Francois Fenelon was a French Catholic theologian and writer who lived in the late 1600s. He had quite a career, serving as a priest, a missionary, and as a tutor to the grandson of King Louis XIV. His spiritual writings convey an uncommon richness of depth. He seems especially interested in helping his readers understand the singular work of the cross.
As he encourages his brethren to embrace the folly of the cross, Fenelon writes:
You cannot give place to the world, to your passions or your laziness. Words are not enough to claim the kingdom of God. It takes strength and courage and violence. You must violently resist the tides of the world. Violently give up all that holds you back from God. Violently turn your will over to God to do His will alone.
This violence is what I pray you will come to know, for how else will you know anything of the life of the Lord Jesus?
Such rhetoric might sound strange in our ears, particularly coming from a spiritual sage. What does Fenelon mean when he speaks of violently resisting the tides of the world?
Certainly his meaning is bound up with the word “resist.” He sees opposition to the kingdom of the world as an imperative of discipleship to Jesus. To say that such resistance should be carried out “violently” simply couches this in terms of spiritual warfare. Our enemy would prefer that we not consider our opposition to his worldly counter-kingdom in any sort of active sense. No, his goal is to lull us to sleep, to anesthetize us to any such notions of taking up arms in this cosmic struggle.
Thus, Fenelon says that we need strength and courage and violence.
I’ve given it some thought and I agree with Fenelon. While eschewing earthly / physical violence, we would be well served to consider what a violent rejection of the tides of the world would look like in our own lives. Don’t just give up that which hinders you from your God, Fenelon says. Violently give it up.
The kingdom of heaven suffers attack from violent people (Matt. 11:12). Fenelon encourages God’s people to a reciprocal act of “violence” as we reject the counter-kingdom of the world. May we do so with violence.
already & not yet 