“Since Jesus knew that they were going to come and carry him off to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain alone”
Why make him a king? Wasn’t he already a king who was afraid of becoming one? Yes, he was. But not a king like the ones that men make. He was a king who gave the power of reigning to men. Perhaps in this case too, Jesus, whose actions are teachings, wanted to give us a lesson… Perhaps that “take him by force” was a wanting to advance the moment of his reign. But he had not come to reign at that particular moment as he will do later and as we say to him: “May your kingdom come!” As Son of God and as Word of God, Word through whom all things were made, he is always reigning with the Father. But the prophets also foretold his reign as Christ made man who made Christians of his faithful. Thus there is to be a kingdom of Christians which is taking shape at the present moment, which is being prepared, which Christ’s blood has bought.
This kingdom will become manifest later when the splendor of the saints will shine out, following the judgement declared by Christ. The apostle said of this kingdom: “He will hand over the kingdom to his God and Father” (1Cor 15:24). And he himself spoke of it, saying: “Come, you who are blessed by my Father. Inherit the kingdom prepared for you since the foundation of the world” (Mt 25:34). But the disciples and crowds who believed in him thought he had come to reign at that very moment. This was to want to advance his time, which he was concealing within himself so as to make it known and cause it to break forth at the right time, at the end of the ages.
Saint Dominic