Whose Kingdom? 


 Image from Klikin @ Pixabay

John 6:15 - Jesus saw that in their enthusiasm they were about to grab him and make him king, so he slipped off and went back up the mountain to be by himself.

 This verse comes right after Jesus fed the 5000 from what was initially five barley loaves and 2 fish. He performed this great miracle which showed people who he was and what he could do, and their response was to try to fashion him into a king after their design. Remember the Jews were expecting a messiah that would be a military leader who would overthrow the Romans, their oppressors at the time. They were blinded to the fact that the true messiah had a much larger battle to fight, a battle not of flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12).

In seeing his miracle, they enthusiastically come up with their own plan and in doing so missed what Jesus is doing and going to do.

 This verse makes me think of 2 things:

 1. We can often rush into things for God that are more about us and our plans than God. We don’t take our plans or thoughts to God and wait for his guiding. I know that being a type A person who gets excited and wants to get started, I can be guilty of this, of rushing in without taking enough time to pray and seeking wisdom. But if we do this, we can miss what the Messiah wants and what His plan is. Our little thinking could be missing out on the bigger picture. This can even happen when the little thinking is something that seems good.

 2. What are Jesus’ thoughts as he withdrew to the mountain? I read this passage and see frustration but patience as Jesus talks to his disciples and the people. They don’t get it! They are steeped in traditional thought of what the Messiah would be like and what He was doing.  I love watching the series The Chosen as you see this a lot. Simon the zealot goes for the sword, Judas wants big time earthly success as the world sees it, James and John jockey for honour… but slowly, patiently Jesus is teaching them what His kingdom is about. I see this in this passage also, the people did not get Him, they wanted to make Him an earthly king, failing to see he already was a king, just not the type they were used to. How often do we fail to see who Jesus is and what He is about?

I see people claim promises that Jesus never made – promises of wealth, of finding a spouse this year, of acing their exam (especially when the study has been on the light side), of favour with people … Yet when you listen to the sermon on the mount, Jesus’ most famous sermon, we see that the ones he promises will be blessed are the meek, the suffering, those who mourn, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. All these go against what the world values and yet we still seek blessing for the things of this world.  Notice in this verse when the people tried to make Him into what they wanted rather than what He was, he withdrew from them. Not something you would expect, but huge – he withdrew. That withdrawing should be a warning to us when we seek our will from Him rather than His will for us.


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