After feeding the five thousand, John tells us in his Gospel that Jesus withdrew because he “knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king.” While it may seem obvious to us, because we know about the Resurrection and His ascension as King of Heaven, it remains interesting that St. John would make it a point to include this detail. It would have been sufficient for him to have simply written: “And Jesus withdrew again to the mountain alone.” After all, Jesus frequently withdrew to be alone. Why then, is it important to give us this detail?
One of the biggest blinders that the Jews, the Pharisees and Sadducees had was that they were looking for a Messiah who would take up the physical throne of David and reign from Jerusalem forever. They wanted someone to cast off the political yoke of Caesar and who would rule justly, making life on earth a perfect society.
We want to make Jesus king of the world, not the King of Heaven. What is wrong with this? Why didn’t Jesus want the people to carry him off to be king? Because his Kingdom is not of this world and he has something much greater and truly perfect planned for us. To be king of this world is actually a small thing.
In the first place. To be king in this world is to be concerned with the material needs and security of the people; to protect religious freedoms; establish laws to preserve rights; ensure that the hungry have enough to eat and that families have access to housing and jobs. These are all virtues and good things, but they are also temporary, passing and as our Lord also said: we will always have the poor and hungry among us. Kings, presidents and prime ministers are not called to solve problems and actually bring an end to the challenges, suffering and hardships of this life. They are called to treat, just as we are called—to feed, to clothe, treat wounds, defend the orphan and visit the sick and imprisoned. Does He once tell us to go forth and cure all disease and end world hunger.
He wants us to look beyond the things that a king would be concerned about, and to look toward the things of salvation, what is essential to eternal life and the perfection that is beyond even a perfect world.
In other words, don’t settle for a perfect world. Don’t set your concerns or worries on the conditions of the world. Be concerned more with your virtue and encouraging others to look to the things of heaven; be more concerned with their salvation, than with tax rates and border policies. The way to bring light to the world and peace to the nations, is through baptism, not in elections.
