Jesus does not compel the rich young man – or us – to give away everything or to follow him (Matt 19:16-26). He invites us to that perfection, but he does not compel us to it. He does not force us to follow him, to love him, to believe in him. If these things were forced, they would not be love or faith.
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| Christ and the Rich Young Ruler (in process) |
And it is love and faith that Jesus wants from us. Mark says that Jesus looks upon the rich young man and loves him. He looks upon us and loves us, too.
Jesus, who is a man – who indeed is the man – relates to us humanly. This is how much he loves us: even though he is the Lord, he does not lord it over us. Rather, he wraps a towel around his waist and washes our feet like a servant, even though he is our God. We meet him face to face in his icon and heart to heart in prayer. We touch and taste and see his goodness in the most holy Eucharist. We encounter him daily in our neighbors – our friends, our family, and our enemies. Through these, he forms his personal relationship with us.
Now, Jesus is the almighty God and, as such, he could do anything. He could make us follow him – compel our obedience to his commands. But, as Clement of Alexandria says, “God does not compel, for compulsion is repugnant to God, but he supplies to those who seek, and bestows on those who ask, and opens to those who knock.” Out of love, he chooses to relate to us, his creatures, as free persons and not as slaves. Love always respects the freedom of the other person – of the beloved.
Our freedom is one of the ways in which we are like God. God made us in His image and likeness. But what does this mean? Well, it means a lot of things. One of the things it means is this: as a former pastor of mine, of blessed memory, always used to say: God is unique, relational, and free – and he made each of us unique, relational, and free. I think this is true.
There is one God – and so he is unique. And God is a community of Persons – and so he is relational. And God is free. “The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom” (2 Cor 3:17).
If he took away our freedom, he would be taking away one of the things that makes us like himself. So, if he were to force us to follow him against our will, maybe it would seem like we were closer to him, but we would be less like him and so, in that more important way, we would be more distant from him.
So, Jesus is not a control freak. And Jesus, unlike us, actually has the power with which he could control others if that was what he wanted to do. But to do so is unloving – and he is love. And to do so would also deprive others of the opportunity to love in return. We must learn from Jesus. We must stop trying to control others and, instead, try to love them. Jesus loves the rich young man. He also lets him walk away.
Now, this doesn't mean – "I do my thing and you do your thing... and if by chance we find each other, it's beautiful,"[i] as the seventies slogan would have it. Loving one another includes respecting each other's freedom, but that's not all there is to it. If we love someone, we obviously want what is best for them. And what is best for them is to follow Jesus Christ. This isn't relativism I'm proposing or indifference to the choices others make. Not all ways are good or equivalent. There is one way and one truth and we are to preach him. That way and that truth are a person. And we are to invite – urge, even – and persuade one another to follow him – freely.
Just as Jesus himself invites us to follow him, as he invites the rich young man today. Indeed, this is more than an invitation. His invitation is in the imperative – “Go, sell what you possess and give to the poor; and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me” (19:21). This is a command. But it is not a compulsion. He does not force us to follow him.
So when the rich young man goes away sorrowful and does not follow Jesus and does not sell his many possessions and give to the poor but rather chooses his wealth over Jesus, Jesus lets him go.
Likewise, we must let go of our passion to control others. Our efforts to do so always fail anyway. We have to learn to let go. If Jesus, who is God, lets go, we, who are only humans, should let go all the more.
This never means that we stop seeking the good of those we love. Our neighbors, our friends and enemies, or our family members who have perhaps rejected the faith need our love, and constant prayer, and witness to the life of faith, and willingness to listen with compassion, and preparation to make a defense for the hope that is within us. But we won’t win any souls for Christ by vainly trying to force the world into compliance. That’s not how this works. That is not evangelism.
Evangelism, rather, is to preach the good news that, while our salvation is impossible for us, with God, all things are possible. In Christ Jesus, we humans can be united to God. All the rich young man (and us) need to do to put an end to our ultimate sorrow is turn back to Christ – away from our worldly preoccupations – and to follow instead the Lord. He opens the way that is too narrow for us to pass through without him. He is the way.
It is this message that is compelling to the human heart. This is the way to life, for which every human heart yearns. Let us preach it from the rooftops, but let us let God do the real work of inspiring and converting hearts and give up on the vain notion that we can control others.
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