15 Perceiving then that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, Jesus withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Last night as a part of a series we are doing on saints past, I spoke to the youth about Dietrich Bonhoeffer, the young German pastor whose resistance to Nazism resulted in his hanging for treason. It was pretty serious stuff for these youth -- some of whom are only 12 years of age. But man, they were with me the whole time. I went home thinking, "Now where was I when I was 12?" Certainly not studying Bonhoeffer.
We looked at a radio address Bonhoeffer gave just days after Hitler came to power in 1933. The address was titled, "The Younger Generation's Altered View of the Concept of 'Fuhrer'. At not even 27 years of age, Bonhoeffer said that the younger generation of his country could see how the concept of "leader" (Fuhrer) could become a "misleader" and that a leader who promised to be and do all that the people desired would eventually end in idolatrizing himself for the sake of the people's worship.
The radio transmission was cut off mid-speech.
Jesus refused the kingship the people wanted to give him. He refused their idolatry. He refused to be and do all that they wanted. He chose to be their leader through service rather than kingship. I am sure this gravely disappointed many. He would never be all that their eyes dreamed of him being. The day of coronation would not come -- not until Calvary.
I have hope for the youth I was with last night. Twelve, thirteen, fifteen, and eighteen -- they are now the younger generation; and they too have an altered view of "leader"and a wary eye for the "misleader".
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