to see you..." "Mark." "Yes, you're right." "These Greeks they do think and they do stimulate argument and they provoke debate... thinking." "It's good to see you." "He grew up." "Ah, yes, we have a new word by which to describe ourselves" " Christians - meaning partisans of Christ." "It's a word the Romans use in jest." "So be it." "Christians." "What's wrong?" "We do nothing in Jerusalem!" "We hide and then run!" "There was no choice left to us." "It was all we could do." "Then my teachers are not what they've educated me to be!" "When do you stand up to someone?" "When it's too late?" "You're wrong." "I'm right, you know I'm right." "You're wrong." "He's right, of course." "and he's been through a terrible time." "We all have." "John's brother, James, has been killed." "How?" "Executed by Herod Agrippa, beheaded." "Where's Peter!" "No, no." "He had fled Jerusalem for Galilee." "They have all fled they had to." "to avoid persecution." "I can tell you, our church of Jesus Christ is in disarray." "Cry for Jerusalem." "When you took food and money to them in Jerusalem, Barnabas," "I gloated over it." "Yes, I wanted revenge on those who left me unsummoned in Tarsus all those years." "Peter and James and... yes, I wanted revenge." "Eight years I waited... eight years." "I know it was wrong and everyday I ask God's forgiveness." "God has his plan." "I would not be here now, would I if I had done God's bidding, would I?" "You say that our church in Jerusalem is in disarray?" "It is." "It seems to be dying, Barnabas." "It seems to be dying." "He has no wish to see our church perish" "I'm sure of that." "Who?" "God." "But, it is perishing." "It is perishing in our hands it is perishing." "He said, "bring my name before the nations and their kings,"" "that what he said." "Which nations, what kings?" "I mean... our church... where would you go with it?" "Where would I go with it?" "To the West." "Out of Judea?" "Why yes, Antioch is out of Judea, isn't it." "Antioch has been approved by Jerusalem, coming here to Antioch was a mission close to home." "Yes, well, now the mission must become a movement, Barnabas." "It must become a movement." "It has to become a living, movement, Barnabas." "Otherwise, believe me, it will surely die." "well, yes, I suppose we could go to Cyprus." "Cyprus, yes..." "Yes, I know it well, it is my home." "I started training there." "Yes." "We'd land at Salamis on the east coast and travel across the islands to the synagogues of Soli." "Yes, Cyprus first." "You'd go further?" "Well, yes, not just stop in Cyprus." "Where?" "Where?" "I don't know..." "I don't know..." "To Pamphylia, Pisidia, Asia, yes, Asia." "Yes, yes, I see, I see..." "A mission to preach to the whole heathen world, is that it?" "Yes, yes!" "He said bring my names before the Gentiles and before their kings." "Do you remember?" "Yes...yes... well," "I'll write to James and ask what he thinks." "If you need James' permission, you better write James then." "I have my commission." "It comes from no man." "I know...and Paul we will do it." "We will penetrate the Greek cities one after the other." "Mark will come with us." "Yes, well, I'm not so sure about Mark." "Oh, oh..." "I ask forgiveness for his rudeness." "It's not his rudeness that disturbs me." "There'll be hardship and they'll be danger, Barnabas, when we do it." "Yes, I know, he's become a man, don't forget." "And he knows no fear." "(Mark)..." "Then one of the lawyers, who had been listening to these discussions, came forward and asked Him," "'Which commandment is first of all?" "' [people laughing]" "'The first is,' Jesus answered... [people laughing]" "'Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our God...the Lord is one." "'..." "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind and all your soul...' '...with all your strength...'" "[people murmuring and hurrying about]" "Pisidian bandits attacked us, six hours out..." "We fought as we could." "It was useless." "They killed six of us, they took the young men to be sold as slaves." "[squeaking noise]" "What's that?" "!" "Animal..." "I heard nothing..." "What kind of animal?" "An animal." "I know we haven't done well here, but..." "We're not discouraged, are we?" "What are we then?" "In difficulty, perhaps." "But not in despair." "We're sick, and tired, and hungry..." "But we're never deserted." "You say that sitting there with fever..." "We rejoice in our sufferings..." "Rejoice...?" "...Knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance brings proof that we have stood the test, and that is ground for hope." "He's raving!" "We failed here." "No one listens to us..." "Mark, we are deputies of Christ." "We are shipwrecked here, the Word of Christ is shipwrecked on the coast of Pamphylia." "Then we shall take his word to Pisidia." "Through the hills?" "Into those mountains?" "That is no journey for a sick man." "The roads are thick with bandits." "They kill the old men and sell the young ones into slavery." "We leave tomorrow." "You go, not me!" "Mark!" "Three men alone?" "Your duty is obedience." "To this madman?" "You are needed, have courage, don't despair." "I want to go home!" "Then go home, we have no pact with each other." "Go home." "Are you well?" "I know... [baby crying]" "Hey, don't worry my little friend, we'll soon have you home... in Jerusalem." "There are plenty." "It was a good catch." "Peter..." "Two weeks and nothing from you." "We almost said kaddish." "What news from Jerusalem?" "Herod Agrippa is dead." "When?" "A month ago." "Good news." "Eaten by worms, they say....." "Better news." "Mark was there." "He's with me." "He brings news that Saul and Barnabas have left Antioch." "They've gone into Asia, making for Greece." "The last I saw" "Barnabas and Paul walking into the hills." "Barnabas and Paul?" "He no longer calls himself Saul." "He refers to himself by his Roman name." "What of Saul?" "He threw off his Hebrew inheritance?" "Let him sever what ties he will!" "Who has directed him to go to the Gentiles?" "Directed him?" "He's to come to us?" "He owes us nothing!" "You wish to see him humbled?" "I wish see him humble." "God has a plan." "Paul is confident of that." "The facts are these he is where we should be and are not!" "With the Gentiles?" "!" "You think Jesus meant salvation for the Jews alone?" "Jesus meant salvation for all men..." "In time!" "What is the man saying?" "That we are cornered by our own success." "Our Jerusalem Church..." "Is made of Jews, not Gentiles!" "You agreed salvation is for all men." "In time, Peter, in time!" "The time is now." "Paul's seen to that." "My brothers, you who come of the stock of Abraham, and others among you who revere our God, we are the people to whom the message of this salvation has been entrusted." "But, the people of Jerusalem and their rulers did not recognize Him or did not understand the words of the prophets which are read Sabbath by Sabbath." "Indeed, they fulfilled them by rejecting Him." "And when they carried out all the Scriptures said about Him, they cut Him down from the gibbet and laid Him in a tomb!" "But,God raised Him from the dead, and there was a period of many days when He appeared to them to those same people who would come up with Him from Galilee to Jerusalem." "Those same men who now bear witness before our people before our nation..." "And we, my good friend Barnabas and I, come to bring you the good news that god who had made the promise to the fathers has fulfilled the promise to the children by raising Jesus from the dead." "And this stands as written in the second Psalms." "This man..." "This man who rose up from the dead!" "I would like to see this man!" "Open your heart and you will see Him!" "The Messiah?" "The Jews have a parable about that." "They say if you are planting a tree, and someone comes and says," "'Quick, come running, see the Messiah,' you're suppose to first finish planting the tree." "[people laughing]" "There's also another saying of the Jews." "A proclamation of their own prophets:" "'See this man, you scoffers, and begone;" "for I am doing a deed in your days, a deed which you will never believe when you are told of it.'" "This man is a forger!" "He counterfeits this Jesus!" "It is written if a man is put to death for some crime and his body is hung on a post he brings God's curse on the land!" "'" "It was necessary that the Word of God should first be declared to the Jews." "And it was providence that I found you here in Pisidia." "But since you do not accept it..." "We turn to the Gentiles." "For these are our instructions from the Lord:" "'l have appointed you to be a light for the Gentiles and a means of salvation to earth's farthest bounds!" "Our men marrying heathen women?" "What of your daughters?" "Where do they find husbands when Jewish men marry elsewhere?" "[people yelling]" "Our food is low, we are run out of one city after another stones thrown at us... you seem to like those stones, I don't." "We could get down to the sea and make passage back to Antioch." "Y es, yes, that is on my mind." "I know Jesus said, 'lf you are persecuted in one town, take refuge in another.'" "But what can it be for us but the same in the next town." "Please, don't lets go on to Lystra." "It's time to go home." "Hmm?" "Oh well, let's pray tonight the stones are softer in Lystra." "The scripture says that everyone who believes in him will be saved from shame... everyone." "But there is no distinction between Greek and Jew... there is no distinction." "The same Lord is the Lord of all." "And he has abundance of riches to give to anyone who invokes him." "For we are his offspring, we are his children." "So mark my words." "I, Paul, say to you that faith becomes supreme of all human acts!" "Faith in Jesus Christ, whose death has brought redemption from sin in all aspects for those who believe!" "Who among you believes in him?" "Who has faith enough to believe?" "Anyone who has faith... raise your hand." "Yes you.. you've raised your hand." "Yes." "Can you stand?" "Do you have magical powers?" "[people laugh]" "Then why are you not standing, huh?" "Can you stand?" "No, your faith alone can heal you." "Stand." "Take only my hand." "Now stand." "[people murmuring]" "What do they say?" "They say we are Hermes and Zeus - gods from Olympus!" "What are you doing?" "What are you doing?" "We are only men we're not God." "[people screaming]" "Paul listen..." "Paul they want us to stay." "They know we're only men, not Gods." "But, they want us to stay." "They want us to stay." "Say nothing... say nothing and be still..." "Let them pass..." "They are centurians..." "Romans trash... [people murmuring]" "Cousin Barnabas." "Mark!" "Well, You look fit." "I am." "What about you?" "Where did you come from?" "From Paul." "In Antioch." "Antioch?" "How's your mother?" "Well." "And the others?" "Returned to Jerusalem with the end of the purges..." "But this..." "There's great unrest and growing worse." "Rome's done with Jews ruling Jews." "It's going to end badly." "Well..." "I'll go along to your mother's." "See you later, I imagine." "I should have stayed with you in Perga, we should have stayed together." "I let you down, did you great harm." "How stupid of my innocence," "Paul knew what I was... filled with self-righteousness, and too frightened to go along." "I wanted to escape, I ran away." "Forgive me." "I was wrong." "Thank you, my boy." "Where is James?" "I'll take you to him." "We have great news." "Success in Galatia!" "I must discuss it with James and the Council at once." "Galatia is won!" "( music )" "Where's Barnabas?" "His ship is anchored, isn't it." "He has arrived." "Yes, I know he has arrived." "Where is he?" "We're waiting to greet him." "He will not come." "What?" "Well, did James receive you?" "Yes." "Open-heartedly." "There were some others I had never seen before and didn't care for too much, but, yes, he received me." "What do they say about our accomplishments?" "They say we flood our Church with pagans." "That our Gentile Christians are uncircumcised, unparticular about the foods they eat, they do not understand the Law nor the ceremony, that's what they say." "And they reject your concept of salvation through faith alone." "They call it a boast." "A boast?" "..." "I don't boast of anything but the cross of Christ!" "I did protest, I battled..." "So they grant the Greeks nothing, is that it?" "Nothing?" "I understand." "So, I'll shall go to Jerusalem myself." "It was their final word." "[screaming] It is not final nothing is final..." "I reject their word!" "Barnabas!" "Barnabas I'm going to Jerusalem." "I promise to be reasonable, I shall be so reasonable." "But, I'm going to Jerusalem." "[people murmuring]" "Welcome!" "[people murmuring louder]" "I thank you for letting me appear before you." "First, I would like to make my companions known to you." "This is Titus." "He is the Galatian from the western end of the Empire." "Most of you know my good friend, Barnabas." "I have come to Jerusalem from Antioch to lay before you the Gospel which I am accustomed to preach to the Gentiles, and to make sure that the race I have run, and am running, should not be in vain." "Christian faith stands on its own and should not require dependence on the law." "And I have come to this after agonizing experience." "But, our success in winning over Greeks out in the Roman west is clearly evidenced by the case of Titus, who has been redeemed by faith in Christ." "There was a time, yes, there was a time..." "I grant you, there was a time when the law was a kind of tutor in charge of us until Christ should come;" "but now that the tutor charge is at an end!" "[people screaming]" "Please, please, let him finish here and speak..." "You would require no circumcision of these heathens?" "To require circumcision of the Greeks will of itself make our movement just another sect of Judaism!" "How can you say that?" "Because you want to keep it for yourselves!" "But, Jesus said," ""extend it freely to others- give it away."" "We are the chosen people!" "[people cheering]" "Clear the hall!" "Clear the hall!" "We'll meet with them in private." "We stay!" "It is our right." "[people murmuring]" "I have promised this man that he could plead his case." "Let him plead it." "We remain!" "The two of you?" "Silas as well." "Agreed." "Continue..." "Why is he here?" "He is to be circumcised if he is to mix with those of us that live by the law!" "Don't you understand yet that when one receives Christ..." "They must first become Jews!" "We have no more right or privilege in this religion than Greeks or barbarians!" "Do any of you believe this man?" "'Go and make disciples of all nations,' Christ said." "No nation's people have advantage or priority in it." "It is for men and women." "It is for slaves and free men," "Greeks and Jews alike!" "The Law is the full expression of God's will!" "Don't you see that you are trying to effect a monopoly of the grace of God so that men will have to come to you to obtain it!" "And, I say to you, "who are you?"" "or any of us here to sit in judgment?" "Could we not find some compromise?" "Y es, I say preserve the laws but do not impose them on the Gentiles." "Our traditions are binding." "Indeed, and they make it totally impossible for Jews to mix with Gentiles." "And, further, I suggest that any person who tries to impose these rituals, laws on the Gentiles is acting falsely and perhaps has no business being in our church." "We heard enough." "God made no difference between the Gentiles and us." "It is by the grace of Lord Jesus alone that we are saved" "And so they are." "Why do you now provoke God by laying on the shoulders of these converts a yoke which they should not be made to bear?" "We have sat with the Greek in violation of our customs." "Let him be circumcised in recognition." "It is a small concession." "No!" "Then you are no part of this!" "I disagree!" "He has earned his part in this!" "It is my judgment, therefore, that we impose no restrictions on these Gentiles who are turning to God." "I..." "Thirteen years..." "Since we said farewell." "I said then..." "I promised I wouldn't be idle." "You return now to Antioch?" "Yes." "To your Greeks." "To my Greeks." "What are they like, these Greeks?" "Noble and tranquil." "'The fair and immortal children of the mind,' thus said Plato." "Noble and tranquil..." "I should like to meet such people." "Well, come back with me." "You showed me your Christian heritage." "I'll show you my Greeks." "To Antioch?" "Yes." "Why not?" "The good Lord knows I could use some tranquillity." "music" "This food is a thief - it'll steal two nights sleep from me." "Eat." "How can you see such suffering." "Resign yourself." "We'll take care of your widow." "It's a miracle." "Their table is your table, enjoy!" "I embrace you all my brothers!" "[all cheer]" "Peter, would you let us use your name?" "My name?" "Why my name?" "This summer, if it is possible will you return with me to Galatia?" "Why me?" "You?" "You're Peter, you were with Jesus." "Don't you know what you mean to these people?" "I am a poor replacement." "Now look, not only the Galatians but we could win the whole of Asia with your name." "The thought of such a journey..." "I have a taste for it." "Why shouldn't I?" "You will?" "Good!" "Paul!" "Brothers have arrived from Jerusalem." "There is a message from James." "'lt is the decision of the Holy Spirit, and our decision, that our Greek believers must avoid what has been sacrificed to idols, avoid tasting the blood and meat of animals that have been strangled, and immorality." "If kept free of such violations, they will be acceptable to the Church." "This is from James?" "He's totally contradicted himself!" "Rethought himself." "His pledge to me was that there should be no requirement of these people, only faith." "It is his command..." "There are ten commandments and I don't recall one of them being James'!" "Silas, as a respected man, a prophet and a teacher, tell me, why does James send this?" "The letter was devised upon much prayer..." "Prayer...prayer did not change him, they did!" "James, not you, have been entrusted with the care of souls." "You see they bend James to their will!" "The name in my heart is with these Gentiles." "Good, then let's end this conversation here and now." "On the other hand, we cannot throw off all that's gone before in our lives anymore than we can shed our own skin." "What?" "We've pledged to these Greeks full standing in the Church, without rules, without laws..." "What has James asked that you find so unreasonable... that they accept some few requirements." "A few requirements?" "Any requirement betrays a conviction that faith is not enough!" "You are not the center of the Church, Jerusalem is!" "I will not go against James!" "Peter, not long ago, you said that no yoke should be laid upon the shoulders of these converts..." "In your own words!" "You're like a straw blowing in the wind!" "Would you end our friendship over this?" "Can't there be compromise on some basis?" "No, listen..." "listen to me." "Before these people came from James, you ate with the heathen, you ate what they ate." "Now you're drawing back." "I mean can't you see your own conduct condemns you." "That you are like..." "Is that your answer." "[screaming] Yes, that's my answer!" "You're like a straw blowing in the wind..." "like a straw..." "You're like a straw..." "Paul, I..." "Yes..." "I know what you've been through and what you have achieved." "But..." "We should return to Galatia as soon as possible." "Galatia?" "Yes, as soon as possible." "Very well..." "I think I'll ask Mark to join us, we will... no, I remember his last performance." "We'll give him another chance." "No!" "Paul, be reasonable." "Barnabas, he's unreliable, he's not to be trusted!" "No!" "No!" "No!" "Perhaps it's better then that I revisit our churches in Cyprus with Mark." "Good!" "You can go on to Galatia without me." "Excellent plan." "God speed." "I'll shall miss you." "What do you want?" "Consider me for your journey." "You're one of James' messengers." "That mission is accomplished." "If you will have me on yours, I want to come." "[knock atthe door]" "He chills, then follows with fever..." "Silas?" "We have the physician..." "The vision is still with me" "A vision came to him, in his delirium." "It's not the delirium!" "It was a dream..." "No, not a dream!" "A man stood before me, a Macedonian." "Appeared before me and defuse me saying" "'Come across to Macedonia and help us!" "'" "Can anything be done?" "These chills." "They started when he came down from the highlands?" "Yes." "I know of your work in Galatia." "I've been following it here, in Troas." "A physician?" "A wandering physician." "From Macedonia." "Macedonia?" "What is your name?" "My given name is Luke." "Luke, Silas you already know," "Timothy joined us at Lystra... tell me Luke, I want to know... can the Word be taken across the Aegean, into Europe?" "Well, people have crossed the sea with new religion before." "I've seen them." "Heavy footed." "What brains they have they left on this side of the sea." "You think it's nonsense?" "It may be no place for your miracles." "Miracles?" "It has been said that you claim this Jesus of yours, has spoken to you." "Yes." "He talks to you." "As I talk to you now?" "Yes." "The Greeks of Galatia accepted him." "I'm one of them." "But in Europe you will encounter a different kind of Greek." "More worldly, cynical, corrupt." "Further, you will encounter the full might of Roman authority... with a new kind of religion... where new religions are forbidden." "It will not be the same." "It will be a step toward Rome itself." "The prospects are enormous aren't they?" "I'll arrange passage for the three of us, to Phillippi." "...Four." "Well, Phillippi is my home and I would know more of a man... who would challenge the Rome Empire." "Two customers since yesterday." "Does the man never tire... never relieve himself?" "Soon he must drown in his own words." "(Daphne's voice) Yes, master." "What you say will come to pass." "Good sir!" "Hold for a moment and consider me...!" "For the small price of five tetradrachma," "I will deliver you an earthquake of happiness!" "Come closer, sir..." "It speaks..." "Such are some of its powers." "I am Daphne, and I have much to whisper in your ear." "To flourish with the women of Asia takes more than a strong back, sir." "You need this god with you." "Midday and not a sale." "It's possible you will not eat tonight." "Yes, master." "Each day he speaks, the crowd grows larger." "Go!" "Listen to him." "Tell me what he's selling." "Yes, master." "Believe in Him and you are free." "Have done with spite and passion, have done with all angry shouting and cursing, and all bad feeling of every kind." "Have done with it... have done with it... (whispers) have done with it." "Friends, if you will let brother Paul, rest for a while." "He will speak to you again." "The God of Peace be with you all." "Look at them." "I love these Greeks." "They're great talkers, aren't they?" "More have arrive." "The others won't leave." "It's obvious they've spread the word." "Can you go on?" "Y es!" "Idols!" "Heathen idols!" "Yeah, you think you are so wise, don't you?" "Yet you make fools of yourselves." "How?" "By exchanging the splendor and power of a immortal God for images carved in the likeness of mortal men and women... even carved in the image of beasts and birds and creepy things." "[mocking in a voice of a mule]" "This man says he is a servant of the Great High God?" "[mocking in a voice of a mule]" "He says he is here to show us the way to salvation?" "But I am the splendor of immortal God!" "[people laughing]" "What are you doing?" "Nothing, sir." "What is this gift of yours?" "What gift?" "What is your gift child?" "None, sir." "You're not speaking the truth, are you?" "I've been watching you." "You've been making these images, these idols seem to talk by throwing your voice into them." "And now this poor dumb animal..." "In order to make money for you master." "God will want an accounting of you." "You hear that?" "You will not speak in two voices again." "You will not speak in two voices again." "What are their crimes?" "Agitators." "Your hands come off if they escape." "You understand?" "Huh?" "No, let them dry." "They'll heal faster." "How can you bear this?" "So far, I haven't been tested beyond what I can endure." "When that test comes?" "Shut-up." "Let a man sleep." "Jailer!" "Jailer, we're over here!" "Thank you." "Thank you." "You have been released." "What detains you?" "Our trial." "You are free." "Why do you ask for a trial?" "Why, we have been unjustly beaten." "You question our justice?" "Yes I do as a citizen of Rome!" "You...?" "A Roman citizen?" "Yes." "Born Saul Paulus of Tarsus!" "A Roman citizen, exempt from whipping." "And as such privileged to trial before any punishment and also with privilege of direct appeal to the emperor himself." "Escort them from the city." "No...you don't understand." "We are responsible members of society, are we not?" "With a regard for our good names." "No my friend, we shall remain here until we receive public apology." "You have my regrets." "But you will leave Phillippi." "There are those who might think you brought the earthquake upon them through this God of yours." "I could not protect you." "Nor your friends." "Nor those who listen to you." "[chuckles]" "You won't come with us?" "T o where?" "Aslonica, Athens." "Our work has only just begun." "You save the souls," "I'll heal the bodies." "I know there's something more." "I just don't understand it." "Just don't talk to any more donkeys." "I beg you to listen...!" "I listen!" "Paul has totally defied our edicts sent to Antioch, ignoring even the barest respect for the rites we requested!" "Further, he has crossed into Europe, without consulting us.." "Where he has not only preached to the heathen without regard for the Law, he fails!" "He has established churches..." "Which will crumble!" "He encounters Roman authority wherever he goes!" "He's expelled with scorn and derision from one city after another." "Philippi, Thessalonica, Berea... and now to the Athens, where he must meet more of the same." "You back me to the wall!" "As he does with us!" "Let there not be a split among us.." "The split is made!" "Paul makes it with his..." "'Postulations of supremacy'!" "What do you want of me?" "What do you want?" "We are leaving for Galatia, following in Paul's footsteps..." "To call upon the Galatian to conform to the Laws of Moses... to give up Paul's improper claim of salvation through faith alone." "We ask that you go with us." "Christianity preserved for those of us who are the heirs of Abraham... or for the heathen." "Once and forever." "With or without you, Peter, we're going." "Don't threaten me." "I don't know what I'm going to do, but don't threaten me...!" "Men of Athens... from every point of view, I see that you are religious..." "For as I was going about and looking at the things you worship," "I found an altar with the inscription upon it:" "'To An Unknown God.'" "So it is already that you worship in ignorance what I now proclaim." "For God, who created the world and all that is in it, since He is the Lord of Heaven and Earth, does not live in temples built by human hands as though He were in need of anything." "For He Himself gives all men life and breath and everything." "It is through union with Him that we live and move and have our being." "As some of your reknown poets have said:" "'For we are His offspring.'" "Now if we are God's children, why should we imagine that the divine nature is like gold or like silver or like stone, wrought by human art or thought..." "You ask us permission to preach your doctrine in Athens." "Y es." "But we must understand what it is that you are proclaiming." "We have the impression this Jesus you speak of is a new deity." "What does it call for?" "That men everywhere repent... for God has fixed a day on which He shall justly judge the world through Jesus, whom He has appointed and of this he's given assurance to all men by raising Jesus from the dead." "[laughter]" "Perhaps we will hear you on this subject some other time." "Who are they, the lords of life in this place?" "They were confused..." "They laughed at him." "Didn't you hear?" "Well, others have listened..." "We've set up churches wherever we've been:" "Thessalonica, Berea..." "Yes, but do they still exist?" "That's what I want to know." "We could write to them." "No." "No, I want you to go back..." "The two of you." "I want you to go back to Thessolonica, Berea, and to Philippi." "Philippi?" "Yes." "Where do you go?" "Corinth." "Corinth!" "?" "Look, I know you want to be martyred.... but I'm sorry, that is what will happen." "Now Paul, they say the stench of that city cannot rise through the cloud of filth and corruption that surrounds it." "You cannot go to Corinth." "Silas." "I want to know." "Does the church stand, or is it fallen?" "Is it in the open or are they hiding in fear?" "Or is anything left of it at all." "I have to know." "Now, you owe me nothing, either of you." "Choose for yourselves." "Only one way to heaven?" "I'll show you fifty." "Show us the Jesus trick?" "[people mocking Paul]" "Please...!" "Get him away from those people!" "He takes them off our hands." "Come on." "Clear a way here!" "Come on, get away!" "Let go of this man!" "Get moving." "Go on!" "Come on..." "I said, get out of here." "Go on, let's move!" "Keep moving." "Go on all of you!" "Move!" "You can't preach in the streets here...!" "This is Corinth, not Athens!" "I preach where there are people to hear me!" "That rabble?" "They'll hear you from the end of a rope...!" "Good." "Then that shall be my alter!" "Which is more than I'm afforded any where else in this city!" "Thank you." "You must eat." "I have no forum for my ministry!" "I am denied the synagogue...!" "The elders fear you're a threat to their control, you know that..." "When has God appointed men to 'control' the faith of other men?" "It is a free gift!" "I shall have to speak in the streets if that's what's left to me." "There is a convert here in Corinth." "He owns a hall where you could continue your meetings." "I'll speak to him." "Why haven't we heard from Silas and Timothy?" "We will." "Everywhere we went they listened to me, they came to hear me... but time was always so short." "It's not duration that matters..." "Perhaps I'm not the man, Prisilla." "Perhaps I'm not the man." "I've taken Christ's work across boundaries not yet ready to be crossed, too little fortified?" "Who knows, who knows?" "Perhaps my stubbornness, my pride and my ambition, perhaps they have stopped my ears to the wiser counsel of other men?" "Patience..." "It's not one of my virtue." "Well, God would overlook that." "I'm harsh, I'm argumentative, I'm too quick to anger." "If only I could speak to people in love..." "Paul, my dear friend..." "But it is strange, here I have faith strong enough to move mountains." "If I have no love to give to my fellow man, all the rest is nothing." "No love?" "All that you are is love." "You bring men the way to love." "What do they have left when I'm gone?" "When I've been chased away from their cities?" "What are they left with?" "I can't go on filling people with false hopes and promises and dreams." "Promises I can't sustain." "I can't do that." "Perhaps I should let stronger men try." "Let other men challenge Rome." "(Paul thinking) Love is patient;" "Iove is kind and envies no one... never boastful, nor conceited, nor rude;" "never selfish, not quick to take offense." "Love keeps no score of wrongs;" "does not gloat over another man's sins, but delights in the truth." "Paul!" "Paul, wonderful news!" "Macedonia has stood firm!" "They are not shaken!" "The Thessalonians never doubted your message." "They've come through some hard times..." "But all opposition against them failed!" "The churches hold fast!" "John...?" "Who's this with you, Peter?" "Not Mark." "Look, there're calluses on his hands." "I suffer for others." "As every man should." "Scrape her down." "You've helped him a lot." "I can see the difference." "I'm not finished with him yet." "I'm taking him with me." "Good, then." "When do you leave for Jerusalem?" "I've been sent to ask you." "I'm not..." "I have a mission elsewhere." "Where?" "Babylon." "Babylon?" "There's little there but ruins." "Babylon?" "Why...?" "Because I am a simple man who wishes to raise himself a few feet from the dust!" "I don't know what he's saying." "He eats at himself..." "But why?" "Now, what is it?" "Go home." "I am home." "I was born in Capernaum, just as you." "There is much that makes us different." "Both of us fisherman, united in faith." "You fulfilled your mission to Jesus." "I failed in mine." "Peter you are rash one minute, uncertain the next!" "Exact, then confused!" "Enthusiastic, sad!" "Was there ever a man of such aggravating contradiction...!" "I have fought my life to overcome my temper, I have... but you test it!" "It all goes so well!" "Troubles in Jerusalem, yes, some." "But elsewhere " "Paul's triumphs in Macedonia and now all Greece..." "Jesus said, 'You are Peter the Rock." "And I will build my church on this rock.'" "And it is done..." "By others, not me." "You only?" "We were all of us called!" "'Peter, to whom I give the keys of the kingdom!" "'" "That was His commission to me." "I failed Him and He chose another who succeeds." "Then that's it." "I do not speak in envy..." "Yes, envy, but not resentment." "I pray for Paul." "He is power and genius." "I have missed my time." "You stand alone in that opinion." "Where is he now?" "Still in Corinth?" "On his way to Galatia, at last report, filled with searing anger at the attacks made there against him." "He blames us." "He takes his case to the people." "As I will do." "In Babylon." "These men of repute..." "They acknowledged that I had been entrusted with the Gospel for the Gentiles as surely as Peter has been entrusted with the Gospel for the Jews." "Oh yes!" "These so-call 'pillars' of our society, of our church " " James, Peter and John -- they accepted Barnabas and myself as partners and they shook hands upon it, believe you me...!" "Are you people in Galatia mad?" "The persons I am refering to are envious of you, but not with honest envy." "What they really want is to bar the door to you so that you will come to envy them...!" "Why... why?" "You were running so well." "You were running so well." "Who was it that prevented you from following the truth?" "Whatever persuasion he used... this man who is unsettling you minds... believe me, he shall bear God's judgment." "If we are in union with Christ Jesus, circumcision makes no difference at all." "As for these agitators, they had better go the whole way and make eunuchs of themselves!" "Luke?" "Did I startle you?" "Not at all." "Not at all!" "Come in." "Come in!" "How long has it been?" "Two years?" "Time barely keeps pace with you." "All the reports of your work:" "Macedonia, Corinth, through Galatia again, Ephesus... and I supposed Rome itself eventually." "You've overcome every other obstacle." "Oh yes." "What's wrong." "You don't look well." "Are you ill?" "When I returned from Greece" "I heard that our brothers in Jerusalem had been attacking my work in Galatia." "And I thought it was Peter behind the subversion." "So, I wrote the church in Galatia and then I followed my letter with a journey to their cities, and I shredded my tormentors!" "I destroyed them." "Then I discovered that Peter never been there... never been to Galatia... he had nothing whatever to do with the attacks against me." "I was the accuser, not Peter;" "I was the defamer, not Peter." "It was out of pride... which led to vengeance." "Pride!" "Y es I know...pride." "Pride?" "Well let me see..." "I fail to do the things I want to do, and I find myself doing the things I hate." "The will to do what is good is in me, but the execution or the performance is not there." "I would call for a spirit." "They put the grape in an amphora and seal the cork with pitch and sink it in a fish pond for thirty days." "They have the best in town at the end of the street." "Why does he come to us?" "What does he want here?" "Anything..." "He is capable of wanting anything." "We are Paul's starving relations now, while his ministry thrives on two continents." "Let us receive him with respect." "The danger he brings us." "What goes on in his mind." "God bless you, Paul." "As He does you." "Come." "Come in." "Menahem and Naaman are known to you." "My friends in Christ..." "Luke..." "Ah, the physician from Macedonia." "I have known only Egyptian doctors." "No harm can come from that..." "But stay well." "Timothy and Trophimus..." "Let me say most of all, welcome." "Though we do wonder why you have asked for this assembly." "Naaman..." "I have not finished." "You have won." "Your concept of the Church sweeps two continents, while ours clings to a sliver of land, our members crying for food and work denied them by the people of their own nation, who look upon us as renegades." "What is it you bring us then in the face of that?" "Is it gloating at the threat of our extinction?" "From the churches of Macedonia... for our brothers in Jerusalem..." "From the churches of Galatia and Asia..." "From Corinth and Greece." "The money saves us." "I hoped Peter would be here." "He's in Babylon, with Mark." "How is he?" "What we hear is seldom and little trusted." "You've heard about Barnabas." "You know of his death..." "Yes." "Yes, unfortunately we parted with some bitterness." "It was my fault." "We always have ourselves to weather." "Oh, yea..." "So the Jerusalem Church still doesn't trust me?" "The past is hard for them to forget." "How can I gain their trust?" "Let me warn you." "We are a city on the verge of rebellion." "The Sicarii, daggermen, assassins, they grew bolder and bolder." "They have killed a high priest who consorted with Rome, and they have killed Romans." "A terrible fear and suspicion exists." "How can I gain their trust?" "There's a ceremony of purification and sacrifice at the T emple, tomorrow." "Four of our men..." "It's everything you've preached against." "No James..." "No." "All I've ever preached is to preserve the law but don't impose it on the Gentiles." "Preserve the law but don't impose it on the Gentiles." "That's all I've ever preached." "You'll attend then?" "Y es, I will attend." "You...!" "I have seen this man, in Ephesus!" "He teaches against the Law!" "Look!" "He brings Greeks in the court of the Jews!" "He defiles this holy place!" "[people shouting]" "Listen to me..." "Listen to me..." "Let me speak to them." "These fanatics?" "Please, let me speak to them." "Brethren and fathers." "Listen to me." "I am a Jew!" "Thoroughly educated in the Law of our forefathers." "I have always worked in the service of God." "And I began by persecuting this Christian movement to the death, by arresting its followers and putting them in chains." "Yes." "By putting them in chains." "Then one day, I was given letters by our Council of Elders to our fellow Jews in Damascus and I started out to bring the Christians there back to Jerusalem..." "Then suddenly, on that road to Damascus..." "I saw a great light shining all around me." "It was a great light that seemed to flash from the sky." "Then I heard a voice say," "'Saul, why do you persecute me?" "' [people shouting]" "The Lord replied 'l am Jesus of Nazareth, whom you are persecuting...'" "What is the news from Jerusalem?" "News?" "What is news?" "News is what you have not heard before." "The Jews extremists will not be satisfied With nothing but that this man, this Paul, be returned to them." "For trial?" "Any way they can get him." "Even his head as a pickled melon." "They do not take heads, noble Festus, they stone them." "What did you tell them?" "I told them if they have charges to bring them here to Caesarea." "We shouldn't offend them." "You're causing rebellion." "There is too much of this nonsense." "They rebelled against your predecessor." "Killing taught them nothing." "Killing only makes them hate us more..." "Damn these people!" "We bring them trade, safe travel, roads." "Throughout the empire, there is peace!" "But here in Judea..." "I do not understand them!" "We're tyrants to them, Festus, idol-worshipping inferiors..." "I do not understand this Paul and I do not understand this sect of his." "I do not understand their charges against him." "What is it they want?" "Ask that question tonight." "Of whom?" "His Majesty, Agrippa ll, has arrived to pay you, the new procurator, a state visit." "The Jewish King?" "I've no stomach for these amenities." "I'll see him tomorrow." "He's useful to Rome." "What are the particulars?" "He's young, 32, Cynical... political survivor whom Rome allows to reign." "His principal function is to appoint the high priest of the Temple in Jerusalem." "He's arrived with his sister, Bernice... with whom, rumors have it, he is having incestuous relations." "He appoints the high priest in Jerusalem?" "With promiscuous regularity." "Theodotus, I would see this King,." "I am gratified that you should come at such an opportune time, King Agrippa." "Noble Optimus..." "For I am in need of a decision, and I find myself confronted by the issues." "Please, speak plainly." "We have a man here, named Paul," "left in custody by my predecessor, Felix." "When I was in Jerusalem, the chief priests and elders of the Jews demanded his condemnation." "But when his accusers rose to speak, they brought none of the charges that I was expecting." "They merely made certain points of disagreement with their peculiar religion and this Jesus, a dead man whom this Paul alleges to be alive." "So, I am faced with determining whether he should be sent to Jerusalem and stand trial there on these charges." "Whatever counsel my brother may offer..." "I do not seek his counsel, I seek his decision." "You ask that I decide...?" "Better you than I with a Roman heart." "Your kindness to me is a wonder, Procurator if I should find him innocent..." "Their rage is directed toward me, not Rome." "Our poor remedies are iron and blood." "Should I find him guilty It's not Rome who faces the blame." "The deed is yours." "If my brother chooses to do neither?" "Is it the light that makes you look so cold, King Agrippa?" "Take lemons to keep down the chill." "I should rather like to hear this man myself." "Tomorrow you shall hear him." "Bring on the prisoner." "Bring him here." "[people murmuring]" "This is the man that inflames a nation?" "Who threatens the order of an empire?" "King Agrippa, all of you present here with us, you see this man." "The Temple leaders approached me, both here and in Jerusalem," "Ioudly insisting that he has no right to remain alive." "That he is a leader of a blasphemous so-called Christian sect... that he is a disturber of the peace among Jews all over the world." "And that his most recent effort, according to his accusers, has been to desecrate the T emple in Jerusalem." "And that in preaching of this Jesus as the Messiah, he is denying the authority of the Emperor." "But I have nothing definite about him." "Accordingly, I have brought him here before you and particularly you, King Agrippa, so that as a result, I may have something." "You have our permission to speak for yourself." "I consider, myself fortunate, King Agrippa, that it is before you that I am to make my defense today upon all charges brought against me, particularly as you are expert in all Jewish matters." "I beg you, therefore, to give me a patient hearing." "Why is it considered incredible among you that God should raise dead men to life?" "You assert this?" "In defiance of Jewish opposition...!" "I assert nothing beyond what was foretold by the prophets and by Moses... that the Messiah was to suffer..." "Blaspheme!" "[people shouting against Paul] ...That the Messiah was to suffer, and that He, the first to rise from the dead, would proclaim the light and the dawn to Israel and to the Gentiles!" "Do you believe the prophets, King Agrippa?" "I know that you do believe them." "You think it will not take much to win me over and made a Christian of me?" "Much or little, I wish to God that not only you, but those who are listening to me now might become what I am!" "I warn you, do not mock me...!" "I have committed no offense, either against the Jewish Law, or against the Temple, or against the Emperor." "Are you willing to go to Jerusalem to stand trial on these charges?" "Why?" "Is that to be your decision?" "(shouting) To Jerusalem!" "To Jerusalem!" "I stand before the Emperor's tribunal and that, as a Roman citizen is where I must be tried!" "If I am guilty of any capital crime," "I do not ask to escape the death penalty." "But, if there is no substance in the charge which these men bring against me, then it is not open to anyone to hand me over as a sop to them." "I appeal to Caesar!" "[people murmuring]" "You have appealed to Caesar, this is your right." "To Caesar you shall go!" "[People shouting] No, no, no..." "Excellency, there is a citizen who asks to see you." "Audiences are held in the mornings." "So I've told the man." "He asks that his name be giving to you." "He calls himself Simon Peter, a friend of Paul of Tarsus." "Pass him." "Come..." "I cannot say how greatly you have come to interest me." "I ask about Paul." "That you, with this Paul, can so exercise the Hebrew's passions." "Tell me a tale of battle, of rape and plunder... that I understand." "They say there was a trial..." "What's happened to Paul?" "Nothing will be done to further inflame the Hebrews!" "This Christian Church, whatever that may be, will cease to exist!" "It is not for me to agree to these things..." "You will agree!" "It's over, it's done!" "In this region, this Judea, I tell you:" "no Christian will announce himself as an apostle, or to go to the Jews, nor the Gentile, or anyone else." "You will do nothing to antagonize, to inflame or offend." "This Christ Church is to become nothing!" "You had your moment, it's ended, as it's ended for Paul!" "Do you truly believe that chains can silence him?" "Simon Peter..." "He was placed on an Asian grain ship with a complement of prisoners bound for Rome," "He was accompanied by a man named Luke, who chose to go with him as his servant." "Off the coast of Crete, they encountered a gale of force magnitude." "That was a week ago." "No ship in that region has been heard from." "We need fire..." "Come, let's gather wood." "We need fire." "Come...gather wood." "Should we kill them?" "They could escape." "No." "[people murmuring]" "Where are we?" "Where is this place?" "Malta." "Malta?" "It's a viper!" "I'm alright, Luke, I'm alright." "What keeps you alive?" "You've a fever that's near killing you." "Are you offering me an escape from prison?" "There is that chance." "You're body's riddled with poison... your hand's like fire..." "There is a ship, the 'Castor and Pollus' of Alexandria, wintering at the island." "it will take us to Italy in three months." "Three months... no sooner?" "You survive the bite of a viper and you hunger after Nero's court?" "Y es." "We're moving into a village... the Maltese council has asked to speak with you." "You have my permision." "Thank you." "Three months." "Well, I've written to our followers in Rome." "I'm wondering if my letters reached them." "I'm wondering in fact if our church there still exists or survives." "I wonder." "Thank you." "Thank you." "These islanders..." "They see you pull a snake from your hand and survive... and call it a miracle." "That worries you?" "If there is sufficient venom from the bite, you die, if not, you live." "I know that as a physician." "But a miracle?" "Why do you complicate the word?" "In all my studies there is no such word!" "It's an event which creates faith, that's all." "How can it be reconciled... to have the wisdom to explore the possibilities of our existence... and still have faith." "You say there's something more." "Yes, remember the scripture, it says, 'l will destroy the wisdom of the wise." "I will bring to nothing the cleverness of the clever.'" "Yes, for you..." "Christ spoke to you." "But for the others... who haven't seen your 'bolt of light', what sign do we look for?" "It's not a sign, it's a surrender." "Well, I fear it." "I fear too that your Church in Rome no longer exists." "That it's all futility." "I'll reach it!" "Using your trial as a forum?" "Nero will be too shrewd to offer the world such a spectacle." "I must reach them." "Rome is everything." "How do you reach them from prison?" "I will..." "I will." "(Peter thinking of what Paul said)" "Quite alone to me he said," "'Peter, I tell you this in very truth... when you were young you fastened your belt around you and you walked where you chose;" "but when you are old, you will stretch out your arms and a stranger will bind you and carry you where you have no wish to go.'" "Can you go there with me?" "I'll wait for you there." "( soft music )" "[people greeting Paul]" "I come from Philippi!" "What is your name?" "Epaphroditus!" "Philippi has sent money for your support in Rome!" "Move!" "Move!" "Hail Ceasar!" "The prisoner, Paul of Tarsus, is delivered to Caesar as specified in these papers of his case from Protius Festus, Procurator of Judea." "Where is he now?" "He has been turned over to the Governor of the Camp of Foreigners to await Ceasar's pleasure." "Word of this prisoner precedes him." "Our court can talk of nothing else." "Truly..." "What sort of character have we in this man?" "I am unqualified to speak on such things..." "I disagree." "You've been with the man since Judea, you were shipwrecked with him..." "We would not have come through alive without him." "Enlighten us." "Please." "He administered to the sick and injured aboard the ship..." "To preserve them for mutiny." "He gave warning of mutiny of the Egyptian crew which sought to abandon us off Malta." "Insuring his own survival..." "Perseverance and cunning." "What else?" "Nothing else, Caesar." "Oh come, come." "Surely you've heard other things." "What else has been said of this Paul?" "(quietly) I have heard it said..." "We don't quite hear." "Some have said... in some places... he is thought by some... the most important man in the world." "The most important man in the world?" "You read Greek, do you not, centurion?" "I do." "The man has written a letter to his Christians here in Rome." "It's been widely copied." "Read it." "By the mark... '..." "They boast of their wisdom, but that have made fools of themselves...'" "'They' is my court and, therefore, me." "Continue... '..." "Their women have exchanged natural intercourse for unnatural, and their men burn with lust for one another;" "males behave indecently with males and are paid in their own persons the fitting wage of such perversions...'" "While I am filled with 'every kind of envy, murder, rivalry, treachery, and malevolence...'" "The most important man in the world?" "Clearly, by his own hand, he assigns this designation to me." "The man must be brought at once to trial." "I suggest caution." "He has entered Rome to an ovation bordering on triumph." "He has asked for a trial!" "As a Roman, it is his right." "To bring him to trial and execution, you martyr him." "You give him the stage he wants!" "There is no choice!" "His papers are delivered!" "With so good a report as you bring us of the prisoner's character and conduct, he should have more than usual liberty..." "Caesar..." "See that he is comfortably quartered." "Visitors may have access to him." "But keep him under guard." "The Christians are no force in Rome." "To permit them exposure to this man..." "He is a fanatic..." "Who stirs the minds..." "Of Jews and Greeks who hunger for a sorcerer to lead them from under the saddle of Roman rule." "Let them have him... they'll soon see that saddle is most firmly planted." "But his papers..." "Are..." "lost at sea." "Hail, Caesar." "(Paul Thinking) From Paul, apostle of Jesus Christ by the will of God." "Grace, mercy, and peace to you..." "Oh how I long to see you again." "I am exposed to hardship, even to the point of being shut up like a common criminal;" "but the Word of God is not shut up!" "Leave!" "Go away!" "Get rid of these people!" "Move on!" "Move on!" "...The final age of this world will be a time of troubles" "When Men and women will love nothing but money and self:" "arrogant, abusive, boastful, no respect for parents, no gratitude, no piety, no love, no natural affection, swollen with self-importance and pride." "You stay clear of such people." "Their success will be short-lived..." "Everyone out!" "Guard!" "Everyone out of here." "Get them out... all of them." "Hurry, move on!" "Do not assume this favorable agreement is out of respect for your mission!" "Nero gives you time and opportunity to fail with these people!" "Only by so doing, can you expect a moderate sentence." "He could even accept the ridicule of your failure as sentence enough." "But this!" "A parade of converts and believers;" "not only Greeks and Jew, but now Romans." "Romans!" "That condemns you!" "Open the door..." "Let there be no misunderstanding!" "There is death before death -- the Mamertine Prison." "He does not understand!" "There is no misunderstanding." "Open the door my friend, hmm?" "Hold on, you!" "These are the apartments of the man called Paul?" "No one sees him at this hour." "I know him." "He'll see me." "Move him along, quick." "What happens here?" "I have told the man to go." "Who are you?" "A friend of Paul's." "Then you will have a name that I'll know." "My name is Mark." "Welcome!" "Mark." "Oh, Mark." "How many years has it been...?" "What news have you brought me?" "First, drink this..." "This is my medicine." "How many years has it been?" "What news have you brought of you?" "Oh, James told me about your work in Jerusalem." "Wonderful!" "Timothy will be arriving, from Ephesus..." "Good!" "This is good news!" "What else?" "Any news of Peter?" "He follows in your footsteps." "Step by step, he reaffirms your message..." "I've sent word, wherever possible, that you're in Rome." "Good." "Peter and I have come so far without each other." "that we end together..." "I have no doubt." "It is sad isn't it?" "To have spent all these years apart in bitterness and enmity." "My fault..." "Pride." "It's good to see you Mark." "It's good to see you." "Well, I've learned not to dwell on things past." "Confinement has taught me to control my thoughts." "So my friends they come and they visit me and they gather about me and they listen to me." "Which puts a strain on my humility." "So you say, Timothy is to arrive." "That is good news." "So, the Gospel is being preached and Christ is being made known." "It is a time of hope and promise" "Hail, Caesar!" "The papers for Paul of Tarsus." "A citizen of Rome." "But...weren't they lost at sea?" "They have washed ashore." "Hail Ceasar!" "What are the charges?" "Disturbing the peace of the Empire;" "and being the center of disorder;" "and proclaiming a king other than the Emperor." "Where am I to be taken?" "The Mamertine." "Sit down." "Sit down!" "To the Greeks, to you, my partners of the early days..." "To Israel, entrusted with the Oracles of God... and therefore brothers in the family of God... and to Rome, whom God has called to be His people..." "I give you my receipt for everything..." "I am paid in full." "Already my life is being poured out on the alter." "And the hour for my departure is upon me." "I have run the great race." "I have finished the course." "I have kept the faith." "Now the prize awaits me." "Peter!" "Well, you're something to see!" "You received my letter?" "Yes." "I caught up with your news in Pisidia!" "Paul in Rome!" "How is he...?" "They've killed him." "He's dead." "How was it done?" "He was a Roman citizen." "Beheaded." "Was there a trial?" "A shameless perjury, testimony of fiction." "Who stood with him?" "I was with him." "Who else?" "Luke, till the end." "He went back to Philippi." "No others?" "They all ran away." "Paul prayed that it not be held against them." "He was like no one else..." "He set the truth in the sunlight..." "And I am out of patience with myself." "Peter..." "I've waited to warn you." "Daily, Nero rounds up more and more Christians, their death's made a matter of sport." "They are covered wild beasts' skins and torn to pieces by dogs;" "or set of fire to serve as torches at night." "The Christian community is in a panic." "Only the bravest dare to meet at all, and they're in secret catacombs beneath the city." "God forbid that I should not be a part in this." "Assemble the leaders." "(Thinking of what Paul said) There is nothing love cannot face;" "there is no limit to its faith, its hope and endurance." "Are there prophets?" "Their work will be over." "Is there knowledge?" "It will vanish away." "But love will never come to an end..." "The time has come for the judgment to begin;" "and it is beginning with God's own household." "And if it is starting with you, do not be bewildered by the fiery ordeal that is upon you, as though it were something extraordinary." "It gives you a share of Christ's suffering and that is a cause for joy..." "Salvation was the theme which the prophets pondered and explored, those who prophesied about the grace of God awaiting you..." "And it was disclosed to them that the matter was not for their time, but yours." "And now it has been openly announced to you... through Paul, the apostle who brought you the Gospel through the power of the Holy Spirit sent from Heaven!" "You are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a dedicated nation to proclaim the triumphs of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." "Dear friends!" "Christ suffered on your behalf and thereby left you an example." "It is for you to follow in his steps." "The inheritance of which we are born is one that can never be destroyed." "It is kept for you in Heaven." "And Jesus said, 'This is my commandment," "Iove one another as I have loved you." "There is no greater love than this that a man should lay down his life for his friends." "I call you my friends because I have disclosed to you everything I have heard from my Father." "And then he said," ""You did not choose me, I chose you." "I appointed you to go on and bear fruit that shall last forever." "So that my father may give you whatever you ask in my name." "This is my commandment to you." "Love one another."" "Awake!" "Be on the alert!" "Your enemy, the devil, like a roaring lion, prowls round looking for someone to devour..." "Stand up to him..." "This devil, firm in faith..." "And remember your brother Christians are going through the same kinds of suffering..." "While you are in this world." "And the God of all grace..." "Who called you into His eternal glory in Christ, will Himself, after your brief suffering, restore and strengthen you on a firm foundation!" "Peace!" "To all you who belong to Christ!" "Be alert, be wakeful...!" "'You do not know when the moment comes." "Keep awake, then!" "For you do not know when the master of the house is coming!" "Evening, midnight, early dawn... if He suddenly comes He must not find you sleeping!" "Keep awake!" "dramatic music [nails being pounded into Peter's hands]" "I am not worthy to be crucified as my Lord was... dramatic music" "(Paul's voice) Who can separate us from Christ's love?" "Can trouble or misfortune or persecution or hunger or destitution or danger or the sword?" "But, in all these things, we are more than victorious through Him who loved us." "For I am convinced that neither death nor life will be able to separate us from the love" "God has shown us in Christ Jesus our Lord."