A King of Your Own Making

“…they were intending to come and take Him by force to make Him king…”
John 6:15

Are you trying to take Jesus by force to make Him king?

We are all prone to try and make Jesus what and who He is not. In John 6, the crowd of five thousand had just been miraculously fed by Jesus’ division (and multiplication) of five loaves and two fish. They had also just witnessed miracles of healing and they were beginning to make some connections: “We have been promised a Messiah—a prophet like Moses—and Jesus’ miraculous provision was similar to (though lesser than) the miracles of Moses. But it is our hope that this prophet will free us from the Romans and heal and feed us forever!” They had their idea of who Jesus should be, but Jesus would not be made into something He was not. So Jesus withdrew from these people.

We come to Jesus with expectations, don’t we? Some come to Jesus expecting an exhilarating experience. Some expect healing. Some even expect riches and fame. The problem is that Jesus never promised these things in this life. And if our only hope is in our expectation of what Jesus will do for us, we will be disappointed and possibly leave Him when those expectations are left unfulfilled. This is what happened with the people in John 6, and this is what still happens today.

We want a king who is under our authority. A king who will do our bidding—benefit us and only us. When the crowd in John 6 tries to make Jesus king—an earthly king—they are drafting Him into their service to do their will. But successful kings are not pawn of the people. Jesus would later say, “My kingdom is not of (or from) this world.” This says many things, but one thing it says is that His kingdom is not a result of the groundswell of support or a grassroots effort. You see, this crowd wanted to make king Him who is already the King of kings and the Lord of lords. To make Him king of Israel would be a demotion.

So what are we to do?

We all come to Jesus with hopes and expectations. But we must hold our hopes and expectations lightly, allowing them to be shaped and refined by Scripture and Jesus Christ’s reality in our lives. Reality is iconoclastic—that is, reality destroys our idols. Often our hopes and expectations of Jesus replace Jesus Himself and become idols in our lives. But we are to put our trust and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, and in Him alone.

Furthermore, we need to ask ourselves if we are trying to force Jesus to be king. Are you drafting Jesus Christ into your service, or are you willing to surrender your life into His service? We all like to try to use Jesus to fulfill our dreams, but He demands from us that we submit our dreams to Him, that we might fulfill His vision.

Put aside your desire to make Jesus king. He is already King. It is your duty (and joy) to let His rule and authority rule within your heart and life.