Therapeutic Theological Thought

by Penrod

Motto: “All therapy ends badly.” — Sigmund Freud

God does not require us to be perfect.

Whatever keeps us from being at one with ourselves or creates inner dissatisfaction in our lives comes from us. It is our own.

When the rich young man came to Jesus (Mark 10:17), it was because he was unhappy with himself. There is no evidence that either Jesus or God was dissatisfied with him.

Inability to be satisfied with ourselves, it appears, often comes from some attachment that prevents us from being free and from fulfilling our wishes for our lives.

In the case of the rich young man, the attachment was his possessions. I suspect that responsibility for his fortune kept his attention, demanded his time, and kept him from following a vision — perhaps a vision to go about among people, helping, befriending, and encouraging them. Though his wealth was a blessing and a gift to him — apparently an inheritance he had not chosen, he protected it as one would expect a responsible person to do. He wished to be pure in heart, but it appears that he did not trust himself and he was not free to do what his heart most deeply desired.

His dissatisfaction led, or drove, him to seek advice from Jesus. My assertion above, that it was neither God nor Jesus who was dissatisfied with the young man, is confirmed by Mark’s report that Jesus “looked on him and loved him.” Jesus did this after the young man had declined his advice.

The young man went away more troubled than he was before he came. He had learned that not even Jesus considered himself good. Jesus said so right off (Mark 10:18). The young man realized that what he was looking for was not going to come from being good. However, no matter how disappointed the young man may have been with the advice Jesus had given him or with his own response, I am confident that he did not forget those moments of direct, unjudging love.

Unworthy as we may feel, each of is invited to approach both Jesus and God in the confidence that they will look on us and love us in the same unjudging way. Responding to that invitation takes great faith.

Freedom, a central aspect of what the young man was seeking, is an essential quality of eternal life. In many cases, the obstruction to freedom in personal life is some type of an attachment. But, not all attachments inhibit freedom. An attachment that inhibits freedom for one person may be a means of freedom for another.

There may be many reasons why the young man’s attachment to wealth inhibited his freedom; whatever they were, clearly they kept him from doing what he wanted to do.

Still, on the face of things, there was no reason for the young man to be dissatisfied. Jesus apparently perceived the young man’s true desire and saw what prevented him from fulfilling it. Letting go was required, a release from obligation and preoccupation. The solution was simple — “Go, sell all that you have and give it to the poor” (Mark 10:21). It was not necessary to do this on God’s account; it was necessary on the young man’s account.

Through the years, living in monastic orders has allowed many people to enjoy the freedom provided by vows of poverty. In that setting, poverty has been a freedom for some even when they did not choose it voluntarily. Significant advantages accrue to those who choose the vow of poverty. They put themselves permanently in the position that the disciples enjoyed for a brief time — when Jesus sent them two-by-two on missions without provisions or possessions other than the clothes they were wearing. When I leave the house with keys, money, credit cards, pen, paper, stamps, and backpack and I am wondering what I have forgotten, I am a long way from the freedom of the disciples on their missions.

At least on the day reported, the young man was not willing to choose the freedom he desired, because he was not able to let go of the attachment.

Jesus was very sorry to lose this potential disciple. He desired the young man’s company and he had failed to achieve it. Even though Jesus was very sad to lose the young man and to see him so sorrowful, there was nothing more that Jesus could do for him. The young man was in conflict because of his own expectations and desires, not because God had judged him.

I like to think that the young man eventually found the freedom he sought and that Jesus had the opportunity to enjoy the young man’s company again.