Once upon a time there was a Mighty King who reigned a kingdom that stretched as far as the stars. He was a kind and fair king who only wanted the best for his people. His palace was decorated with many different precious stones like diamonds, sapphires and rubies. He had the most beautiful creatures living with him in the palace. Angels flew to and fro delivering messages to his people.
One day the King knew that his people were in trouble and that only his son would be able to help them. Even though the king loved his son beyond all measure he sent him to grow among the people of the kingdom. Before he sent the prince on his way he told his son,
“You are an example to all who see you, some will love you and some will hate you, but always remember I will be waiting for you to come home.”
So the king’s son went out on his journey to live with the people. Now the king had found a nice family for his son to live with. After some time the family had more children so the boy could have sisters and brothers but they always loved and cared for him as if he was their own. Many years passed and the boy grew into a great strong prince but only his family knew that he was the King’s son. The time had come for him to leave the kind family that had become his home and travel the kingdom helping people he saw along the way. So he gathered his things and headed off toward the capital city and along the way he met fishermen and a tax collector, and they became great friends and all went with him to the capital.
While they were on their journey the prince stopped at a river and there was a man in the river who knew the prince and they swam together and after this the King appeared to them and said,
“This is my son, in whom I am well pleased.”
And all of the prince’s friends knew he was the prince and that he was there to save the people. Continuing on their journey they headed toward the capital. The closer they got more and more people started to recognize the prince and some loved him, but others, like the leaders of the capital, despised the prince because they knew he was there to change the ways of the city. Wanting to keep the city under their rule they devised a plan to kill the prince. Giving one of his friends 30 pieces of silver, he betrayed the prince and told the leaders where he would be.
That night the guards of the city came and got the prince and took him to the dungeons. The prince was very sad, for he knew the leaders of the city would not listen to him and he feared for his life and hoped that his father would save him. But he knew that if the King saved him that the people would never be saved from the ways of the leaders of the capital. So when the guards brought him before the leaders they asked if he was indeed the prince of the kingdom. Not wanting to lie or disappoint his father he said yes. This made the leaders very angry and they made false charges against the prince and sentenced him to death.
There was nothing anyone could do, not even the friends of the prince. The next day the guards took the prince to the top of a small mountain and nailed him to a cross and there he died. The death of the prince came as a shock to his friends because they thought as the son of the King that the King wouldn’t let this happen, that he would save the prince, but they didn’t know that this was the only way to save the people of the kingdom. Someone had to take the evil out of the kingdom and that was the reason the prince had been sent by the king, and the only way to do that was for the prince to die. Because after all he was perfect and gentle and kind.
After the prince was dead, his friends and family took him off the cross and wrapped him in cloth and laid him in a tomb meant for a noble, for he was a prince and deserved a royal tomb. Rolling a great stone in front of the tomb his friends walked away, sad for the loss of their friend. However they did not know that the prince had a special gift from his father, one that would never let him die.
After three days the prince rose up and rolled away the stone and walked out of the tomb. When his friends saw him alive and walking they were shocked. They knew that he had died and that only by the power of the King was the prince alive. After many days visiting and teaching his friends the ways of the new kingdom he told his friends,
“Those of you who believe in me and are my truest friends, my father will welcome you into his home and there you can live beside me forever.”
After he said these things, the prince went home to be with his father the King, who waiting ran to the gates to great his son.
Being told these things, the friends of the prince went and shared the good news with any they could find and those who believed lived with the prince and the king in the palace happily ever after.
