The Imagination Station

Digger Digwillow is still inside Whit's Imagination Station, and the adventure that began as a simple trip into the past has become the most important night in history. Crouched above a courtyard in Jerusalem with his new friend John Mark, Digger hears the council below declare Jesus guilty of blasphemy and condemn him to die. Digger shouts that Jesus has done nothing wrong, but a guard orders the boys down, and John Mark hurries him away before they are caught.

In the courtyard Digger watches Peter, one of Jesus' closest followers, insist to a servant girl and the men by the fire that he has never met Jesus at all. John Mark remembers what the Master said the night before at supper: before the rooster crowed, Peter would deny him three times. It has happened exactly as Jesus said.

John Mark has a plan. His mother, Mary, knows Claudia, the wife of the Roman governor Pontius Pilate, and at Passover the governor lets the crowd choose one prisoner to set free. Claudia welcomes them into her courtyard and explains that she has already persuaded her husband to offer the people a choice between Jesus and Barabbas, a murderer - a choice she is certain Jesus will win. She has had a frightening dream about him, and she believes he is innocent. But when Pilate puts the question to the crowd, the shouting comes back for Barabbas. Pilate says three times that he finds no charge against Jesus, then calls for water, washes his hands, and hands him over to be crucified.

Digger, furious, tells the governor to his face that he was too scared to save an innocent man, and Pilate has him locked in a cell. There Digger meets the prisoner in the next cell, who turns out to be Barabbas himself. A Roman centurion arrives to release them both, and as Barabbas walks free the centurion tells him plainly that Jesus has taken his place. The centurion, who says Jesus once healed one of his servants, drives Digger in his chariot toward a hill called the Skull. The sky has gone dark in the middle of the day. Digger arrives too late to stop anything, and he watches Jesus die, hearing him commit his spirit to his Father and say that it is finished. The centurion, staring up at the cross, says that surely this man was the Son of God.

Back in the workshop, Digger is heartbroken. Whit tells him gently that the story does not end there and that the best part is still to come, and asks him to trust him. Digger agrees, and the Imagination Station carries him to a house in Jerusalem where the disciples are gathered. Mary and John Mark tell him what has happened while he was in prison: Mary Magdalene and other women went to the sealed tomb to anoint the body, and found the guards fainted, the great stone rolled away, and the tomb empty. Jesus is alive, and he has appeared to Peter and John and many others.

In the next room, Thomas refuses to believe it. He calls himself a realist, not a stubborn man, and says that unless he can put his finger in the nail marks and his hand in Jesus' side, he will not believe. A voice behind him tells him to turn around and know the truth. Jesus stands among them, and he invites Thomas to touch the wounds himself. Thomas answers, My Lord and my God, and Jesus blesses those who have not seen and yet believe.

Then Jesus turns and speaks Digger's name, and asks whether he will believe too. Digger says that he does. Home again with Whit, he marvels that Jesus was right there in the room, even though the machine is switched off. Whit explains that the Imagination Station never brought Jesus anywhere - belief does, and Jesus promised to be with his people always. Digger has no name for the feeling rushing through him. Whit tells him it is called joy, and that he should start by telling his parents, and after that, the whole world.