Forcing Our Way into the Kingdom
In Luke 16, Jesus makes this enigmatic statement:
“The Law and the Prophets were proclaimed until John. Since that time, the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing their way into it” (Luke 16:16).
I find myself drawn to the language Jesus employs here. He is naming a reality that resonates with my own experience, both personally and as a minister. Jesus is right: we tend to want to force our way into the kingdom of God.
The image that jumps immediately to mind are the enormous, crushing, noisy crowds who followed Jesus throughout his ministry. The gospels report that, on at least one occasion, the crowds became so large that Jesus had to teach from a boat offshore (Mk. 4:1; Matt. 13:2). On another occasion, Jesus was so swarmed by people that his disciples were incredulous when he asked who touched him: “What do you mean, ‘who touched you?’ Everyone is touching you!” (Mk. 5:31; Lk. 8:42).
So, it should be completely unsurprising when we read this in Luke 5: “Yet the news about him spread all the more, so that crowds of people came to hear him and to be healed of their sicknesses. But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed” (Luke 5:15-16).
Yeah, I bet Jesus withdrew! I cannot imagine how exhausting it must have been to have so many people needing something from you, each one desperate for hope, each one wounded in ways that could only be alleviated by access to one man. How long did it take before the teeming masses began pushing and shoving and elbowing their way to Jesus? The kingdom of God had arrived among them! But they had to beat the crowd in order to be a part of it. After all, they might not get to experience God’s kingdom at all if they didn’t force their way into it.
And we are not so different from those crowds. We also can be incredibly neurotic and anxious when it comes to our pursuit of Jesus. And that nervous grasping for his kingdom shows up in all kinds of ways.
It seems to me that, at its heart, sectarianism is born from this neurotic form of spirituality. Most inter-denominational conflicts are just a manifestation of this deeper spiritual anxiety. We insist on doctrinal purity primarily to make ourselves feel safe. In an effort to preserve our “insider” status, we feel compelled to argue for the superiority – or even the salvific necessity! – of the particular beliefs and practices of “our church.” We attempt to knock down the doors of heaven with the battering ram of irrefutable dogma because we want to know that we are saved – even at the cost of damning others.
Evangelism can also be tainted by this same distorting impulse. Sharing the Gospel with those who have not yet heard it can certainly be done with great love and sensitivity. However, it can also be born from insecurity. What if convincing others of the truth of our good news is a subtle effort to dispel our own secret doubts? Or maybe having a notch or two on our evangelistic belt assures us that we have been faithful in obeying the Great Commission and are therefore right with God. Either way, we should take the time to ask who our zeal for evangelism is really serving – our converts or ourselves?
Or perhaps our attempt to “force our way” into the kingdom manifests itself in the spiritual disorder that Christian tradition has called “scrupulosity.” You don’t hear people talking about scrupulosity anymore, but it’s a word we need to revive. Essentially, scrupulosity describes the experience of having an overactive conscience. Worried that we might mess up, we become hyper-critical of ourselves – identifying sin where there actually is no sin. Those who suffer from scrupulosity have spiritual lives that are primarily characterized by fear, guilt, and shame (rather than joy, hope, and love). They have a hard time trusting that God desires to be merciful towards them, and in turn, they often struggle to forgive themselves – even for minor infractions.
Part of the reason we don’t talk about scrupulosity may be that many of our religious communities actually encourage us to be scrupulous! For those of us raised in the heyday of 90’s purity culture, the symptoms of scrupulosity may be most pronounced when it comes to sexual sin. This American Life recently re-aired a segment from 2007 that included a story about a man who was so overcome by guilt that he struggled even to go to the grocery store out of fear of noticing an attractive woman.[1] That is scrupulosity.
However it manifests, we know we are “forcing our way into the kingdom” when our inner lives start to become increasingly anxious, reactive, and accusatory. Whenever we feel the need to secure our access to God, His kingdom, or our salvation, we will be tempted to act in ways that are spiritually counter-productive.
And for those of us who are tempted in these ways, let me offer a gentle reminder:
You don’t have to force your way into God’s kingdom.
You don’t have to compete for Jesus’ attention.
You don’t have to prove that you belong.
Your task is simply this: to accept that God accepts you.
Along these lines, I have found these words from John McQuiston especially centering. I can feel my soul relax when I read them. So, I commend them to you as my conclusion:
“Quit the search for salvation,
It is selfish,
And come to the comfortable rest
In the certainty that those who
participate in this life
with an attitude of compassion
will receive its full promise.”[2]
1. Ira Glass, “The Ten Commandments,” This American Life (May 4, 2007).
2. John McQuiston II, Always We Begin Again, rev. ed., 17-18.
