Welcome to Redeem the Commute. I’m Ryan, your host for this daily challenge. It’s Thursday, the day we try to apply and live out what we’ve learned this week from the Bible. This week we’ve been studying how a young man named David found out he’d be the King of Israel.

Displeased with the current king of Israel, God sent his prophet Samuel to anoint a new king, pouring oil over him to mark him out as God’s chosen king.  Immediately after, God’s Spirit rushed upon him.

If you ask people who Jesus is, you might hear the title Messiah used.  But what does it really mean?  It means anointed one.  Anointing is how David was marked out as the future King of Israel.  He was the prototype of the kind of king Israel would ultimately need, but he ultimately fell short.  His most famous failing was when he lusted after a woman named Bathsheba, and had her husband killed to get him out of the way.

For centuries afterwards, Israel longed for their true king, the ultimate King, the Messiah to come.  Multiple prophets were given messages to communicate for God about this Messiah, and Jesus fulfilled these perfectly.  One of them was even that he’d be born in the place known as the City of David – Bethlehem.

The only thing said about Jesus’ appearance was in a prophecy by the Prophet Isaiah, that God’s Messiah or anointed one would not be identified as physically attractive.

When he was baptized with water, the Spirit of God descended on him.  Shortly before his death, he was anointed with oil by a woman.

He also called himself a shepherd, on multiple occasions.  Could that be a reference to King David?

There are several connections between David and Jesus, but the most important is that he’s not the King we expected, even though he’s the King we needed.  Like David, who everybody thought wouldn’t amount to anything, he was actually God’s choice as king.  Like David, there was already someone claiming to be the king, Herod as king of Judea, and Caesar as emperor of the Roman Empire.

Jesus was from a small town, and known as a carpenter.  He wore a crown of thorns, not gold.  He arrived in Jerusalem on a donkey, not a stallion.  He washed the feet of his followers, instead of making a servant do it.

He was seen as a pretender to the throne by the two big powers in his homeland, and was executed.  After he died, three days later he rose again to new life, and is now sitting at the right hand of God the father, ruling over the universe as a king.

We live in a world that needs help.  To end violence, feed the hungry, provide clean water, keep the environment clean, end infant deaths, etc. we need to make big changes, and we often look for that in strong leaders.  We look for politicians, in particular, to save the world.

But sometimes God has a better plan…a better leader.

Here on earth he was the antithesis of a king, and yet he was the best king we could ever have, would ever have.

 

Challenge: Who do you look to for guidance and leadership in life?  How does their leadership point to Jesus’ true leadership?