MIS-JUDGED KINGSHIP

Jesus, knowing that they intended to come and make him king by force, withdrew again into the hills by himself.  John.6: 15

After Jesus fed five thousand people, He was so extremely popular that the crowd wanted to hail Him as King.  But Jesus, knowing He had come to die and His Kingdom was not yet of this world, had to withdraw to a private place to escape this public ceremony.

Only hindsight and the full disclosure of scripture gives us the advantage of knowing the crowd was out of line.  They were thousands of years premature in their understanding of God’s timeline.  Put yourself in their shoes, though.  Can you imagine how they felt when they wanted to celebrate Him, but Jesus was nowhere to be found?  How frustrating.

The crowd saw Jesus as their deliverer.  He who had the power to calm seas and heal diseases would overthrow the current government, put evil in its place, and set Himself up as the righteous king they sought.  What a wonderful plan, except Jesus withdrew.  Oh, the disillusionment!

We still ache to see Jesus display His Kingship in our earthly kingdoms.  When He doesn’t exert His influence in ways we expect, we are frustrated.  When He chooses to allow cancer to eat away the body of one we love, we cry out, “Don’t you care?”   When children are abused in their own homes and His holy anger does not stop it, we wonder at His claims of love.

What the crowd didn’t know was what lay ahead. Jesus’ love and power would never be more visible than when hanging on a Roman cross.

You are Sovereign, I am not, Lord.  When it appears You have deserted me, give me the faith to know that Your greatest work of love is in the process of being accomplished. Amen