25 July 2021
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
“…Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king…”
And thus “…he withdrew again to the mountain alone.” Why? Does He not later say to Pontius Pilate “You say I am a king. For this I was born and for this I came into the world…” (John 18:37)? Indeed He does, but only after pointing out that His “…kingdom does not belong to this world,” (John 18:36). Indeed the world already has a ruler, and until Christ ascends the throne His Father had chosen for Him atop Calvary, that ruler—Satan—could not be cast down from his throne (John 12:31). Likewise Jesus knew what kind of king the people would seek to make Him: a worldly king, with a crown and wealth and armies. He did not, however, come to rule Israel as did His ancestor, David; He came to conquer the entire world, such that “…at the name of Jesus every knee should bend, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord…” (Philippians 2:10-11).
Yes! He is Lord: this is what motivated the people to desire that He be king, not because they saw His divinity, His wisdom which would be desired of a leader, or anything else we would later come to worship in Him. Rather, they were excited because He could feed them; they did not truly desire a king such that they would bow to Jesus and His rule—they would be the very ones to crown Him with thorns!—but they desired a “lord” in the literal sense of the word, as it comes from an Old English word with means “one who guards the loaves.” They wanted the security Jesus’ power to feed them offered, the comfort of knowing there would always be something on the table; He saw that “Their God is their stomach…their minds are occupied with earthly things,” (Philippians 3:19) and thus He “…withdrew again to the mountain alone,” to occupy Himself again with what was heavenly.
“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink, or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds in the sky; they do not sow or reap, they gather nothing into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are not you more important than they?” (Matthew 6:25-26)