The True King
“It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. “Here is your king,” Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, “Take him away! Take him away! Crucify him!” “Shall I crucify your king?” Pilate asked. “We have no king but Caesar,” the chief priests answered.” - John 19:14-15 (NIV)
One of the fascinating threads running through Scripture is humanity’s longing for a king. Seriously, what was it about a King that was so special? Maybe it was jealously.
Israel looked around at the nations surrounding them and decided they wanted what everyone else had—a visible leader, someone who would fight their battles, establish their security, and build the kind of kingdom they imagined. Even though God had faithfully led them, they wanted something they could see.
Israel constantly wanted to exchange God’s rule for something that felt more tangible. Something that made them the same as the world around them.
When the prophet Samuel was grieved by their request, God’s response was surprisingly personal: “They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being king over them” (1 Samuel 8:7). Israel wasn’t simply asking for a different form of government. They were exchanging the rule of the God who had faithfully delivered, provided for, and led them for a king who looked more like everyone else’s. They believed what they could see would somehow be better than the God they had to trust.
How often do we do the same? We trade the good things of God that may be invisible, intangible, or beyond our understanding for things we can see, touch, hold, and cling to. Faith has always required trusting what our eyes cannot yet see, but we're often more comfortable putting our confidence in what feels tangible.
By the time we reach the crucifixion, that longing hasn’t disappeared. It has simply become more specific. The people aren’t just waiting for any king anymore; they’re waiting for one who fits their expectations. They want someone powerful enough to overthrow Rome, restore Israel’s glory, and finally give them the life they believe God promised. Jesus certainly didn’t look like their expected King.
Then Pilate presents Jesus to the crowd and says, “Behold your King” (John 19:14).
It’s one of the greatest moments of irony in the Bible. The King generations had been waiting for is standing right in front of them, completely innocent, holding all authority in heaven and on earth, and their response is, “Take Him away! Crucify Him!” They even declare, “We have no king but Caesar” (John 19:15). In their desperation for the king they wanted, they rejected the King they needed.
The story has come full circle.
In 1 Samuel, they rejected God because they wanted a king they could see. In John 19, they rejected the King they could see because He wasn’t the one they wanted.
The problem was never a lack of a King. It was a refusal to receive the One God had given them.
Before we’re too hard on them, it’s worth admitting how familiar that sounds.
We don’t usually reject Jesus because we don’t want a king. We reject Him because we want a different one. We look to careers to give us identity, relationships to make us whole, money to make us feel secure, success to prove our worth, comfort to keep us happy, and control to quiet our anxiety.
We keep placing crowns on things that were never meant to rule us. The Bible calls them idols, but they’re really just substitute kings.
The surprising thing about idols is that they rarely begin as bad things. Most start as good gifts that quietly become ruling things. Somewhere along the way, we begin expecting them to do what only Jesus can do. We ask them to save us, define us, satisfy us, or give us peace, and when they inevitably disappoint us, we go looking for another king. And the cycle continues.
Jesus is still not the King many people expect. He doesn’t always remove the hardship. He doesn’t promise comfort above holiness or success above surrender. He doesn’t build His kingdom the way earthly rulers do. He wears humility instead of self-promotion, serves instead of demanding to be served, and conquers not by taking lives but by laying down His own.
John 19 still has a way of exposing our hearts. The question isn’t whether Jesus is King. He is, whether we acknowledge Him or not.
The question is whether we’ll keep searching for kings that promise everything and deliver nothing, or whether we’ll finally recognize the One who has been standing before us all along.
The true King.
bytaylormcgee
