Joyfully struggling towards God's kingdom

A beck flowing through a grate into a pipe beneath our garden

One morning a few days ago, our neighbour knocked on our door. She reminded us that the beck (stream) running through our garden was blocked, causing the water to flood our lawn and even begin flooding her own garden.

Although we had been regularly clearing the beck in the previous few days, when the fallen leaves from nearby trees had begun blocking the flow, her announcement compelled us to do so again that morning. With a garden fork and in my wellies (Wellington boots), I cleared away fistfuls of soggy leaves clinging to the rusty grate that covers the entrance to the pipe that runs beneath our garden. Over the course of about five minutes, the water level sunk back to normal.

A few hours later, though, I looked out the window and saw that our garden was flooded again. This time, when clearing the debris, I did something different: I lifted the grate and watched in awe as water bubbled and quickly sank, returning to normal levels in just a few seconds. The grate was now tilted at an angle, revealing a large clump of leaves in one corner that hadn't dislodged before, the removal of which had made all the difference. As before, rather than overflowing onto the lawn, the force of the water now flowed swiftly into the pipe beneath our garden.

This image of water forcing its way through the unblocked grate into the pipe illustrates what Jesus says in the Gospel of Luke about people entering the kingdom of God: 'the good news of the kingdom of God is being preached, and everyone is forcing his way into it' (16:16).

But what does it mean that people are forcing their way into God's kingdom?

Metropolitan Anthony Bloom writes that entering God's kingdom requires an attitude of joyful struggle:

This notion of joy coupled with strenuous effort, with ascetical endeavour, with struggle indeed, may seem strange, and yet it runs through the whole of our spiritual life, the life of the Church and the life of the Gospel, because the Kingdom of God is conquered. It is not something which is simply given to those who leisurely, lazily wait for it to come. For those who would wait for it in that spirit, it will come indeed: it will come at the dead of night, it will come like the Judgement of God, like the thief who takes us unawares, like the bridegroom who comes when the foolish virgins are asleep. (Meditations on a Theme)

Metropolitan Anthony continues to write that this joyful struggle involves mastering ourselves so that we can listen to and obey God; ultimately, forcing our way into the kingdom is taking up our cross and following Jesus. 

The Apostle Paul illustrates this with a sports image: 

Do you not know that all the runners run, but only one gets the prize? Run in such a way as to get the prize. Everyone who competes in games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last, but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. (1 Cor. 9:24-25)

Seeking God's kingdom requires our best effort. We might learn from presidential candidates when they run a campaign election: for months, sometimes years in advance of Election Day, they fight and campaign as if their lives depend on it -- as if the life of the nation depends on it.

We too are running a campaign, or rather we are invited to join God's campaign in overthrowing the reign of sin and evil in this world. Our job is to force our way into God's kingdom through offering ourselves to God.

This effort is not to earn our salvation, which comes as a gift from God. Rather, it is our response to God's gift. His love for us awakens our love for him. This joyful struggle is the expression of our desire to give him our very best because that is what he deserves.

What gets in our way? What are the leaves, twigs and other debris that block the flow of water, that keep us from joyfully struggling towards the kingdom?  

One can think of several answers, such as our passions (I have written about this briefly before). However, recently I have been thinking about another answer: idolatry.

The prophet Ezekiel similarly describes idolatry as blockage. At one point, when the elders of Israel come to Ezekiel to hear God's word, God tells Ezekiel that 'these men have set up idols in their hearts and put wicked stumbling blocks before their faces' (Ezek. 14:12). The idols that the elders worship block their inner vision and their relationship with God. God warns that he will turn against such clogged-up people unless they 'Repent! Turn from your idols and renounce all your detestable practices' (v. 6).

In this time of waiting for the election results, it can be tempting to think that if only our favoured candidate wins the election, if only our party kept or gained power, then surely God's kingdom would come at last. It can be easy to think that our salvation is found in an ideology, whether conservative or liberal, socialistic or libertarian or nationalistic or anything else. 

But this is idolatry, devoting ourselves to the systems of this world rather than to God. As Father Alexander Schmemann says,

there is but one essential sin, one essential danger: that of idolatry, the ever-present and ever-acting temptation to absolutize and thus to idolize "this world" itself, its passing values, ideas and ideologies, to forget that as the people of God "we have here no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come" (Heb. 13:14). (Church, World, Mission)

The kingdom of God does not come through the Democrats or Republicans, through one or another candidate. No matter who wins this election, the US -- and the rest of the world, for that matter -- are in the same position as before: in need of the life that comes only in Christ. 

I'm not saying it's wrong to vote or to be involved in political decisions. I myself voted and have certain political views, and I hope that I sought God's kingdom through how I voted. I believe it is right to hope that our communities, politicians and nations would reflect and seek God's kingdom above all else in the decisions they make. 

But this is usually not the case. Political parties and nations usually seek their own kingdoms first, not the kingdom of God. No party or nation is completely righteous. Putting all our hopes in political leaders is like blocking a beck with dead leaves on a grate; it keeps us from joyfully struggling towards the kingdom of God, which is the only true source of our salvation.