Why did Jesus refuse to be made king?

The short answer

John’s Gospel says that after Jesus fed a great crowd, the people meant to take him by force and make him king. He slipped away to the mountain alone. Later, on trial before Pilate, he said his kingdom was not of this world.

What the record says

John tells of five barley loaves and two fish feeding about five thousand men (John 6:9-10). Right after, he writes:

Jesus therefore, perceiving that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, withdrew again to the mountain by himself.

John 6:15

Many people in his day hoped for a king like David who would drive out Rome. A man who could feed thousands from a basket looked like that king.

At the end, Pilate asked him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” (John 18:33). Jesus answered:

Jesus answered, “My Kingdom is not of this world. If my Kingdom were of this world, then my servants would fight, that I wouldn’t be delivered to the Jews. But now my Kingdom is not from here.”

John 18:36

He did not deny being a king.

How Narrow Gate tells it

Narrow Gate is a novel. In the novel he goes by Yeshua, the name his family would have called him. In chapter seventeen, “The Feeding,” five barley loaves and two fish feed nearly five thousand people seated in companies of a hundred. When the twelfth basket of leftovers is filled, a shout starts in the northern companies. “Make him king.” Some of his own men are swept up in it. Yeshua climbs onto a stone and raises one hand.

“You would make me king because you ate and were filled. I will take no throne from you. My Father’s rule needs no sword or crown. Go home.”

In chapter eighteen, “The Fall,” the Rock still argues that the people were ready. Yeshua tells him they wanted an end to hunger.