He hits bottom. He’s imprisoned and sexually abused in a Roman dungeon. He learns to mourn and fight new battles, within and without. Claudia, the friend who adores him and who he loves, is exiled in the Adriatic. She follows a parallel course of growing through suffering while longing for Jesus. Both continue to mature by failing, falling, and then rising again, stronger. In Jesus matures through temptation, doubt, and longing. He follows the classic path of the hero—beginning in an unremarkable mudhole, unknown and undistinguished, innocent and naïve, in . He steadily moves down into the mainstream of growing up— leaving home, wrestling with his own unique God-man identity. Suffering and loss carve out an interior life for him, in and . Finally, he shows us all how to listen to the world of spirit—adorned with the jewels of wisdom, compassion, and courageous vulnerability—in .