We like stories of hidden royalty and mistaken identity. There is something we continue to love about a king or a princess, who has been mistreated and misunderstood their entire life, revealing in the final scenes that they are in fact the ruler of the kingdom. In Charles Dickens’ classic, The Prince and the Pauper, Tom Canty gets mistaken for a prince and Edward Tudor gets mistaken for a lowly beggar simply because of their outward appearance. So it is with the Caesars, the kings and with Jesus in the final week of His life on earth. Those with the titles and thrones may look like Caesars and kings because of their palaces and power, but the one who is getting beaten, spit upon and treated like a criminal, though He doesn’t look at all the part, is king and lord over all, even over the ones who are sending Him to His death. The triumphant reveal of Jesus’ identity will come in part with the empty tomb and the risen Jesus. But even now our king is a king who is ruling in this world but still hidden. His kingdom is a kingdom that has already come but not yet in full as it will. But on the day Jesus stood in Pilate’s chambers in Jerusalem, the only thing anyone could see was a man claiming to be king who looked nothing like the part. So they dressed Him up and hailed Him as king only in mockery. But unlike our favorite stories, Jesus’ mistaken identity was no accident. The king who hung the stars in their place does everything He can to willingly allow Himself to be taken for a criminal and hung on a cross for us.
