What Did Jesus Mean by “The Violent Take [the Kingdom] by Force”?

After disciples of then-imprisoned John asked Jesus if he was “the one,” Jesus spoke the following words to his followers: “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and violent people take it by force." Matt. 11:12. What did Jesus mean, especially by this last phrase?

In his commentary published in 1976 on Matthew, Jack Lewis (a scholar from our faith tradition) acknowledges that this is one of the New Testament’s “really difficult sayings.” Lewis offers three possible interpretations: 1) members of the kingdom are suffering violence, as had and would the Baptist, 2) those who misunderstand the kingdom’s purpose and consider it a political kingdom (e.g., the Zealots) are violently snatching it, or 3) enthusiastic people eager to enter are storming the kingdom.

N.T. Wright favors the second interpretation. He explains that the Baptist thought Messiah would bring judgment. See Matt. 3:7, 12:34. Yet according to Wright, Jesus “wasn’t thinking of himself in terms of Elijah calling down fire from heaven.” See 1 Ki. 18:36-39, among the lectionary readings for this week). Instead, Jesus saw “the Messiah’s main task” as offering “the mercy which comes after judgment.” Thus says Wright, Jesus’ contemporaries “had misread the signs of their own vocation, and were claiming divine backing for a perversion of it.”

By contrast, especially in the last three decades, some have eagerly advocated for (what might be considered) a variant of the third interpretation. Specifically, they interpret favorably Jesus’ comment about a violent taking of the kingdom.

The Reading Circle will explore this view on July 21 starting at 7 PM EDT when it discusses via Zoom The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy (2024) by Matthew Taylor, a visiting scholar at Georgetown University and a specialist in religious politics, including Christian extremism. This book describes in detail the evolution of this interpretation of Matt. 11:12 and its impact on recent political events, including the storming of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021. Dr. Taylor will join us for this discussion.

I encourage you to participate in our congregation’s small groups, of which the Reading Circle is one. An overview of these is at Small Groups | Arlington Church of Christ. Do not miss the opportunity they provide to deepen your faith and understanding!