Jesus Christ (Ben-Hur)

Jesus Christ is a minor character in the Lew Wallace novel Ben-Hur and the movies based upon the novel. Jesus was the son of Joseph and Mary.

In the beginnging of the novel three wise men, Balthazar of Alexandria, the Persian scholar Melchior, and the Indian scholar Caspar visited Christ and his family shortly after his mother Mary gave birth to Christ.

By 26 AD Jesus was working as a carpenter with his father. His father found that Jesus was not too focused on his work, that he preferred to wander the hills near Nazareth. Once Joseph criticized his son for not keeping his mind on his work, Jesus replied that he had to prepare to do his father's work. Joseph relayed that to a customer upset that his table wasn't ready yet, who responded by asking how come his son wasn't at the shop working.

When Judah Ben-Hur was being marched to the galleys, the group stopped in Nazareth for a break. Ben-Hur was exhausted and dying of thirst. Despite the command of the Roman centurion not to give Ben-Hur water, Jesus gave him water. The centurion discovered this and angrily approached. Jesus stood and simply stared at the soldier, who after a minute moved away, unsure of what had happened but not of a mind to mess with the young Nazarean.

Jesus continued preaching throughout the region, gaining a large number of followers. One of these was Ben-Hur's love interest Esther. Another was Balthazar, who wanted to be on hand as the infant he paid homage to many years ago was now a man starting his work.

After the chariot race Ben-Hur and his compatriots learned that Jesus had been arrested and was going to be crucified. During the march to Calvary Ben-Hur realized that he knew the man Esther and Balthazar were so excited about. He attempted to repay the kindness Jesus had once shown him but a Roman soldier kicked the bowl of water out of Ben-Hur's hands before Jesus could drink the water.

Ben-Hur followed the procession to Calvary and was one of the many people to witness the death and crucifixion of Jesus Christ. In the moments before Jesus died he shared a vision with Ben-Hur to convince the young man that it was his will that this all happen and that he allow the crucifixion to proceed. As Jesus said, "Father forgive them for they know not what they do" Ben-Hur felt his voice taking the sword out of his hand.