It is the beginning of the Passover week. In the coming days, thousands of pilgrims will pour into Jerusalem to celebrate the most important festival in their religious calendar. For their Roman masters, led by Pontius Pilate, this is the most difficult time of the year. For the High Priest Caiaphas and his temple priests, the workload will be great and the pressure to maintain civil order will be great. Then news is brought that Jesus the Galilean is approaching the city on a colt of an ass, and will enter Jerusalem through the East Gate; thus fulfilling two of the most powerful religious prophecies about the coming of the Messiah. A crowd begins to gather in the street and soon the gates are broken.