Jesus is stressing how the kingdom is made visible, as he lets himself be arrested and leaves John in prison. The opposition shows how the Angel of the Lord works: through trial and suffering. In Matthew 11:12, Jesus teaches exactly how the kingdom advances since John’s ministry.
Although the kingdom of heaven is subjected to pressure, and violent people seem to seize it, this does not primarily describe those violent people. Instead, it reveals how the kingdom is made visible—under the sign of the cross. The Son of God allows himself to be arrested and leaves John in prison. This is not a setback after John’s ministry, but the very means by which people come to understand why the crowds once flocked to him.
The opposition does not prove that John the Baptist failed; rather, it shows how the Angel of the Lord works: not with fire in the wilderness, but through trial and suffering. In this way, the least of John’s followers becomes great in the kingdom of the One who is already being rejected and threatened. In Matthew 11:12, Jesus teaches the people to read God’s clock: how the hands have indeed moved forward since the days John first appeared in the wilderness.1
12 From the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,and the violent take it by force.