The kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force

 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John:  "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?  A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see?  A man clothed in soft garments?  Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.  But what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.  For this is he of whom it is written:

'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,
Who will prepare Your way before you.'

"Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he.  And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force.  For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"

- Matthew 11:7-15

In yesterday's reading Jesus had just finished commanding His twelve apostles as they set out on their first mission (see readings beginning with I send you out as sheep in the midst of wolves). He departed from there to teach and to preach in their cities.  And when John had heard in prison about the works of Christ, he sent two of his disciples and said to Him, "Are You the Coming One, or do we look for another?"  Jesus answered and said to them, "Go and tell John the things which you hear and see:  The blind see and the lame walk; the lepers are cleansed and the deaf hear; the dead are raised up and the poor have the gospel preached to them.  And blessed is he who is not offended because of Me."

 As they departed, Jesus began to say to the multitudes concerning John:  "What did you go out into the wilderness to see?  A reed shaken by the wind?  But what did you go out to see?  A man clothed in soft garments?  Indeed, those who wear soft clothing are in kings' houses.  But what did you go out to see?  A prophet?  Yes, I say to you, and more than a prophet.  For this is he of whom it is written:   'Behold, I send My messenger before Your face,  Who will prepare Your way before you.'"  As John's disciples depart, Jesus praises John.  Perhaps Jesus is addressing His own followers, many of whom began as followers of John.   It's a kind of chastisement of those followers, for perhaps considering John's question to Jesus in yesterday's reading ("Are you the Coming One, or do we look for another?") a sign that John is vague or uncertain.  On the contrary, Jesus is challenging in His own response.  Would they have gone out to the wilderness to see "a reed shaken by the wind"?  Someone who changes with every passing breeze?  Did they go out to the wilderness where John baptized, living an extremely ascetic life of poverty and dressed in animals skins,  to find a man clothed in soft garments?  No, those are found in kings' houses (John is locked up in a king's prison).  Rather they must look to the great prophets -- hardly known as "soft!" -- of whom John is not only the greatest, but more than a prophet.  He is the one chosen to be the messenger sent before the Messiah, preparing the way.  His disciples must never forget this about John, whom Jesus casts in a heroic and courageous light.  Jesus quotes from the prophecy of Malachi 3:1.

"Assuredly, I say to you, among those born of women there has not risen one greater than John the Baptist; but he who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he."  Jesus stresses the transition that is happening.  This is what we understand as the movement from Old Covenant to New, just as the Apostles have sent out to preach, "The kingdom of heaven is at hand."  John is the greatest under the Old Covenant, but a far greater gift than the old is the new.

"And from the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven suffers violence, and the violent take it by force."  There are various traditional interpretations of this saying.  One is that this is a positive suggestion of violence or aggression.  Those who wish to come into this kingdom are seizing it (another aspect of the language used).   My study bible suggests an interpretation is that it is the Kingdom itself that is breaking in upon the world, with a kind of explosive power and force, not awaiting an invitation.  Some say this refers to Christ who is Himself the Kingdom and will suffer violence.  My study bible cites the interpretation of John Chrysostom,  in which the "violent" who take the Kingdom by force are those who have such earnest desire for Christ they let nothing stand between themselves and the opportunity that faith in Him bestows.  To take by force is to seize.

"For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John.  And if you are willing to receive it, he is Elijah who is to come.  He who has ears to hear, let him hear!"  Elijah was said to return before the coming of the Messiah.  In this way, John is "more than a prophet" -- he is also the return of a prophet, foretelling the time the "kingdom of heaven is at hand," and the coming of the Messiah.   But who is aware of this?  Only "he who has ears to hear!"

How does the kingdom of heaven suffer violence?  How do the violent take it by force?  I think we have to think of the word "kingdom" and what that means, or meant in the context of the imagery of Jesus.  Think of nations warring against one another for plunder or property, or for things like territory and maybe even oil.  Then we may start to get the drift of what worldly power and kingdoms are like.   Jesus has just sent out the Twelve Apostles on their first mission.  He taught them to preach that "the kingdom of heaven is at hand," or "the kingdom of heaven has come near to you."  In both of those sayings, the meaning is clear that a kingdom is in the midst of their hearers.  It is "within them" and "among them."  This is perhaps a peaceful kingdom that breaks in by force, that somehow suffers "violence," although the disciples are taught not to use any sort of violence in their mission and to portray themselves with all humility.  The kingdom spiritually and psychologically, emotionally and dramatically breaks in upon awareness, consciousness, the world.  And we, within ourselves, are taught to seize this kingdom like some sort of advance mission, but it can't be done militarily.  It's the violence of the "new" that breaks in upon our world.  Some are totally unaware of it.  Some are set on fire by it.  And some are breaking all the boundaries and rules and lines drawn in the sand by seizing it in their midst, grabbing hold of something they can't really fully contain or know.  The image comes to me of the woman with the twelve years' of haemorrhage, who just reaches to touch the  hem of Christ's clothing, and His power comes out of Him and into her for healing.  Faith, in this illustration, is a way of seizing the kingdom of heaven, an abrupt kind of hurtling into something new, and always surprising.  This New Covenant is one that opens up for the nations, for the Gentiles.  It opens by Christ for sinners like the despised tax collectors (as "politically incorrect" as you can think about), the prostitutes, the lepers, and that unclean woman with the flow of blood whose faith makes her well.  This spiritual reality makes its abrupt appearance, and it's well-served by one like John the Baptist, who is not at all a reed shaken by the wind, nor a person accustomed to soft clothing.  It's here, and all we have to do is accept it, along with its great, explosive, constant renewal, as it plunges us in to consider its effects in our lives, even as by faith we grasp and seize a sonship by adoption.