Episode 4 The Nativity

-I haven't betrayed you.

-Mary, you're pregnant! I loved you.

I have a sick wife, a baby, and a father to feed, and yet the Romans leave me with nothing!

The Magi caravan crossed the border this morning.

Strew their carcasses across the desert.

-Is this wise?

-Melchior will see what he's come to see if I have to carry him to Bethlehem on my back.

-He said you were carrying the light of the world inside you.

-Did you believe him?

-It was a bad dream.

Are you ready?

How did you know?

-My dream.

-I just knew.

-The things he said?

-Are the things he told me.

Sweet Joseph, I know you don't believe me...

..and I can't blame you for that, but...

..I will tell you once more, I never lied to you.

I never betrayed you...ever.

-I wish...

-You wish what?

That I had enough faith to believe you.

When it happened, I felt everything you feel now.

You think it didn't sound as unimaginable to me as it does to you?

I was scared of something

I didn't understand.

I thought I was going mad.

How could a virgin bear a child?

Then, when I let go, when I stopped...

..I accepted what had happened to me...

..and realised that, to believe in God, yet not believe when he showed himself to me, was...

the most foolish thing of all.

I want to believe.

Then let me help you.

Take my hand.

Hold it and feel the love inside me.

Hold it and you'll believe, I swear it.

We must leave if we're to get to Bethlehem before nightfall.

-How much further?

-A day's ride west.

I've got sand everywhere.

Please tell me you're not going to moan all the way to Bethlehem.

It was all that lying down in the sand last night.

It's inside my clothes.

Well, Herod's Palace is about two hours that way.

I'm sure he could run you a hot bath.

I'm sorry you don't believe me.

If I have to do this alone, then so be it.

Can you help me? I'm looking for Rachel, daughter of Joab.

Rachel? She and her husband Lamech live on the edge of town.

Thank you.

Rachel is my cousin, she'll help us.

The taxes are ready for you.

Alms! >

Alms, please. >

Rachel!

Joseph!

-Oh, we've been waiting for you since they announced the census.

-Good. Then you'll have bought

-plenty of fresh food and wine!

-Enough even for your appetite!

-Let's put it to the test.

-Joseph, no.

-What?

-It's her, isn't it? Joseph, what is she doing here?

We just need a place to stay

-until we find somewhere else.

-Are you mad? We know what she did to you!

-How could you bring her here?

-Rachel...

She's not welcome. She'll bring shame on my house.

-It's all right, Joseph, you stay.

-No! I'm family.

But she isn't, and I won't have a whore under my roof.

-I've got children inside.

-She's pregnant! I can't just leave her on her own.

-What is wrong with you? She's carrying another man's child!

-We stay together.

Then I'm sorry, there's no room for you here.

And as long as you're with her, no-one else in the family will take you in either.

-So this is my welcome home?

-You come back without her

and you'll have a proper welcome.

-I've brought shame on you.

-No.

-I can go back into town, try and find lodgings.

It'll be dark soon.

I promised your father I'd make sure you were safe. I won't break my word.

Do you have a room?

No. Not for her.

Please, we're looking for a room.

No.

-It seems the word has spread.

-It's only me who's not welcome. You go and be with your family.

I'll make sure you're safe first, for your father's sake.

Guard it well.

Please, we're looking for a room.

No.

It's getting dark, we'll have to head back into town, see if there's lodgings there.

Go!

Go! Before I change my mind!

Thomas?

Oh, Thomas.

We need money...

..and I wanted to hurt them...

-..just as they've hurt us.

-How?

By you leaving me without a husband,

our child without a father?

To prove what?

How many will you kill, Thomas?

Two? Three? A dozen?

Then what, a dozen more?

It doesn't matter now because all I've proved is I'm a coward.

You are not a coward. You are a good, good man.

I married a shepherd, Thomas, not a soldier.

So we just let them do whatever they want?

-We let them take everything that we own?

-Not everything.

My most treasured possessions are all under this roof.

If I lose you, then what?

Our son grows up to avenge you, and then I lose him too?

I can't do nothing!

No, you can't.

You have sheep to tend and a family to feed.

I'm still weak from the birth.

Your father is old.

Who will take care of us if you are not here?

-I hate them!

-I know.

But the question is, do you hate them more than you love me?

One man cannot change the world.

There's an inn, I'll try there.

There's your friends, you catch them up.

Sir?

-This is no place for you.

-My wife needs to rest.

-Well, not here,

unless you'd have your pregnant wife mauled by drunken Roman pigs.

-Don't you have a room?

-I have money!

-There's nothing for you here!

Joseph!

Something's happening.

One of Herod's soldiers was attacked in the town.

They say the man who did it smelt like a shepherd.

But as I told them when they came,

you were in the top field all day.

Believe it or not, I was a young man once, just as angry as you are now.

And on a night like this, more years ago than I care to remember...

..and like all young men forced to bend to the will of others...

..I too had to choose between God and a sword.

I don't know who God is any more.

-I don't know what to do.

-What's happening? What are you feeling?

-I don't know.

-Is it coming?

-I think so.

-You think so?

-I don't know how you tell.

MARY SCREAMS IN PAIN

-Wait here.

-Joseph, please don't leave me!

I'll be as quick as I can.

Please, it's my wife, she's having a baby! We need help, please!

It's my wife, she's having a baby, please! Somebody, please!

Please! It's my wife, she's having a baby. Help me. Please. Help me!

My wife is having a baby! Please!

There it is, the city of David!

Look!

SHE GROANS

She's about to drop!

-What do you need?

-You could start by getting her up off this filthy floor. Make her a bed!

Come on.

And water!

MARY SCREAMS

Water. What else can I do?

You could hold her hand.

MARY SCREAMS IN AGONY

Don't be afraid.

I bring you news of great joy that you must share with all your people.

Go into Bethlehem,

where you will find the Saviour.

The Messiah has come.

The word has been made flesh as promised to you by God himself.

Go...and worship the lamb of God.

You will not find him dressed as a king

but wrapped in a simple cloth, laying in a manger behind the inn.

Because he comes not for kings,

nor for those that would have you do their will.

He is here...

for just such as you.

You must push.

Bear down, child.

-Push.

-I can't!

Push!

Almost there. Push!

SHE SCREAMS

Where do we go?

Push!

BABY CRIES

Have you thought of a name?

His name is Jesus.

He is the light of the world.

Yes, he is.

-I'll leave you be.

-Thank you.

He's so perfect.

"Every step you take for the rest of your life,

"I'll be right there next to you."

It's what you said to me a very long time ago

and now I know it to be true.

DOOR OPENS

-What do you want?

-We saw an angel.

He told us to come.

He said that we would find the Messiah.

Let them come.

Please.

Is it true?

It's true.

This must be it.

-No wish to harm you.

-Who are you?

We are magi, from the east.

It's a boy?

Do you know what your son will become?

Yes. He is sent from God.

Oh, he's more than that.

We saw his arrival

in the stars

and have travelled a thousand miles to worship him.

Welcome.

Some place for a king to be born!

It was all we could find.

Gaspar.

We bring gold for a king.

Myrrh, more precious than gold,

to anoint him.

And frankincense...

..to announce the arrival of God himself amongst us.

Please.

You must keep him safe, until he is ready.

-There are many who would see him harmed.

-No harm will come to him.

The angel...

He said that he has come for such as us.

Yes, he has.

The word is made flesh.

Behold the lamb of God...

..here to take away the sins of the world.

Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the Earth.

Blessed are the merciful,

for they shall obtain mercy.

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.

Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd

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