king by force

Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 6:15

This was the end result of Jesus feeding the crowd of five thousand plus by the Sea of Galilee. These people were so astounded by the miracle that they now saw in Jesus the perfect solution for a political leader. Imagine how great it would be to have a politician who could literally feed the masses. There would be no physical need if this kind of guy was your king. And the crowd was intent on a populist uprising to kidnap Jesus and “force” Him to be the king. What a weird ministry moment. Jesus just wanted to teach His disciples and to care for people by feeding the hungry that followed Him. The crowd instead wanted a revolution against Rome, with Jesus as their new Caesar.

Jesus easily refused this populist temptation to fame and earthly power. You do not “make” Jesus king by force of your own will. He is Lord alone by His own nature. You submit to His rule, You cannot force Him to do what You want. This was not worship that the crowd was intent on doing... it was actually rebellion that demanded that God give them what they wanted.

Jesus,

I cannot “make you Lord” by force of my will, as if any other rule could have legitimate claim over my life. I surrender my will to Your rule instead. I don’t believe You so that I can get my best life now in selfish greed! I don’t have a Lord I trust with my conditions met! I simply trust in You because I am nothing without You and only by Your Lordship do I have eternal life and anything here to call a life. O Lord, purge from me any sinful thinking that demands anything from You as a pretext to my trust in You. I submit to You, my King, solely on Your terms.

Amen