Violence is the Answer

It’s the week before Christmas and you would think that I would be writing a Christmas post. Everyone else is doing it, so why not me? Churches are putting together Christmas plays, pastors are in the final stretch of their Christmas sermon series, and the Christmas Eve service is a highlight for young and old. Yet here I am… being a rebel again. Here I am thinking about the word violence. I know it’s a bit odd – I’ll get to that in a moment.

I’m not a rebel in that I’m against Christmas and the gifts, plays, pageants, services, and family get-togethers. I love them! But I got caught up in a thought the other day that had me sit back and say hmm. Between hearing the Christmas story again (and again) to the point that we start to skip over details and take it for granted, and getting stressed over making sure our traditions are upheld (anyone else?), I couldn’t help but feel like the slow fade of missing it has crept in and caught me unaware.

This hit me while we were sitting in our van outside a pair of houses that had their Christmas lights synced with a local radio station. Rewind the scene about 30 minutes and I was a stressed mama trying to make six hot chocolates, goodie bags for the four kiddos, barking orders to get socks and shoes on, and making sure they had all gone to the bathroom. I felt myself getting annoyed, irritated, exasperated, and all the feelings that oppose the meaning of the season. As I sat there, I fought the tears because even in the extreme hustle and bustle of stressing myself out for traditions, He is with me. This is not the part in this post that I explain the word violence.

I believe we all take for granted that He, the one and only God, is with us. Let’s face it – we are a world who has never experienced separation from God. Hear me out on this. Sin separated mankind from God (Isaiah 59:1-2). This happened when Eve was deceived by the enemy and Adam chose to join her (see my post Loved Like Eve). The world was separated from God, there was a very specific process to present sacrifices to Him, and it never lasted long or was good enough. The world and all who were in it were lost because of sin. But then one of the 300+ prophesies of Jesus coming expressed what was going to happen to all that ugly sin. That was actually pretty violent, but still not where I’m going with it.

If you take a look at Psalm 103:12, sin was hurled as far away from us as the east is from the west. We will never encounter any of our sins. All of them were laid on Jesus as the cross. All. The sins of the entire world for all time will never separate us from God (I John 2:2). There is nothing that can separate us from the love of God (Romans 8:35-39)! He so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son in order to save us even though we were sinners (John 3:16, Romans 5:8).

Just a quick note before I get a bunch of emails, I do not believe that all will be saved. Jesus took all sin to the cross, but there are, unfortunately, many who have, and will, reject Jesus’ sacrifice. It is their rejection that will send them to an eternity in hell, but it is not their sin that will send them there. Sin is not the issue.

God with mankind… it is highly overlooked, isn’t it? We get caught up in the hustle and bustle of our Christmas traditions, shopping for the perfect gifts, baking and cooking for holiday parties… It just goes on to pushing through crowds, road rage from the extra miles we’re making with visiting family, and trying to coordinate overly packed holiday schedules… We might find ourselves sitting in a van, drinking hot chocolate, watching a light show, thinking of violence – all while realizing we’ve lost sight of what it’s all about.

God with us… Many might immediately think of a baby being held by His mother in a barn with a bunch of hay and animals all around – you know, the typical manger scene. But here I am thinking of Jesus being pressed in on every side because of the throng of people who were so excited to have access to Him that they’d never had before. No longer were they required to go through the very strict and impersonal process of presenting a sacrifice that wasn’t sufficient. He was no longer far off or behind a veil. He was with them. They were violating protocols without hesitation.

When Jesus was born, angels announced His arrival – the hope for the whole world! It was good news that brought with it great joy (Luke 2:8-15). They decided to go straight there to see the baby for themselves. They didn’t clean themselves up or go to the priest first to make the required sacrifices for them to be worthy enough to approach their Savior, Christ the Lord. They went in haste to bow down and worship the newborn King. Kind of reminds me of the excitement that caused the throngs of people.

Fast-forward a few decades and we find John the Baptist, announcing to anyone and everyone that the Savior of the world was at hand, the one that Isaiah prophesied of was there (Matthew 3:1-3). He was announcing the force that created the entire universe was on His way and coming to a town near you. Can you imagine the excitement? Can you imagine the thrill? And now we come to that word, violence.

From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence, and the violent take it by force. Matthew 11:12 ESV

The word violence is not used here the way we’re used to hearing it. It is actually used here to describe people who are in eager pursuit who will take and receive the gospel by force (Strong’s G973 & G971). This describes a person or groups of people who are hungry for the gospel, who can’t seem to get enough, who are reaching out to take hold of everything that is offered.

Imagine hundreds of thousands of people who have been pounding their fists on the gates of a city that has been locked up tight – they’re crying out for a Savior. Now, they have with them the One who holds the keys. No longer will they have to work for their acceptance – they’ve been accepted without prejudice. Now they can boldly approach even when they have leprosy (Mark 1:40-42). They can push through the crowds, something they were forbidden to do for so very long, to take hold of their healing and receive their spiritual and societal restoration (Luke 8:43-48).

No longer do we have to be a certain race or from a certain lineage to enter through the city gate – He came for all. To be with all. All who would accept Him. He is God, and He’s with us. As I sipped my hot chocolate, I realized that I haven’t had that feeling of violence in a while. That zealous resolve to push through because I’m so excited about what’s on the other side waiting for me.

Remember the friends who literally tore a hole in a roof so they could place their suffering friend in front of Jesus (Mark 2:1-12)? That required some violence. A resolve to push through to take hold of the kingdom. I haven’t had that courageous feeling in a while – the one that pushes me to approach boldly and lift my eyes to Him without shame holding me back. It is the violent ones that take hold of the kingdom here on earth.

While everyone is reading about Jesus being born in Bethlehem, I think I’ll be sitting over here with my hot chocolate thinking about being bold and violent. God is with us – it’s time to incite some violence.