I have been asked to do some research on Matthew 11:11-13 and its possible cross reference in Luke 16:16 by a friend of mine who is preaching this sunday at my church. At face value, this portion of text appears to describe a present Kingdom of God that is open to all at the very moment of Jesus saying these words. Hence its possible relevance to this particular post as a source of possible objection to the idea of the kingdom presented above by myself and more comprehensively by Andrew. However, phrases like ‘the Kingdom of God suffers violence’ and ‘violent men take it by force’ seem to contradict all the other allusions to the kingdom. Seems like Jesus is referring to a popular idea of how the kingdom will come about that he sought to subvert and confront. I have not given these words much thought yet so any comments are welcomed.

Ryan