Time and again, Jesus says some of the most outlandish things.
He tells the rich man to sell everything and follow him (Matthew 10:21). He tells the Syro-Phonecian woman that her request to heal her daughter was unreasonable because he came for the Jews (Mark 7:24-29). He tells the crowd they had to eat his body (John 6:34-42). These are all staggering hurdles for people to jump over.
Why put these in their path? Why not make it easier instead of harder? Why? Because he intentionally was giving each an opportunity to grow, to follow, to pursue him through difficulties.
The rich man could not get over his obstacle. The Syro-Phonecian woman got through hers. Peter had no clue what Jesus meant about eating his body but said, “Who else would we follow?” Peter gave the right (not perfect) response Jesus was looking for.
The Wisdom tradition is concerned with our process of maturing, not just with where we end up, not just with the letter of the law. While only Jesus is perfect, he does expect us to ponder, to see the direction he thinks we should be going, and to aim toward that.
As twenty-first-century people, we tend to think that the rich man had two choices. In fact, he had three. (1) He could walk away. (2) He could sell everything and follow. Or (3) he could say, “That’s a hard saying, Jesus. I’m not sure what it means or how to do it, but could I keep following you as I try to work it out?” And Jesus would have said yes.
Peter followed option three regarding eating his flesh. And Jesus said yes. That’s what Nicodemus did when Jesus told him he had to be born again. He didn’t get it but he followed, partially, as best he could.
As children of the Enlightenment we tend to think in terms of crystal clear, black and white propositions. Something is true or it isn’t. We obey or we sin. There is no middle ground. But Jesus and the Bible understand that the world is messy, we are messy, and much is not clear cut. Jesus is not primarily looking for a pristine right answer. He wants us to engage him personally, deeply, even if incompletely.
When he says, “Whoever finds their life will lose it, and whoever loses their life for my sake will find it,” (Mt 10:39) we might think that we’ve got to do it completely, one way or the other, or else we fail. But that is just not the point. The point is that Jesus is showing us a direction to go. A goal to reach for. None of us is ever going to do this fully in this life. Only Jesus will. But he makes his point in an arresting manner so that it catches our attention, gets us to stop to think, and nudges us in a new direction.
Yes, the extremes Jesus throws at us are real and true, but he knows our frame. He knows we are dust. He hits us with extremes to shake us out of our stupor, out of our habitual expectations. To get us to think again. And again. And wonder. And question. To question him, ask him, pursue him with all our doubt and failure and uncertainty. Like Peter.
Another way to say it is that in the Bible, truth is not either/or. It is both/and. Evangelicals tend to think that we can put truth in a box and now everything is set and we are good. But truth is much more than more complicated and more human and more Divine.
Jesus won’t fit in our box. He wants to know, “Will you follow me anyway?”
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