Is Jesus a political revolutionary?

His enemies thought so. Why else arrive with lanterns and torches and weapons and soldiers (John 18:3)? Of course, the irony is that they’re the real revolutionaries. They’ve come to capture and subdue I AM (v5).

Peter thought so. Why else draw your sword and attack the other side (v10)?

Jesus thought otherwise. Not that he doesn’t have a kingdom (v36), just that it’s not going to be established that way, the way of the insurrectionist. This kingdom is established by truth, the truth Jesus came to bear witness to (v37), the truth spoken of in his death as he takes the Father’s cup of wrath (v11).

It is the same today. Jesus is not a political revolutionary. Not really. Of course, he is political. And he is revolutionary. He has a kingdom after all, and even those in Caesar’s kingdom ought to acknowledge that (19:10-11). But it is not a ‘from the world’ kind of kingdom – it’s an ‘in the world’ kingdom that grows not as his servants draw their swords but as they bear witness to the truth.