Then Pilate asked Him, saying, “Are You the King of the Jews?” He answered him and said, “It is as you say.” So Pilate said to the chief priests and the crowd, “I find no fault in this Man.”

But they were the more fierce, saying, “He stirs up the people…”

My faith claims that Jesus of Nazareth is King of the Universe. Part of me hates that idea.  It forces me into an “all or nothing” decision. If He is King of kings, what does that make me?  A subject, that’s what.

If Jesus were just a teacher pointing the way to a better life or a way to God, we could debate the philosophical merits and logic of his arguments.  But He says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”  (John 14:6)  You can’t be neutral about that.  Either it is true or He is a liar or a nut job. We cannot “like” Jesus as if He were a Facebook comment. You have to dismiss and attack him or fall on your knees and call him King.

Earth is on the outer edge of the Milky Way. Light from stars on the opposite edge take 100,000 years to reach us. That is fast. Our sun is one among 200 billion stars in our galaxy. Yet our galaxy is only one of 100+ billion galaxies in the observable universe.

In the constellation Aquarius one galaxy is believed to be 12 billion years old. That means it was born a relatively brief 2 billion years after the Big Bang. By comparison, our own solar system is quite young at 4.5 billion years old.

If you believe Jesus created all of that, you don’t invite Him to be your assistant when life gets too messy.  Jesus is not and never will be your life coach, helping you achieve your life goals. He is King.  And what do you do for a King?  Kneel.

I can’t kneel now because of cartilage trauma.  But before that I struggled with kneeling because of a hard heart.  So do you. Ever see fingerprints around a Wet Paint sign?

Something inside of us does not like anyone telling us what to do.  At the core of our hearts, something says, “Nobody tells me how to live!” If Jesus is just a teacher, I can weigh whether or not to receive His teachings.  But if He is the third person of the Trinity, if He is the Creator-God, if He is King, well, then I must do something altogether different.

Gentle Jesus, meek and mild,

Look upon a little child;

Pity my simplicity,

Suffer me to come to Thee.

That’s a nice children’s prayer, but there comes a day to put away childish things and as a full-grown man bow my knee and pray, “I will follow You the rest of my days, my Brother… my Captain… my King.”

He doesn’t leave another option.