The Violent Take it by Force
Spend even one day in Madrid, and you’re likely to take public transportation at least once. Madrid has a world-class system of buses, metrorail, and light-rail suburban trains. The metro system is celebrating 100 years in 2019, and the city has museums and exhibitions of original and historic metro cars throughout the city. The public transport system is both a blessing and a vital necessity in a large city like Madrid.
But for all its modernity and constant improvements, the metro has at least one great problem: rush hour. The Sol metro station in the center of the city sees at least 100,000 people go through PER HOUR. And when the entire city is headed to work at 8:30 am, or heading home at 7:30 pm the metro gets packed into body-to-body tightness. I feel dread when I see the metro car pulling in and through the clear windows, I can already see that the “wagon” (as it’s called in Spanish) is packed with travelers. I don’t like riding the metro when it’s that crowded. Often because there are so many people, there’s no way to reach a pole to have a handhold, and I just have to rely on the bodies pressed into me on all sides to hold me upright on the curves. I have to protect my phone and wallet from pickpockets, too! When it’s that crowded, the heat is stifling, the smell of bodies is overpowering, and it makes me feel almost light-headed—and I’m not even claustrophobic! I’ve literally seen people pass out from the sheer press of bodies in such a small space.
But one thing I’ve learned in five years is how to push myself into the solid throng of bodies, so that I get a few inches of space. And I’ve learned how to shoulder my way into a few more inches if I’m with a friend, so I can be sure they get in there with me, too. It’s a valuable skill, and getting back OUT of the crowd at your designated stop is an art form.
I was reflecting on all this recently because of an odd verse in the New Testament, in which Jesus told his disciples, that “From the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of God has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force.” It sounds so harsh and out of character for Jesus to say. I studied it in several languages. But original text is clear that Jesus is talking about His followers, those crowds that sought out the drama, the expectation of being fed loaves and fishes, of receiving their healing, of seeing the miraculous, and even of being set free from their social rejection. The “passionate” or the “determined” who pushed in to take the kingdom of God by force. They jostled and shouldered their way to get all they could; they interrupted the Master with their sick children; they pressed into to touch his garments; they took apart the roof of a stranger’s home to be sure their friend would get in Jesus’ face. They argued with Jesus about the crumbs that dogs eat. They interrupted his dinner to wash his feet, climbed trees to bypass the crowds, and pestered him late at night when they thought no one else would know.
God places a high value on the persistence of faith. In Luke 11, Jesus gave an example of the way we’re meant to ask, seek, and knock: if we need bread and we demand it of a neighbor, “even though he will not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your *shameless audacity* he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” This word translated “audacity” is a word that means “unembarrassed boldness” in Greek and this is the ONLY time it’s used in the New Testament. It’s a unique word meant to grab our attention, because God likes bold prayer. He commends unembarrassed faith. He answers audacious demands. Far from condemning those who shoved their way to the front, Jesus praised their faith, and met their needs. The desperate, unrelenting people who were “violent” in their pursuit of the Kingdom of God are the ones we read about today, because they succeeded in getting their moment with Jesus.
If audacious faith means pushing your way shamelessly through until you achieve what you need, well…I know how that feels.