“And from the days of John the Baptist until now, the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent bear it away. For all the prophets and the law prophesied until John: and if you will receive it, he is Elias that is to come. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear.”
St. John the Baptist was the morning star that heralded the coming of the dawn of the kingdom: “Do penance: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2). There are multiple ways of interpreting the violence of the kingdom, the first has as its root the phrase: “The kingdom of God is within you” (Luke 17:21), for turning from sin to Christian love is a difficult, painful process: “The flowers have appeared in our land, the time of pruning is come” (Canticle 2:12). All love is a continual death to self for the sake of the beloved, and how much more so is this for a sinful person to seek perfect, heavenly love! “But our conversation is in heaven; from whence also we look for the Saviour, our Lord Jesus Christ, who will reform the body of our lowness, made like to the body of his glory, according to the operation whereby also he is able to subdue all things unto himself” (Philippians 3:20-21). Another sense is the haste with which one takes the kingdom of heaven, for in falling in love with God and throwing aside all trivialities, there is a near desperation to love that seeks union with the Beloved, with a dying sense of longing: “As the hart panteth after the fountains of water; so my soul panteth after thee, O God” (Psalm 41:2); “But I am straitened between two: having a desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ, a thing by far the better” (Philippians 1:23). The third manner is the disdain those fastened to the world show for the love of God: “Wonder not, brethren, if the world hate you” (1 John 3:13), for St. John the Baptist declared the injustice of Herod’s marriage to Herodias and died for it, with Christ and His Apostles soon to follow, showing that the love story between Jesus and each of His people has many villains that would see it fail: “And it came to pass in the ninth year of his reign, in the tenth month, the tenth day of the month, that Nabuchodonosor king of Babylon came, he and all his army against Jerusalem: and they surrounded it: and raised works round about it” (4 Kings 25:1). Now, in all three of these, there is a description of Elijah, who was a foreshadowing of John the Baptist. Elijah was quick to serve the needy that cried out to him, putting aside himself for the good of others: “And he cried to the Lord, and said: ‘O Lord my God, hast thou afflicted also the widow, with whom I am after a sort maintained, so as to kill her son?’” (3 Kings 17:20). He was fervent in his pursuit of God: “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts” (3 Kings 19:10), and suffered great persecution at the hands of royal Jezabel: “And Jezabel sent a messenger to Elias, saying: ‘Such and such things may the gods do to me, and add still more, if by this hour to morrow I make not thy life as the life of one of them’” (3 Kings 19:2). John the Baptist came with his spirit: “I beseech thee that in me may be thy double spirit” (4 Kings 2:9), his austerity and strength: “’What manner of man was he who met you, and spoke these words?’ But they said: ‘A hairy man with a girdle of leather about his loins.’ And he said: ‘It is Elias the Thesbite’” (4 Kings 1:8), and uncompromising war against injustice: “And Elias said to them: ‘Take the prophets of Baal, and let not one of them escape.’ And when they had taken them, Elias brought them down to the torrent Cison, and killed them there” (3 Kings 18:40). Therefore, both John the Baptist and Elijah become excellent examples as to how to love: With fervent zeal: “With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of hosts” (3 Kings 19:14), eyes that never leave the Beloved, therefore not looking to other things and walking with a strong and robust spirit: “Decline not to the right hand, nor to the left: turn away thy foot from evil” (Proverbs 4:27); “Blessed be the Lord my God, who teacheth my hands to fight, and my fingers to war” (Psalm 143:1), and with a willingness to forsake anything for the sake of love: “He that loveth father or mother more than me, is not worthy of me; and he that loveth son or daughter more than me, is not worthy of me” (Matthew 10:37); “And if thy right hand scandalize thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee: for it is expedient for thee that one of thy members should perish, rather than that thy whole body go into hell” (Matthew 5:30). There is here an interesting wording here, however, when Jesus says, “If you will receive it,” for heavenly wisdom is gentle and draws with sweet invitations: “I sleep, and my heart watcheth: the voice of my beloved knocking: ‘Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undefiled’” (Canticle 5:2), “[Wisdom] will meet him as an honourable mother, and will receive him as a wife married of a virgin” (Ecclesiasticus 15:2), entering the soul with joy, peace, and love: “My beloved put his hand through the key hole” of the heart “and my bowels were moved at his touch” (Canticle 5:4). Jesus does not overpower and he does not yell: “The bruised reed he shall not break, and smoking flax he shall not quench, he shall bring forth judgment unto truth” (Isaias 42:3), but places flowers of love and truth that you may reach for them and enjoy their fragrance: “His hands are turned and as of gold, full of hyacinths” (Canticle 5:14). Thus, Jesus plants this particular flower concerning the office of John the Baptist, and invites those with a spiritual understanding to hear His words. This is important, because while theology is of great benefit, it is important to hear the words He says with your heart as well as your mind. Jesus is a person to be loved, not a mental exercise, and so it is important to receive His words with the same mindset of listening to one you love speak; while theology may help you understand what He is saying, it is important to let these words fall like seeds and water into the ground of your heart, that you may receive His unfathomable love: “The seed is the word of God” (Luke 8:11); “Ask ye of the Lord rain in the latter season, and the Lord will make snows, and will give them showers of rain, to every one grass in the field” (Zacharias 10:1).