All language subtitles for Jesus His Life s01e07e08 Mary Magdalene - Peter.eng

[woman vocalizing]

[dramatic music]

- The story of Jesus is
the greatest story ever told.

♪

- Get out!

You sinner!

- Where is he?

♪

male announcer:
For over 2,000 years,

the story of Jesus Christ
has touched the lives

of billions around the globe.

[whip cracks]

- [screaming]

- Jesus felt what we felt.

He faced what we face today.

♪

- If we want to understand
Western history at all,

we must understand
the story of Jesus.

announcer:
Now, for the first time,

his story is told
through the eyes

of those who knew him best.

- We are with you.

- Mary Magdalene is in many
senses the ideal disciple.

- Enlighten us.
Tell us what you mean.

- [groaning]
[whip cracks]

- She wanted to be there
till the very end.

- The was at the crucifixion.

She was at the resurrection.

- I have seen the Lord.

- She is the one that
receives the message.

- I am ascending to my father.

- As the first witness
to the resurrection...

[dramatic music]

Mary Magdalene is arguably
the beginning of Christianity.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

[indistinct chatter]

- Jesus saved me from myself.

He made this woman.

Who am I without him?

[overlapping chatter]

Some horror is a test

for even the strongest
and bravest.

[whip cracks]
- [groans]

- I am neither.

And yet...

I thought he was going
to save the world.

♪

- The first time we meet
Mary Magdalene in the Gospels,

she's possessed
by seven demons.

- [whispering] Mary...

- So to put it
in modern terms,

we might think of Mary
suffering from schizophrenia

or from bipolar disorder

or maybe even post-traumatic
stress disorder.

And she comes to Jesus
to be healed.

[indistinct whispering]

[dramatic music]

- Do you hear them?

- Yes, I do.

- I can't bear it.
- [raspy whispering]

♪

- Come out of the woman,
you unclean spirits.

[straining]

Be quiet!

I command you
to come out of her!

Do not enter her again!

[whispering stops]

- In that moment,
Jesus freed her

from whatever the demons
were in her life.

And Jesus' way of life,

his teachings, his spirit,

the way he interacted
with folk,

it set her free.

- What is your name?

- Mary.

- My mother's name.

- That day,
I became a student.

Jesus, my teacher.

And everything
seemed possible.

- This is
a life-changing moment,

no question about it.

She goes from being
a deeply troubled person

that would have been seen
as a social outcast

to being a person who follows
a great teacher and preacher.

♪

She, in essence,
goes from the outhouse

to the penthouse
through a spiritual change.

- Mary Magdalene has her name
because she was Mary

from a town in Galilee
called Magdala.

- This was not a little,
small, hole-in-the-wall town.

It turns out, it was one
of the major fishing villages

on the northwest coast
of the Sea of Galilee.

[indistinct chatter]

- What's interesting
about this is that

it's very unusual for a woman
in Biblical times

to be associated with a town,

rather than with her father

or with the name
of her husband.

So we think that she was
probably unmarried

or maybe she was widowed,

and we think that probably
she had some kind of status

in the town of Magdala,
such that she was known

as Mary of Magdala.

- Many people still see
Mary Magdalene as a sinner.

Part of it is because
back in 591,

Gregory the Great linked
Mary to being a prostitute.

Today, we know differently.

[gentle music]

[laughter]

- Luke 8: 1-3 tells us
that Mary Magdalene,

Joanna, the wife of Chuza,

and Susanna and other women

are following Jesus
around Galilee,

like the male disciples are

and providing
for the disciples

out of their own resources.

- The Jesus would have
women disciples

would surprise
a lot of people,

because that's not what's
taught in Christian tradition.

- We have no other evidence
of a Jewish teacher

having women disciples
before Jesus.

- A farmer went out
to sow his seed.

As he was sowing,

some of the seed
fell along the path.

The birds from
above devoured it.

- The makeup
of Jesus' followers,

as we see through
Mary Magdalene,

is incredibly inclusive.

It is welcoming.
It brings everyone in.

He's got women that
he treats with respect.

He treats them as leaders,
as disciples

and as equals.

- Still, other seeds
fell on good soil,

which sprang up and produced
a crop a hundred fold.

- Enlighten us.

Tell us what you mean.

- So there's something
about Jesus and his ministry

that leads to both female
and male disciples,

which is remarkable.

- In recent years, there's
been a lot of discussion

about the relationship between
Jesus and Mary Magdalene

and if it was more than just
disciple and Lord.

- Part of this story
of Jesus and Mary together

extends into the this
kind of fantasy

that they were
secretly married,

but there's nothing in
the Bible to substantiate

any of these ideas.

[gentle music]

♪

- The seed was
the Word of God.

♪

- He didn't just free us.

He showed us how to live.

- Blessed are those
who are persecuted

for righteousness' sake.

- He showed us forgiveness,
compassion,

how to be kind.

[overlapping chatter]

He taught us courage
to stand our ground.

- You brood of vipers.

How can you, who are evil?

For the mouth speaks
what the heart is full of.

♪

Lazarus, come out.

[all gasp]

[confused chatter]

- He opened our minds.

And we were happy.

[dramatic music]

♪

He warned us it wouldn't last.

♪

Did he know he'd be betrayed
by one of our own?

- In the story,
Judas betrays Jesus

to the Jewish authorities.

So then they came.

[whip cracks]
- [groans]

- It was all over.

- The most important part
of the story of Jesus

is the Passion narrative.

Mary really comes to the fore
in this story.

- Jesus has been
sentenced to death,

is facing crucifixion
for the charge

of being King of the Jews.

♪

- I need to find him.

- It's too dangerous.

- Not for us.

♪

- When Jesus is arrested

with the charge of being
some kind of a revolutionary,

the women disciples
are this point

have a lot more freedom.

They're not under
the cloud of suspicion

in the same way
that the men are,

and it's here where they
can really kind of move in

and fill the void.

[indistinct chatter]

♪

- The women disciples of Jesus
come to the forefront

during the Passion narrative
because the male disciples

are afraid for their lives.

They're afraid
that Pontius Pilate,

who had taken Jesus
to be executed,

would also round up
his followers

and execute them as well.

[indistinct shouting]

♪

- [straining]

[dramatic music]

- The main reason that
Jesus is being crucified

is that he is
an ultimate challenge

to every authority figure
in Jerusalem.

- [straining]

[crowd shouting]

♪

- He's undermined Roman order

and Roman rule,

and this is easily enough

to sentence a man to death.

[dramatic music]

[whip cracks]
- [groans]

- On the other hand,
he's a challenge

to the Jewish high priests
and their religious authority,

because of Jesus' claim
to be a king and a son of God.

[all shouting]

♪

[gentle music]

[whip cracks]

- I had seen what he could do.

He could have stopped this,
but he didn't.

Why?

♪

♪

- To watch Jesus bringing
that cross to Golgotha

must have been heartbreaking.

- [straining]

[indistinct chatter]

- The cross is
a serious matter.

This is a heavy, heavy
piece of wood.

It is between
100 and 300 pounds.

[dramatic music]

♪

[crowd shouting]

- You, help him.

♪

- What?
- Help him.

- The Romans get a bystander,
Simon of Cyrene,

which is in North Africa,

to help Jesus carry his cross
up the hill.

[crowd shouting]

♪

- Now Simon was a pilgrim,

like lots of other pilgrims
of the day.

He had no idea that this
was going to be his task,

and yet now he is written
in the history books

for having a very important
role in carrying this cross.

♪

Scholars believe
Jesus and Simon

must have carried the cross
between 600 and 750 yards.

It was probably
much longer than that,

because they had to go
up and down different streets.

This was not necessarily
a straight shot.

- [groaning]

[crowd shouting]

- We are with you.

- [breathing heavily]

- Then, Jesus speaks directly
to the women following him.

♪

- Daughters of Jerusalem,

do not weep for me.

Weep for yourselves

and for your children.

- And he says,
"Daughters of Jerusalem,

don't weep for me,
weep for yourselves."

- [breathing heavily]

- Hey, come on, move!

[whip cracks]

- He's predicting the coming
destruction of Jerusalem

and the fact
that in the future

there will be much more
serious things

for them to lament over.

[crowd shouting]

- So at this point
in the crucifixion process,

we meet Joseph of Arimathea
and Nicodemus again.

They are prominent Jews,

they're on the Sanhedrin,
on the ruling council,

and maybe they felt
terrible guilt

for their part in condemning
Jesus to death.

- He may have been a part
of the council

that ultimately had to approve
of Jesus' crucifixion,

and yet they were
secret followers.

[crowd shouting]

[dramatic music]

♪

[whip cracks]
- Move!

♪

- When Jesus gets to Golgotha,

it's a place outside
the city walls

where people are crucified,

and so when Jesus gets there,

he has to know
that his death is imminent.

♪

- I waited for the sky
the rain fire,

or the sea to sweep us away,

and I wanted to take out
a sword and cut them all down.

I could not be his warrior,

but I would be his witness.

[gentle music]

- Of all of the people
who knew Jesus,

Mary Magdalene has the courage

to see her discipleship
through to the end.

Even though it's painful,

she doesn't shirk
her responsibilities.

♪

- Jesus wasn't the only one
crucified that day,

and actually in the Gospels

we hear about two people
specifically

who were crucified.

These men are identified
in the Gospels

as criminals or as bandits,

and what they seem
to have been in fact

were political rebels.

♪

- Crucifixion in Rome
is used for common criminals

but also for
political criminals.

And the Romans
didn't invent it.

The Romans got it
from the Persians.

rius the Great of Persia

had crucified
thousands of rebels.

Alexander the Great
practiced it,

and the Romans adopted it.

[dramatic music]

♪

- [breathing heavily]

- Mary, don't look.

- The Gospel of John
says that Mary,

Jesus' mother, is present
at the crucifixion.

- Well, the last time Mary
saw Jesus was at Capernaum,

so word must
have gotten to her

that he was going on trial,

but she came
to be at his side,

because he was actually
facing death.

♪

- The only male disciple
at Golgotha,

among all these women,
is John.

♪

- So above Jesus' head
is affixed a small sign,

and it says, "Jesus of
Nazareth, King of the Jews,"

and it says it in Greek,
in Latin and in Hebrew.

♪

By putting this
sign up there,

Pilate is making
the ultimate mockery of Jesus.

He's saying, "Ha, this is
your king of the Jews?

This is your king?
He's hanging on a Roman cross."

And I think by doing it,
he's not just mocking Jesus.

He's in fact really mocking
the Jewish people.

- [groaning]

♪

- I heard her silent screams

and felt her icy pain
as though it was my own.

♪

- [groaning]

♪

♪

- Crucifixion was one
of the most horrific forms

of punishment.

What you would essentially do

is lay a person out
on a crossbeam

and drive nails through
their wrists.

- [screaming]

- This would severe
the median nerve

and just shoot bolts of pain
through the body.

It would feel like you're
being struck by lightning.

♪

- It was absolutely agonizing.

We all use the word
excruciating.

Excruciating
is the word for it.

It is in fact the word
that means--

ex crusis,
from the cross.

The word itself
points to crucifixion.

- [groaning]

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- They then raised up
onto the cross.

Their feet were supported
by a ledge.

Without the ledge,
the weight of the body

would suffocate
the victim instantly,

and one of the key things
about crucifixion

was to make it last.

♪

- Let them all cry.

I will not break.

I will stand strong
before my Lord,

Jesus of Nazareth,

the King of the Jews.

♪

♪

Hours passed.

His breath, never more
than a whisper.

♪

We waited for silence.

♪

The most horrifying sound
of all.

♪

- The victim could last
for a few hours,

for a night, even days.

♪

- Please, give me
some of your wine.

- If you look at all four
Gospel accounts

of the crucifixion
of Jesus,

twice over he's offered
something to drink.

♪

He's offered posca,
a thirst-quenching beverage,

which is the ancient
equivalent of Gatorade.

♪

He's also offered
myrrhed wine...

♪

a narcotic,

which he refuses.

- Jesus refuses the myrrh

that he's offered
on the cross.

He's saying, "I'm willingly
choosing to die."

I do not want anything
or anyone

to take this suffering from me.

This suffering is redemptive.

It's the ultimate sign
of love.

♪

- You, who would
destroy the temple

and build it in three days.

Come down from the cross
and save yourself.

♪

- Vultures, every one.

I wanted to curse them,

but he never would.

♪

- Mocking is a regular
part of the process

of degrading somebody
in public,

and it was an attempt
to publicly shame a person

so that their reputation
and their family's reputation

could never recover.

[laughter]

[dramatic music]

- Father, forgive them.

♪

For they do not know
what they do.

♪

- Jesus' words
from the cross,

"Father, forgive them,

for they know not
what they do,"

are critical as a summary

of one of the main things

that Jesus came to Earth
to do in the first place.

- He was talking about Pilate.

He was talking about Judas,
who betrayed him, his friend.

He was talking
about the soldiers

who were at
the foot of the cross

gambling over his clothes.

He was talking about
the religious leaders

who turned on him.

- Jesus on the cross
is forgiving the people

who are murdering him,
who are torturing him.

- [groaning]

[wind whistling]

♪

- The Gospels tell us
that at midday

the whole earth is
filled with darkness

and the Gospel writers
are saying

this is the darkest moment
for humanity,

that the son of God
is dying a lonely death

on a Roman cross.

[all screaming]

- Jews, Greeks, Romans
all believed

in the power of weather omens,

and almost certainly
they viewed this

as a profound sign of divine
judgment and disfavor.

[wind whistling]

- A crucified messiah
would have been difficult

for the disciples
to comprehend

because they were expecting
a messiah

that was more triumphalistic.

They were expecting a messiah
that was going to usher in

sort of overthrow of their
foreign occupier, the Romans.

- If you are the messiah,
you are on the route

to becoming a king
who rules over everyone.

♪

- I wanted his pain to end,

and then he cried out.

- My God...

♪

My God, why have you
forsaken me?

♪

- If he had lost faith,
what hope had I?

♪

- When Jesus says,

"Eloi, Eloi,
lama sabachthani,"

which means, "My God, My God,
why have you forsaken me,"

in Aramaic, he's actually
quoting Psalm 22

about somebody who feels
abandoned by God

but shouldn't have been
abandoned by God

because he's been faithful
to God.

[dramatic music]

♪

- It is finished.

♪

- And then you have
a simple,

anonymous Roman centurion

who has this conversion

after the death of Jesus.

♪

- Surely this man
was the son of God.

♪

- Now, there was no way
that they could deny

that they saw something
very special in that moment.

This was the son of God.

♪

- He let go.

And the earth beneath us
gave way.

Those who mocked him
fell to their knees,

but it was too late.

He'd been killed.

And all hope was lost.

♪

- According to the timeline
in our Gospels,

Jesus died somewhere at about
3:00 in the afternoon,

and the sun's
going down at 5:00.

- We need to take the bodies
down before the Sabbath.

Please.

End their suffering.

- So we are now in a race
to get him off the cross,

wrapped up and into the tomb
before sundown,

when Sabbath and also
the Passover full bore begins.

♪

- Since the Jewish people
couldn't work on the Sabbath,

including the work
of burying a body,

the body had to come down

and go in the tomb
very, very quickly.

♪

If Romans were
in a particular hurry,

they might come along
and break

the condemned
prisoners' legs.

That would effectively drop

the body weight
of the person on the cross,

dislocate the arms
and the shoulders,

make it virtually
impossible to breathe,

and at that point
the person who was crucified

would die in a matter
of minutes, not hours.

- He's dead.

He's dead.

- But in Jesus' case,
he's already dead,

and there's no need
for the breaking of the legs.

♪

- It was also traditional,

once the person appeared
to be dead,

for the soldiers
to finish them off

with a spear thrust
into the side.

♪

- One of the surprising
elements in the story

of the demise of Jesus

is that Joseph of Arimathea

goes to Pilate
and requests the body.

♪

- Pontius Pilate was
the prefect of Judea.

He is the man
ultimately responsible

for the death of Jesus.

- When Joseph of Arimathea
requests the body,

he's taking a risk with his
fellow Jewish leaders.

When he was in the Sanhedrin
with them,

he condemned
this man to death,

and now here he is requesting
the body from Pilate.

- I am Joseph of Arimathea.

♪

I have come to ask for the body

of Jesus of Nazareth to bury.

♪

- He's dead?

Already?

♪

Is this true?

♪

- Crucifixion fields
were unbelievably nasty.

People don't ordinarily
retrieve bodies from there,

so that request
was a very strange one,

and I think for it
to have come

from a member
of the ruling elite

was probably particularly
confusing to Pilate.

♪

- I will allow it.

- Pilate had to be
wise enough to know

that grave-robbing was
an international problem

all over the Roman Empire,

and one of the things
he surely did not want

is the body of Jesus
to simply disappear,

because if that happened,

some would say he didn't
genuinely die.

♪

- [breathing heavily]

♪

- What do you want?

♪

- My name is Nicodemus,

and this is
Joseph of Arimathea.

- We have come to give your son
an honorable burial.

If you will allow us.

♪

- Thank you.

♪

- Joseph and Nicodemus
came from nowhere.

Their kindness was
something to cling to.

♪

♪

♪

- In the Gospels,
Joseph of Arimathea

takes the dead body
of Jesus down from the cross,

but it's the image of Mary,
the mother of Jesus,

with her son
that has become iconic.

- We have this image
of the piet�

in later Christian art,

of the mother of Jesus
gently cradling

the crucified and now dead
Jesus in her arms.

♪

- Jesus' pain was over.

Ours had just begun.

[dramatic music]

- My kind, gentle son.

♪

It is done now.

♪

- For his mother?

I felt like I would drown
in her sorrow.

♪

[gentle music]

♪

- Joseph of Arimathea
was a wealthy man,

and he offers his tomb,
his family tomb to Jesus.

♪

- We know from the Gospels

that Joseph of Arimathea's
tomb was close to Golgotha.

The Gospel of John tells us
that the tomb

was in a garden
outside the city walls

in accordance with
Jewish burial practices,

which prohibited burial
inside the city.

♪

- Jewish burial practices

involved a two-stage process.

There would be, first,
the cleaning of the body.

♪

Then the family would
lovingly and carefully

wrap the body
in a winding sheet

in preparation for entombment.

♪

- Joseph of Arimathea
provides the linen

that is used
for Jesus' shroud.

- [weeping]

♪

Hundreds of years later,
this becomes the basis

for the legend
of the Turin Shroud,

the shroud that supposedly
wrapped Jesus' body.

- There's more to it
than even that,

because the even later
legends about the Holy Grail

are connected with
Joseph of Arimathea,

the so-called cup that Jesus
drank from at the Last Supper.

♪

- It was hard to watch
her final good-bye.

♪

- Jesus is buried,
and the tomb was closed.

♪

I think the day after
Jesus' crucifixion

was a painful day for Mary.

It was a day of introspection.

It was a day of commemoration.

♪

A day of waiting until
she could go to the tomb

to pay her final respects.

♪

- Mary Magdalene wants
to visit the tomb of Jesus

the day after his death,

but she can't because
it's the Sabbath,

and it's impossible
to do work on the Sabbath

without breaking
the laws of Judaism,

so she has to wait.

- As far as
the disciples know,

their leader is dead.

They are in hiding.

Jesus warned them

that his fate
was to suffer and die,

but he doesn't say
anything to them

about how they're to move
forward after this.

So you imagine that atmosphere
in that room,

the consternation,
the sorrow, the confusion.

[indistinct whispering]

- [whispered] Mary.

[voices whispering]

♪

- I battle new demons now,

and I worry without Jesus
the old wounds will return.

He is dead,
and I am broken.

Am I already lost?

Maybe.

♪

[indistinct chatter]

[ominous music]

- Mary Magdalene
goes to the tomb

on Easter Sunday morning

to anoint Jesus' body,

to weep over him,

really to care for him
and say good-bye to him.

- I had to leave that house,

to remain close to him.

- Mary wants to go to the tomb
to anoint Jesus' body

because it's
not been done before.

It is part of her duty,

it is part of,
not just a religious duty,

but a familial duty
to perform this final service.

- I think when Mary Magdalene
was going to the tomb,

she was expecting to find
a dead body,

expecting to find
the stone still there,

expecting to just be able

to cleanse Jesus' body,
put the oils,

anoint it out of respect
and out of honor

through the tradition.

♪

- When she gets there,
the tomb is open.

♪

- It's empty, and Jesus
is nowhere to be seen.

♪

- This was Mary Magdalene's
lowest moment.

She goes to see the man
that she loved

who had been tortured
and killed,

and his body's not even there.

He should be here.
Who took it?

♪

- She thinks grave robbing
has happened.

Unfortunately,
an all-too-common practice

in the ancient world.

- First, I couldn't
trust me eyes,

but it was real.

My insides twisted.

My mind raced.

I was terrified
of what they had done.

They have taken our Lord
out of the tomb.

♪

♪

- Mary Magdalene
tells the disciples

about the empty tomb,

and Peter and John,
the beloved disciple,

run to the tomb
to find out for themselves

if this is true.

♪

And all they see there

are the wrappings
from Jesus' body.

- Why?

♪

You should come with us.

- It's not safe here, Mary.

- Leave me.

♪

They took him, tortured him,

killed him, and now they've
stolen him.

♪

He is gone.

And who am I without him?

[sobbing]

- Mary's weeping,
in deep grief,

and she hears someone
call behind her.

- Woman.

♪

Why are you weeping?

- She sees two of God's
messengers, angels,

like bookends at either
end of the stone slab.

The angels ask her,
"Woman, why are you crying?"

And whenever you see angels,

you're supposed to think
God is at work,

but Mary is
so deep in her grief

that even encountering angels

doesn't get her out
of her funk.

- They have taken away
my Lord,

and I don't know where
they have laid him.

♪

- So deep
in her sadness is she

that even when she turns
away from the tomb

and hears a second voice,

she doesn't
recognize the voice.

♪

- Woman, why are you weeping?

Who are you looking for?

- And she sees someone who
she mistakes for the gardener,

and she says, "If you have
taken away my Lord,

please tell me
where you have put him."

- Mary.

[dramatic music]

- And it's in that moment
that she recognizes him

and realizes that in fact
he has risen,

that it's true.

♪

- Rabbouni.

[gentle music]

♪

- Do not hold onto me.

♪

Because I have not yet
ascended to the Father.

- Mary simply calls Jesus
"rabbouni,"

"my teacher."

Not "Lord" with a capital L.

Not "God" with a big G.

"My teacher."

But what she comes to learn
is that he is the risen Lord,

that is the person
he claimed to be all along.

♪

- Some people would say
that this moment,

the resurrection appearance
is the most important moment

in the entire Gospel.

This is proving the truth
of Jesus' being,

that has come back
from the dead,

he is fully present
and incarnate in the flesh.

- But go to my brothers
and say to them

I am ascending to my Father

and your Father,

to my God.

♪

And your God.

- It's a beautiful story,

and it's a remarkable story,

and it makes her
the very first witness

to the risen Jesus,
something that early Christians

would not make up
because the witness of women

was not considered as viable
as the witness of men.

♪

- The fact that Mary
was the first person

to see the risen Christ
says that is

the person that Jesus
trusted most,

that this was intended to be
the person to share this news,

and in fact he gave her an
apostolic call in that moment,

saying, "Go and tell."

- The fact that Jesus
revealed himself first

to Mary Magdalene
after his resurrection

makes her the first apostle.

[indistinct chatter]

♪

- Between the time that
Mary Magdalene

encounters the risen Christ
on Easter Sunday

and the time that she finally
proclaims the news

of the resurrection
to the disciples,

Mary Magdalene
is the church on Earth,

because only Mary Magdalene
understood the resurrection.

So therefore she is one
of the most important people

in the entire New Testament.

- I have seen the Lord.

♪

I was lost,
and Jesus found me.

I am Mary of Magdala,

and I am his witness.

♪

[dramatic music]

♪

- The story of Jesus is
the greatest story ever told.

[camel bellows]

- Get out!

You sinner!

- Where is He?

[men shouting indistinctly]

male announcer:
For over 2,000 years,

the story of Jesus Christ

has touched the lives
of billions around the globe.

[whip cracks]
- [screams]

- Jesus felt what we felt.

He faced what we face today.

- If we want to understand
Western history at all,

we must understand
the story of Jesus.

announcer: Now for the first
time, His story is told

through the eyes of those
who knew Him best.

- [panting]

- Peter is what I would call
the "ride or die" disciple.

- Go!
- This way!

- Jesus came into his life

and changed it forever.

- I tell you,

you are now Peter,
the Rock.

On this rock,
I will build my church.

[people clamoring]
- Hosanna in the highest!

- Peter really believed
that he was

gonna be the faithful disciple,
but that's not what happens.

[man grunts, knife slices]

- It's a story of redemption.

♪

Peter becomes
the foundation stone

on which Christianity
is established.

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- My name is Peter,

and I have been given
a second chance

to deliver
the message of Jesus.

This time,
I won't let Him down--

not like before,

when I almost
threw it all away.

[foreboding music]

♪

- I have seen the Lord.

- Mary, you're upset.
Sit down.

- You must listen.
He is risen from the dead.

I didn't recognize Him
at first,

but then I saw His face.

It was Jesus.

He told me to come to you,
to tell you--

- No!

All right, you disrespect us
with your ravings.

♪

Was it that
I didn't believe Mary?

Or the opposite--I was afraid
she was telling the truth?

Because then I would have
to look my Lord in the eye

and know
that I had failed Him.

Me, Peter,

the one He'd
once called the Rock.

♪

When I first met Jesus,
I had a different name:

Simon.

I was a nobody--

a humble fisherman
from Galilee.

I worked hard
and expected little from life.

♪

- In the gospels, Peter is the
first disciple called by Jesus.

♪

- Jesus reached out to Peter,

perhaps because
he was a fisherman,

and Jesus knew that these were
hard-working people.

They understand, you know,
what it means to be hungry

or what it means to struggle,
what it means to work hard.

♪

- Life in Galilee
in the time of Peter

would have been
incredibly hard.

You're one bad boat ride
away from starvation.

♪

- Anything that they catch
is going to be taxed by Rome,

and it would not just be
taxation coming from Rome.

There was always
the double tax of people

who were the local
tax collectors,

who would always
add something extra

for themselves.

For someone living under
the Roman occupation,

day-to-day life
is just trying to figure out,

"How do I make ends meet?"

♪

- In the Gospel of John,

Andrew,
John the Baptist's disciple,

introduces Jesus
to his brother, who was Peter.

♪

- Brother.

- Andrew.

- So he's been fishing
all night, unsuccessfully.

♪

- Put out into deep water

and let down your nets
for a catch.

- [sighs]

Master,

we've been working
all night long

but have caught nothing.

- Jesus tells him to
take his boat out again.

Peter, not surprisingly,
is reluctant,

and yet he goes out
because it's Jesus.

[dramatic music]

♪

- [laughing]

[laughs]

♪

- Don't be afraid.

♪

From now on,
you will be catching people.

- For a man like Peter,

who's barely away
from starvation,

and here comes this man
who promises a new message,

a new salvation,
a better world.

- When Jesus told Peter
that he was going to

make him
a fisher of men,

Peter knew what that meant,
because he knew how to fish.

Jesus was letting him know
He was going to use him

to bring people
into His following.

♪

- One of the earliest symbols
of early Christianity

is the fish, which actually
makes a lot of sense,

because many of Jesus'
earliest disciples

are fishermen.

Interestingly enough, given the
prevalence of the cross today,

it actually doesn't become
a symbol of Christianity

until almost 400 years
after Jesus' death.

♪

- What did He mean,
"catching people"?

I couldn't imagine
my life changing.

Why would anyone
listen to me?

♪

There was much
I didn't understand about

Jesus of Nazareth,

but the one thing I knew
without a shadow of a doubt

is that I would always be
His devoted follower.

♪

[wind howling]

- Some people think that
Jesus' recruiting of disciples

was rather like the Marines
looking for a few good men,

but in fact, that doesn't
seem to be the way.

[indistinct chatter]

He was looking for those
who were willing to come

and follow Him and listen.

♪

- Peter seems to have been
looking for something,

or at least
Peter was very ready

to learn
when Jesus called him.

- A farmer went out
to sow his seed.

As he was sowing, some of
the seed fell along the path.

- Simon Peter is impressed
with Jesus and His preaching.

He's not like the scribes.

He's not like the local
religious authorities.

And Peter is drawn
to this exciting

new charismatic figure.

- Will You always talk
in riddles, Lord?

My head is swimming.

- Too much wine, friend.

- I barely drank a drop.

[laughter]

♪

I--

I fear that I'll always be
just two steps behind.

- I would describe Peter
as a problem student for Jesus,

because he asked
so many questions.

He didn't get basic statements,
basic teachings.

♪

But I think Jesus saw in Peter
a passion, a spark of passion,

that is exactly what He needed
for His followers.

♪

- There's a moment
in the gospel of Mark

where Simon Peter and Jesus
are on the road together,

and they're having
a little bit of a debate

about Jesus' identity,

and Jesus turns and asks the
disciples

who they think He is.

♪

- Who do people say
the Son of Man is?

♪

What about you?

Who do you say I am?

♪

- You're the Messiah.

You're the Son
of the Living God.

♪

- Blessed are you, Simon,
son of John.

♪

I tell you,

you are now Peter,
the Rock,

and on this rock,
I will build my church.

♪

- Jesus gives Simon
an Aramaic nickname,

Kephas--Cephas--

which means
"rock" or "rocky."

- This has significant
symbolism,

because Peter will now become
the foundation stone

of the Christian movement.

- [chuckles]

- Peter is a surprising choice
to be Jesus' right-hand man.

He's, after all,
just a fisherman.

We don't have evidence
that he's well-educated.

We don't have evidence
that he's really multilingual.

In fact, the later tradition
from Papias

says that he spoke
and preached in Aramaic,

and that Mark had to translate
his sayings into Greek.

♪

But Jesus' concern
is to pick someone

that has the character,

and the chutzpah, if you will,

the deep courage
to be a follower of Jesus,

even if it could
cost one their life.

- [panting]

[people clamoring]

- I wasn't just Simon
from Galilee anymore.

I was Peter, the Rock.

- Go!
- This way!

- And over the coming months,

I was right there by His side.

- Go, go, go!

- Go. Go.
- Oh!

- People laughed
and spat in His face.

[people clamoring]

I shielded Him when they threw
punches and hurled stones.

[crowd cheering]

He has healed him.
Do you see?

And I was there
when they started to listen.

♪

So when He told me
we would enter Jerusalem

once more, I was worried.

♪

- Although we don't know
for sure,

most scholars believe
that Jesus and Peter

entered Jerusalem
somewhere between 30 and 33 AD

during the spring festival
of Passover.

It's the celebration
of not only God's promise,

but the culmination
of the Exodus story.

[indistinct chatter]

We're talking about a festival

where the whole point is about

God freeing the people
from slavery,

freeing the Jews from
servitudby a foreign power.

And now, who's running Judea?

The Romans are.

[indistinct chatter]

And so it's an extremely
dangerous place to be.

[people clamoring]

- Hosannah in the highest!

- Jesus' message is dangerous,

but for Jesus,
Jerusalem is the only place

that He can possibly go.

It's not only the political,

but it's also the religious
center of Jewish life.

- This is the One who comes
in the name of the Lord.

- The symbolism of Jesus
riding a donkey into Jerusalem

should not be lost.

This isn't just a guy
taking a ride on a donkey.

[people clamoring]

This is a reenactment
of the Jewish coronation

of the king of Israel.

- I don't see you hailing
our new king.

- Blessed
is the coming kingdom!

- Peter's vision of a messiah
is someone who's going to help

overthrow foreign rule--

in this case, Roman rule--

and re-establish
a Jewish kingdom.

[people clamoring]

- I think even Peter at that
point might have seen

the threat and the danger
that Jesus was generating.

♪

[indistinct chatter]

- They're heading
for the temple.

Send reinforcements there now.

♪

[people clamoring]

- It is everything
we've been waiting for--

the fulfillment
of the divine destiny,

the start of
a glorious new kingdom.

[people clamoring]

♪

But how quickly
it all changed.

♪

- The Last Supper rolls around,

and Peter does not have the
exuberance that he had before.

[indistinct chatter]

There is a slow
and impending weight

that is upon him
and the other disciples.

♪

- Come. Let me.

- Lord, are you gonna
wash my feet?

No.
You'll never wash my feet.

♪

- Peter is horrified
by the idea

of Jesus washing their feet,

because He's their leader,

and this is something
that a slave would do.

♪

- No servant is greater
than his master,

nor is a messenger greater
than the one who sent him.

♪

- When Jesus is washing
the disciples' feet,

He's saying
that He has not come

as a kind of
royal military king.

He's come
as a suffering figure,

and He's enacting that role
of servant with His disciples.

♪

- This is My body,

which is given for you.

♪

Do this in memory of Me.

♪

Take it and eat it.

- When Jesus brought
His ministry into Jerusalem,

He knows
that His death is imminent.

♪

- This is the blood
of My covenant,

which is poured out for many.

♪

- The breaking of the bread
and the drinking of the wine

comes to represent

Christ's body
and Christ's blood.

The Last Supper becomes
the origin of the Eucharist

or the Holy Communion
to Christians.

♪

- Hearing the Messiah
speaking about death,

and yet he had already
witnessed His power.

Peter's confused.

How is this possible,
and how is this a revolution?

Peter doesn't quite get it.

♪

- Ask Him what He means.

It is difficult to hear Him
talk that night.

Why would we need
to eat and drink

in remembrance of Him?

It chilled me
even to think of it.

♪

- I don't think Peter expected
Jesus to be

a messiah who would
start a movement so powerful

that it would get Him killed.

I think he expected Jesus
to raise up the oppressed.

But to push it to the point
where e Roman government

was so threatened by Him
that He had to be crucified,

I don't think
he saw that coming.

♪

- I have prayed for you,

that your faith
may not fail you.

- Lord, I am ready to go
with you to prison and death.

♪

- Truly, I tell you,
this very night,

before the rooster crows,

you'll deny me
three times.

♪

- I had no doubt in my mind.

I had never denied Jesus.

I would defend Him
to the death with sword,

with word, with deed.

- I think that Peter really
believed that he was

gonna be the faithful disciple,
but that's not what happens.

- After the Last Supper,

Jesus leaves the security
of the walls of Jerusalem

and goes across to the Garden
of Gethsemane to pray,

and Peter follows Him.

♪

- Jesus is restless.

I was worried.
His words had disturbed me,

and I knew that
our arrival in Jerusalem

would alert the authorities,
but He was insistent.

♪

- We have to remember,
early Jews were not looking

for a crucified Messiah.

We have literature, like the
Psalms of Solomon 18 and 19,

that has this militaristic,

Davidic, messianic figure

that's gonna come

and retake the land.

Jesus was very different.

- My soul is overwhelmed
with sorrow,

to the point of death.

♪

Stay here.

Keep watch.

♪

- Yes, of course, Master.

♪

- Jesus tells Peter
to watch with Him,

to stay awake with Him.

Jesus sees what is coming,

and He is traumatized
by the possibility of this

impending suffering and death.

♪

- Peter doesn't want
to participate in Jesus'

great moment of anguish,
because, like all of us,

he shrinks from these moments
of suffering,

and to see the leader who he
has entrusted his whole life

to now doubt and suffer

is probably too much
for him to bear.

♪

- I didn't believe that God
could let His Son suffer.

Surely we'd all be saved.

Why couldn't I keep
even a simple promise?

I didn't heed His predictions.

[somber music]

- [scoffs]

♪

Simon, are you asleep?

Could you not keep watch
for one hour?

Watch and pray?

The spirit is willing,
but the flesh is weak.

- So sorry.
I'm sorry, Lord.

- Peter fails this test.

He falls asleep
when Jesus needs him.

And it's not the last time that
Peter is gonna fail either.

[hooves clopping]

The authorities
send a large crowd

armed with clubs and swords
to arrest Jesus.

♪

- Judas.

- It is Judas

who betrays Jesus.

♪

- Arrest them.

- You treacherous...

[grunts, knife slices]

- Put your sword back
in its place,

for all who draw the sword
will die by it.

[dramatic music]

♪

- Peter just cuts off the ear.
Blood is everywhere.

But Jesus heals the person
who wants to arrest Him.

♪

- I thought I was
proving myself;

I was being loyal.

This man that had come
to arrest Jesus,

and instead of fight,

He healed His enemy
and surrendered?

It made no sense to me.

♪

- Jesus was teaching him how

to be
a nonviolent revolutionary.

♪

- Take them all.

[ominous music]

♪

- My mind's racing.

Judas betrayed Jesus.

Everything's happening
so fast.

The only thing I was sure of
was that I was not like Judas.

I would not deny Him.

[sobbing]

♪

- When Jesus is arrested,

Peter follows Jesus

to the house of the Jewish
high priest Caiaphas,

'cause he wants to see what's
going to happen to his master.

♪

- Entering Caiaphas' courtyard
is a lot

like entering the lion's den.
If Peter is recognized,

there's nothing to say
that he won't also be arrested.

[indistinct chatter]

- I felt fear that night
in a way I have never known.

[ominous music]

♪

- Peter's moving into

incredibly dangerous
territory...

♪

Because he is fiercely

loyal to Jesus.

He's what I would call
the "ride or die" disciple.

♪

But the depths that we will go
to protect ourselves

is absolutely extraordinary.

♪

- People recognize Peter,

and they say,
"Hold on a minute.

Aren't you
with Jesus of Nazareth?"

- This man was with Him!

- No, woman.
I don't know Him.

- And then somebody else says,

"Are you
one of Jesus' disciples?"

- You're also one of them.

- I am not.

- Three times, Peter denies
knowing Jesus.

- Certainly this fellow's
with Him.

He is a Galilean.

- I don't know what
you're talking about.

[rooster crows]

- And at the moment

of that third denial,

the cock crows,
fulfilling something that

Jesus Himself had prophesied
at the Last Supper.

- He's done the very thing
that he told Jesus

he would never do:

deny and desert Jesus.

♪

- Their eyes lock,

and Jesus looks directly
into Peter's soul.

♪

This is the last moment where
Peter ever sees Jesus alive.

[dramatic music]

♪

♪

- Jesus has been sentenced
to death.

He's facing crucifixion
for the charge

of trying to lead a rebellion
against the Romans.

♪

- We know that
for 300 years or more,

until the Roman emperor
Constantine

banned crucifixion,

it was the most common
form of execution

for public criminals,
revolutionaries, and slaves.

♪

- Come.
We're in danger.

We must hide.

♪

- When the leader of
a rebellion is crucified,

there is precedent
that the Roman Empire

then hunts out
the followers as well.

♪

- And so Peter
has to go into hiding,

because he was affiliated
with someone

who was an enemy
of Roman authority.

♪

- Was I as bad as Judas?

Why did I deny Him?

This fear, this cowardice--

everything that I thought

I knew about myself
was wrong.

- I think we should be
incredibly sympathetic

towards Peter in his denial.

Yes, he denied Jesus.

On the other hand,

he did it because
he was profoundly scared,

and I think this denial
is one of those moments

that comes out as really,
really human.

All of us can relate to a time
when we fell short

because we were scared,
and this is Peter's moment.

[dramatic music]

[whip cracks, Jesus grunts]

♪

- [grunts]

♪

- We waited.

We did nothing
while Jesus suffered.

[dramatic music]

♪

[whip cracks, man shouts]

♪

[whip cracks]
- Move.

- [grunting]

[whip cracks]

[Jesus gasping and panting]

[dramatic music]

♪

- Don't look.
- [gasps]

[dramatic music]

♪

- Mary.

[ominous music]

♪

- He's dead.

- [gasps, sighs]

♪

[distant chatter]

- After several days,
Mary Magdalene

is the first person
to see the risen Lord.

♪

- Those days are a blur,

and then Mary returned
with her news, and I...

- He has risen from the dead.

I have seen the Lord.

♪

I went to the tomb.

A man spoke to me.

It was Jesus.

He told me to come to you,
to tell you.

- No!

All right, you disrespect us
with your ravings.

Is it not bad enough

we must mourn for Him

without being taunted too?

- I know what I saw.

I spoke to Him,
and I believe in Him.

♪

- I can't listen to this
anymore.

♪

- Peter doesn't believe
Mary Magdalene when she says

that she's seen
the resurrected Lord.

Why not?

Well,
Peter's a man of his time,

and in 1st century
Jewish Palestine,

women were not considered
reliable witnesses.

♪

- Why was I so cruel?

Why did I doubt her?

This shame.

It was shame.

♪

I was lost.

♪

Could she have been
telling the truth,

you know, or had they
taken His body?

I didn't know what to believe.

♪

- You need to remember that
from a Jewish point of view,

resurrection
doesn't involve visions.

It involves a bodily
raising of somebody

back into a physical form.

But that's not
the end of the story.

♪

- Peace be with you.

[dramatic music]

♪

Why are you troubled?

♪

Why do doubts rise
in your minds?

♪

Look at my hands and my feet.

♪

It is I myself.

- In the first century,
it's not unusual to imagine

that you saw the ghost

of someone
that you knew and loved.

♪

- When Peter saw
the risen Jesus,

he knew he was seeing
something unprecedented.

This was not a hallucination
or some spiritual,

ghostlike being.

♪

This was a transformed,
glorified body

that could be touched,

but also could enter
locked rooms.

Peter must have been
in utter awe.

♪

- Everything must be fulfilled
that is written about Me

in the law of Moses,

the prophets,
and the psalms.

♪

- There's nothing more
important in Christianity

than the resurrection
of Jesus.

- Sit with me now.

- Jesus defeats death,
so He defeats sin,

and being raised to new life is
about a promise to Christians

that they too will be raised
on the last day.

♪

- And repentance
for the forgiveness of sins.

♪

- I couldn't bear
to look at Him.

I feared I'd see
disappointment in His eyes.

♪

He only appeared
to us that night.

I'd lost my chance
to ask for forgiveness.

♪

I went back to Galilee
to my life as a fisherman.

♪

Peter the Rock had failed.

What else could I do?

♪

- Peter goes back
to the fishing life

because that's what he knows.
That's what is familiar.

But this is not the same person

that we met early on
in the Gospel.

- In the ancient world,
there is no bank account,

there is no 401[k],

there is no way to secure
any of your possessions,

except through
the constancy of your work.

So without Jesus,
Peter has nothing.

♪

- I thought that I could
go back to the man

I was before I met Jesus

and forget everything.

It wasn't that simple.

- Peter thinks it's all over.

There is no sense
that that longed-for messiah

has fulfilled the destiny
that Peter was hoping for him.

- [sighs]

- He thinks very carefully
back to what has happened.

♪

- No servant is greater
than his master.

♪

This is my body.

♪

Take it and eat it.

♪

- Peter had to go through
a period of doubt.

Did this lead him
to have doubts about Jesus?

Perhaps most of all,

it led him
to have doubts about himself.

♪

- He needs to be forgiven

for the role
that he failed to play

in the crucifixion.

♪

- [panting and gasping]

♪

No!

[hammer bangs]

No!

[hammer bangs]

[groaning]

[hammer banging]

No, no, no!

[gasping and panting]

- The problem is that Peter
is still struggling

with the fact
that he denied Jesus.

♪

Judas betrayed,

but Peter betrayed
in a different way.

♪

- I couldn't forget.

I couldn't go back.

I was a different man now.

♪

- So one day,

Peter is there,
and he's fishing,

and he looks to the beach...

[delicate music]

♪

- It's the Lord.

♪

- In that moment,

Peter's life
completely changed.

♪

Jesus comes back in full force

and full strength and glory.

♪

- He had come for me,
and I felt free...

[laughs]

Like the chains in my mind

were finally coming loose.

♪

- In the Gospel of John,

Jesus and Peter
speak at this time.

Jesus gives him
a direct commission.

♪

And He asks him three things.
He says...

- Simon, son of John,
do you love Me more than these?

- Lord, You know
that I love You.

- And He asks him again,
"Peter, do you love Me?"

♪

- Feed my lambs.

♪

Do you love Me?

- And again, Peter says,
"Yes, Lord. I love You."

- Tend to My sheep.

♪

Simon, son of John,

do you love Me?

♪

- And what He's saying is,

"Declare it,

because you couldn't say it
after I was arrested.

You couldn't say it
when we locked eyes.

You could not say it then.

Say it now."

- Lord, You know all things.

You know that I love You.

♪

- Feed My sheep.

- [chuckles]

- And with those statements--

"Feed My lambs,

tend My sheep,
feed My sheep"--

a threefold recommissioning,

just as there'd been
a threefold denial,

and Peter is restored to being
the leader of the disciples.

- From that moment,
I knew I would be able to do

whatever Jesus
commanded of me.

I'd been given
a second chance.

♪

- I'd been given
a second chance.

♪

- Jesus' great commission,
as it's called,

is sort of a Big Bang moment
for Christianity,

because it's the moment
where it takes off.

♪

Jesus is telling His disciples

that they need
to spread the word.

- All authority in heaven

and on earth
has been given to me.

So make disciples
for all nations,

baptizing them in the name
of the Father

and of the Son
and of the Holy Spirit.

♪

- This is the first
missionary movement

in religious history.

This is the first time
anybody says,

"Go out and recruit people
en masse."

♪

- And surely
I am with you always,

to the very end of the age.

♪

- I knew Jesus as my teacher,

as my friend,
and as the Son of God.

Because of Him, I am restored.

I have regained my purpose.

♪

- We see Peter
a transformed man.

He has finally gotten it.

He comes out renewed,
more confident,

ready to go forward,

and in fact,
he does go forward.

- Is that
all you're taking?

- Peter understood
that his task

was to reclaim various people

for the following of Jesus

and to go throughout
the empire to do this.

♪

- Christianity spreads rapidly
throughout the Roman Empire.

Less than a decade
after the death of Jesus,

there were probably
10,000 Christians.

200 years after Jesus' death,

there might be close
to a million Christians.

- This movement has gone
from a group of followers

in rural Palestine

to some of the largest cities
in the empire.

- And 300 years
after the death of Jesus,

the Roman emperor himself,

Constantine,
converts to Christianity.

♪

[music crescendos]

♪

- In Catholic tradition,
Peter goes to Rome

and establishes the first
Roman Catholic church

there, becoming the first Pope.

But is this historical?

♪

- If you read Paul's letter
to the Romans

written sometime
in the late 50s AD,

there are a huge number
of followers of Jesus

already in Rome,

and Peter's
nowhere to be found.

♪

- Despite this,
the church at Rome,

St. Peter,
is still named after him.

If you enter into St. Peter's
at the Vatican City,

you will go and see the words
that Jesus speaks to Peter

there written around
the bottom of the cupola.

- You are now Peter, the Rock,

and on this rock,
I will build my church.

♪

- Peter's story ends,

according to tradition,

with him being crucified
in Rome upside down,

because he insists
that he's not worthy

to be crucified
the same way as his Lord.

- Peter's story, in a sense,
is all of our stories.

We make mistakes.

We have flaws
and weaknesses,

but like Peter,
we can receive forgiveness

and get back up again.

♪

- I am Peter, the Rock,

and I will go forth
and build His church.

[dramatic music]

♪

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