The crowd tried.

Jesus said, “No.”

Or at least that is what He implied by His actions.

Jesus had just challenged His disciples’ faith with a simple query, “Where can we buy bread to feed these people?” (John 6:5)

Philip looked at their money supply. There wasn’t enough to buy everyone even a little.

Andrew found a little boy’s lunch. It still wasn’t enough, or so he thought. It wasn’t until he gave it to Christ.

Jesus used that lunch to feed a huge crowd of people who were following Him to bask in His teaching and in His presence. Just like Thanksgiving Day, they had plenty of leftovers.

“But,” you interject, “I thought you said Jesus denied their request?”

He did.

He Left Them Alone

After this miraculous feeding, the crowd realized that God was at work through Jesus. They recognized Him for who He was, “This is the Prophet for sure, God’s Prophet right here in Galilee!” (John 6:14)

Then it happened.

Jesus’ actions said, “No.”

“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.” -John 6:15

He saw that the crowd was enthusiastic about Him.

He knew their thoughts. Instead of turkey and dressing, their thoughts went immediately to political power. They saw a chance to make this Prophet into a King. He would be their King.

They wanted to use Jesus to seize the reins of political power.

Jesus realized this and denied them the opportunity. He slipped away, back to the mountaintop to be alone. It wasn’t the first time. Nor would it be the last time that He would have to refuse to use His power to install Himself as an earthly king.

The First Time

Jesus was alone.

He was in what was referred to in that day as simply, “The Wilderness”

It was the abode of demons and departed spirits.

It was the dwelling place for scavengers and those who would harm others.

It was the place in which our Savior faced the Tempter.

Jesus was exhausted and starving after 40-days of fasting in this realm. That is when the Tempter struck.

Satan tempted Jesus first with using His divine power for His own gain, “turn these stones into loaves of bread.” (Mat. 4:3) After Jesus resisted, Satan next tempted Jesus to force God’s hand, “Since you are God’s Son, jump.” (Mat. 4:5) Satan even quoted Scripture to back up his temptation.

Jesus resisted again.

Finally, Satan shows Jesus all the earthly kingdoms. Satan promises them all to Jesus on just one condition, “Just go down on your knees and worship me, and they’re yours.” (Mat. 4:9)

Jesus didn’t deny that those kingdoms belonged to Satan.

Jesus said, “Beat it, Satan! Worship the Lord your God, and only him. Serve him with absolute single-heartedness.” (Mat. 4:10)

Jesus knew His kingdom was not going to come to pass through the use of political power. His kingdom is based solely on divine power that comes through worshiping and serving God alone.

His Last Time

Jesus went from the glorious heights of the mountaintop to the excruciating death of the cross. As Jesus hung, suspended in mid-air, the religious leaders taunted, “Save yourself! If you’re really God’s Son, come down from that cross!” (Mat. 15:30)

Jesus remained.

I’m certain the words He recently spoke to Pilate served as a pernicious reminder of why He must stay put.

“My kingdom,” said Jesus, “doesn’t consist of what you see around you. If it did, my followers would fight so that I wouldn’t be handed over to the Jews. But I’m not that kind of king, not the world’s kind of king.” -John 18:36

Jesus’ kingdom is like no kingdom ever on the earth. He is not the world’s kind of king. He doesn’t use the world’s methods, He vexes them. The Sermon on the Mount is the plan for building His kingdom and none of it makes any worldly sense.

Why?

Because it isn’t supposed to make sense to worldly minds. He envisioned a different kingdom altogether.

“”You’ve observed how godless rulers throw their weight around, how quickly a little power goes to their heads. It’s not going to be that way with you. Whoever wants to be great must become a servant. Whoever wants to be first among you must be your slave. That is what the Son of Man has done: He came to serve, not be served—and then to give away his life in exchange for the many who are held hostage.” -Matthew 20:25-28

Jesus’ kingdom is built one way.

It isn’t the easy way.

It isn’t going to make sense by worldly standards.

It is the way of sacrifice.

His kingdom is built by His true followers living as He lived.

Living Sacrifices

Jesus’ life was a humbling, self-sacrificial display of divinely interventionist grace. Our lives are supposed to be the same thing. Unfortunately, we spend too much effort making sure to elect the “right” people and to have the “right” policies when our Savior, King, and model did the opposite.

He surrendered Himself to an earthly kingdom that unjustly crucified Him to placate the crowds.

Until we understand that all politics are about little more than playing to crowds and benefiting financial interests, we will continue to waste our time on this planet attempting to herd cats into our own politically narrow mindsets.

Our entire purpose, if we belong to Christ, is to live our lives sacrificially before God (Rom. 12:1-2). This includes not only our ordinary, everyday things, but also includes us not being drug into conformity to the culture around us.

Jesus rejected the political solution. We should reject it as well.

I want to leave you today with a thought from one of the greatest influencers on my life. He was around before the days of Instagram. A fella named Oswald Chambers. His thought illustrates how I believe Christians should approach political involvement.

“The only right a Christian has is the right to give up his rights.” -Oswald Chambers