Chapter 11

Caiaphas sat in his throne, tapping his fingers with a bored look on his face. He was waiting for the gathering of the other Pharisees and Religious Leaders to discuss what they were going to do about the White Lion and the religious uprising.

The familiar sound of flapping wings came across the ears of the coyote. The black raven, Annas, floated into the room and landed on his shoulder.

"Good Caiaphas…" Annas spoke slyly into his ear. "The council is here for you. The Pharisees and Religious Leaders have come to hear what you have to say."

A slow, evil grin spread over the face of Caiaphas. He stood up and, with the raven on his shoulder, began climbing the steps towards the meeting room. He came to the two doors and opened them with a loud CRASH!

The Pharisees and Religious Leaders consisted of a turtle, wolf, sheep, jaguar, boar, and a bull. They all wore black suits and ties, and they had a shocked look on their faces when Caiaphas came in with his loud entrance.

"Gentleman…" he said darkly with a cruel grin on his face. He shut the doors. "Take a seat."

The religious leaders obeyed and took a seat. Caiaphas took his seat at the head of the table while Annas hopped off his shoulder and sat down on the table.

Caiaphas was quiet for a few seconds and then he spoke, "You all know why I called you here."

He pulled out a remote and turned on the four large TV screens. Scenes of Jesus healing different animals around the city and preaching the word came up.

"Annas, speak for me and explain the problem to these fellow leaders of ours." said Caiaphas, extending his paw/hand to the screen.

Annas nodded, stood up, and began walking across the table.

"As you all can see, this White Lion has been healing the sick, casting out demons, and preaching to the citizens of our fair city. Now this seems all good and right, but we have several uprisings happening." said Annas, causing murmuring among the Pharisees and Religious Leaders. "Although small in scale, our neighboring city of Zootropolis has had a rather large scurry that lasted for 4 days. They've captured the leaders and are planning on executing them, but the leaders claim they are doing it for the glory of God himself!"

"Which leads to our bigger problem…" said Caiaphas, as Annas went back to his place. A dark look clouded the Coyote's face. "Imagine if this White Lion rallies the people to fight for him! He could lead an army of people against us! They could overthrow Mayor Lionheart's authority, destroy everything we've worked hard for, and hang us all from the streetlights!"

The bull raised his hand. "Yes and all that, but isn't Pilate in control right now?" asked the bull. "I mean, Mayor Lionheart's away on business for a couple of months, so… isn't Pilate the one who will get overthrown?"

Caiaphas, in pure creepy fashion, got up from his chair and walked towards the bull. The other Pharisees and Religious Leaders pulled away when the coyote came eye-to-eye with the bull.

"YES…" he said, letting an angry breath seep through his teeth. Caiaphas had fire in his eyes and the bull's teeth were chattering. This was impressive to see, as the bull was strong enough to pick Caiaphas up over his head. But here he was, getting stared down by someone smaller than him.

"I suggest that you keep quiet for the rest of this meeting. If you speak again, you're going to wish that you never got into the religion game in the FIRST PLACE!" Caiaphas finished his sentence with a shout. "GOT IT, YOU OVERGROWN HAT RACK?!"

The bull nodded quickly and Caiaphas backed off, going back to his calm self.

"Now then…" Caiaphas said calmly, going back to his seat. "We need a solution to our problem… Any suggestions?"

The jaguar raised his hand. "Arrest him?" he asked. "Throw him in jail till he rots away?"

"Good idea, but no." Caiaphas replied sourly. "Its too easy. Besides, what if his followers decide to break him out? We could have the rebellion on our hands."

The sheep raised his hand. "Call Pilate and his soldiers down on him and his followers?" the sheep asked.

"Do you want a slaughter?" asked Caiaphas. "If we try that, we could end up causing a full scale civil war!" he groaned. "You idiots have no perception! Know what we must do?! We must kill him! Slaughter him like John the Baptist! Only then can we set a public example and show the people that he is not God!"

"It's sneaky, clever, and a good idea." said the turtle. "When the people see him dead, it will not only prove to them he's just a mere lion, but also what will happen to anyone who joins in such a farce religion."

"Correct, my slow but wise friend!" said Caiaphas. He arose. "Then its official. All in favor of finding a way to kill the White Lion, show of hands."

They all raised their hands.

"Brilliant." said Caiaphas. "In the meantime, we need to find ways to trip him up. To get the people to see how he can't solve all their problems."

"I think I have a brilliant idea on how to do that." said the boar.

As the morning light arose in Zootopia, the White Lion was at a park in Sahara Square. He was lying on bench, sound asleep. He was up half the night, mourning for his cousin. This took a toll on his energy, and so he found it best to sleep a while.

"Excuse me, Jesus?" a female voice asked. Jesus awoke and turned his head to see Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde standing before him. They both were in their police uniforms, with orders to go on foot patrol and interact with the locals.

"Officers Hopps and Wilde…" he said, sitting up. "Good to see you both again. You both look well."

"Yeah about that," said Nick, his words coming out somewhat slowly. "I wanted to… Apologize for intending to attack you when you were going to heal Judy. I should've waited to see what you were going to do before getting angry."

"I forgive you." The white lion replied. "Come. Sit." He patted the bench he was sitting on.

Nick and Judy took a seat beside him so he could sit and speak with them. Since they were smaller than him, it wasn't crowded.

"So tell me about yourselves. Where you come from, what your job is like, you know, those things." said Jesus.

So Nick and Judy told him about themselves. They talked about where they came from and what being on the police force was like. They also asked what Jesus did before he began preaching, and he told them with simple answers; he didn't brag or compare his past better than theirs, but stayed humble with his answers.

When Nick mentioned about his past with the Junior Ranger Scouts, Jesus caught on to something that Nick didn't expect. "They hurt you, didn't they?" Jesus asked.

Nick's eyes widened somewhat. "How did he-" he asked, looking at Judy. Her eyes were also wide in surprise.

Nick turned back to the white lion. "Yeah…" he said slowly. "They did. They put a… muzzle on me and called me 'dumb'… But I'm fine! Really! I'm not sore about it or anything like that."

"You hold up aggression within you for what they did." said Jesus quietly. "You also believe that if the world sees you as untrustworthy and low, then that's what you are."

Nick was shocked; the White Lion knew this!

"But I tell you, that is a lie." the White Lion continued. "What the world thinks of you does not matter. It's what I think of you that matters. You don't have to be what the world wants to be. If the world hates you, remember that it hates me also."

"But how could the world hate you?" Judy asked.

"Because the world is filled with people who do evil. They want to go their own way and not the way of the father."

"And just who is this 'father' you are talking about?" Nick asked.

"My father is God, and I am his son."

"You're the son of God?" Judy questioned.

"Yes. I am one without sin." The White Lion replied. "And I tell you this: Unless you are born again, you will not see God or his kingdom."

"Uh, how can you be born again? It's pretty much impossible for an animal to get back into his mother's womb once he's out."

"Officer Hopps, I am talking being born in the spiritual sense. No one can enter the kingdom without being of the spirit and of water. Of course, you are brought into the world by your parents, but you born into the spiritual world by the spirit. Don't be surprised by what I tell you. The wind blows from wherever it wants and you hear it, but you can't see it coming or going. It's like that with the spirit."

"Oh…" Judy replied. "I think I'm getting it now… But if you're the son of God, why did you come here?"

"Because the son of God must be lifted up, so that everyone who believes will be redeemed and be given life forever. God loved this world so much, he sent his only son, so that whoever believes will not die, but be given the gift of everlasting life. I did not come to judge the world, but to be its savior. Those who believe in me are not judged, but those who don't are already judged, for they don't believe in God's son."

"And how does this judgement work?" Nick asked, very much interested in this conversation.

"Light comes into the world, but the people of the world love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds are evil. Those who do evil hate the light and will not come to it, for they don't to be revealed. But those who do what is true and right will come forth in order for the light to reveal their obedience to God the father."

"Wow…" Judy said in surprise, placing a hand/paw on her forehead. "I never really thought of it that way. That's pretty amazing how you know that."

"Yeah. They must have good schools up in heaven." said Nick.

Jesus laughed at what Nick said. The three were about to continue talking when they heard a loud commotion that was coming their way. They looked and saw an angry mob of animals approaching, each member of the mob carrying as many stones as they could. They were led by a boar and a wolf in black suits, who were dragging a struggling female zebra. When they got to the White Lion, they threw her down in front of him.

"Hello… Jesus." The boar snarled.

"Morning." Jesus replied. "What's going on here?"

"I'm glad you asked that." The boar replied in a patronizing tone. "I'm also glad that you brought the police with you to witness this. This zebra here," he pointed at the female zebra. "Was caught committing adultery. She was about to mate with a zebra who wasn't her husband. Luckily, we caught her before she was about to do such thing. Now the law states that's a crime, right?" The boar looked at the two police officers.

"Yeah…" Judy replied slowly.

"Well then. The punishment for that, by what the law says, is for her to be stoned. What do you have to say to that?"

"Hey pal, that's murder." said Nick.

"Back off!" the boar roared, causing the wolf and the crowd to shout agreements. Nick and Judy both took a step back in shock.

"As I was saying, Jesus, what do you have to say to that?" the boar asked again.

Jesus paused for a second and then bent down, where he wrote on the ground with his finger, as if he wasn't paying attention. This was quite a feat, as this particular type of sand he was on was really tough to break through.

"Well come on! What do you say to that?!" the boar yelled again, trying to get a rise out of the White Lion.

The White Lion stood up, looked the boar directly in the eyes and said, "Whoever has not sinned can chuck the first stone at her."

Instantly, the entire angry mob went from angry to embarrassed. They were convicted by their conscience, for all of them had sinned. They dropped their stones and walked away, beginning with the oldest. The wolf, with an ashamed look on his face, dropped his stone and ran off. The boar raised his stone to throw it at the zebra, but then he stopped and let out an angry yell. He threw the stone away and stomped off.

So all that were left were Jesus, the accused Zebra, Nick, and Judy.

The White Lion looked around and saw no one but the female zebra. "Ma'am, where are the people that accuse you? Has anybody condemned you?" Jesus asked.

The female zebra replied, "No one, Lord."

"I don't condemn you either." The White Lion replied. "Go in peace and sin no more."

The female zebra gasped in relief. "Thank you…" she cried, kissing the White Lion on his feet. She then got up and left slowly.

Jesus turned and looked at Nick and Judy. "I am the light of the world." He spoke. "Those who follow me will not walk in darkness, but have the light of life."