The Big Deal

Aubrey Shepard wins the leading role in Cassidy's Last Supper, a production at the playhouse where her parents serve on the board. She expects Ben and Ellen to celebrate, since they encouraged her to audition. Instead, they have finally read the entire script and are deeply disturbed by it. The Christians are portrayed as frauds or dangerous fanatics, and the final speech declares that God does not exist outside human beings.

The Shepards tell Aubrey she cannot take the role. They have also called an emergency board meeting to request that the whole production be canceled, and they intend to resign if the board refuses. Aubrey cannot understand why they would risk their friendships and abandon a place the whole family loves. The role is the opportunity she has wanted since childhood, and she feels that her parents' new Christian beliefs have stolen it from her.

Aubrey finds Whit alone on a playground swing. He explains that swinging helps him set difficult thoughts aside until an answer comes. She reluctantly describes the conflict, already certain he will side with her parents. Whit instead asks why their beliefs matter enough for them to make such a costly choice - and what Aubrey herself believes. She can only answer that she does not know.

Whit suggests meeting someone through the Imagination Station. Aubrey is wary after her frightening encounter with Blackgaard, but Whit assures her that the machine has been repaired and reconfigured. She agrees and enters a world where a boy named Micah mistakenly tries to rescue her from a river even though she is not drowning.

Micah brings her to hear his master preaching to a crowd. The rugged prophet calls the people to repent and be baptized because God's kingdom is near. He openly condemns King Herod for taking his brother's wife and warns that even a ruler must answer to God's law. Aubrey assumes that Whit wants this fearless man to teach her how to stand up to her parents.

Eager to become the prophet's greatest disciple, Micah promises to lead Aubrey to his camp. He gets them lost in the wilderness instead. When a leopard approaches, Micah bravely places himself in front of Aubrey but has no idea how to save either of them. The prophet appears, drives off the animal, and reveals that he is John the Baptist.

John has repeatedly ordered Micah not to follow him into the dangerous wilderness, but he lets both children stay until his disciples return. At his camp, he gives hungry Aubrey some of his food, including locusts that she tastes before realizing what they are. Then he asks why she has gone to so much trouble to find him.

Aubrey praises the way John challenged Herod and asks him to teach her to oppose her parents. John explains that he does not condemn the king because of a personal dislike or a desire to win. He is God's messenger, preparing people to meet the Lord. He proclaims God's law so that Herod may recognize his sin, repent, and receive forgiveness.

Soldiers arrive in the darkness and arrest John, Micah, and Aubrey. Their commander, Jarus, admits that he had warned John about angering Herod. Although John asks that the innocent children be freed, the soldiers take all three to the fortress under the king's orders.

Jarus later offers a bargain: Micah and Aubrey may leave immediately, and John will also be released if he withdraws his statements about Herod and God's law. John refuses because the message was never his to retract. He would rather remain imprisoned than deny the words God sent him to proclaim.

Aubrey argues that John could accomplish more by accepting the deal and continuing to preach somewhere else. She still sees no reason to make the dispute such a big matter. John tells her there is a profound difference between standing up for something a person wants and standing firm for something that person believes. He promises that she will understand when the time comes and must then be brave. Before the guards take the children away, John asks for a final moment with Micah and gives him a secret, important task.