Some years ago a book came out called What Jesus Demands from the World. This book won awards and was well-received by the Christian community.
I saw the title and thought, “This way of thinking about what Jesus says misses the point badly. It shows that one of the main problems with Christianity is the way people think about Christ himself.”
Later I was given a copy as a gift. I had the chance to read it. Yes, it has a lot of biblical quotations and discusses ideas from the Bible. But the premise that the things Jesus says are demands is fundamentally flawed. (I admit that what really got me was when I saw that the demands were cross-indexed, i.e. in one place it said something like “See demand #32.” It was just too weird.)
What is a demand? It is an expression of the will over against the will of another. In the vernacular, it is “My way or the highway.” It says that things will be the way I want … or, by implication if not explicitly, bad things will happen.
To see the good news of Jesus like this is a travesty. Jesus does not demand: he invites. “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
John tells us that “… the Law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ” (John 1:17). The Law demands: do this or else. Grace and truth work entirely differently. Grace seeks relationship and truth seeks sincerity of the heart. The Law doesn’t worry about either: it just worries about action. It’s not a matter of why you do something but that you do it. But Jesus speaks to the heart, to the inner person. Those who worship God must do so in spirit and truth.
A demand is inherently adversarial. It assumes that we are enemies — I want one thing and you want another. And it says, “I’m going to get what I want regardless.”
Jesus, on the other hand, reaches across the gap. “I no longer call you servants,” he says, “but friends.” He tells us that if we abide in him we’ll bear fruit. He does not demand fruit — he guarantees it as a product of abiding in the relationship.
Most important, when we see the word of God as demands, we fail to see it as what it really is — opportunity, freedom, breaking our lives out of the vicious circles we find ourselves in. When Jesus tells us to love our enemies, he is not demanding that we do so. Rather, he is opening up the possibility that there is another way apart from the cycle of hatred and violence the world finds itself in. “You don’t need to kill your foe,” says Jesus. “You can win by kindness.” “Yeah, right,” we cynically say. “That will never work.”
But then one day maybe we give it a try, and maybe something good comes out of it. Or maybe we see a little better what Jesus was up to. Maybe we do indeed heap burning coals on our enemy’s head by treating him with kindness. Maybe we win by converting the enemy into a friend.
Relationality vs. coercion. Coercion seems more effective. You make people feel like they have to do something, and a lot of times they will do it. But the heart is not there. God, instead, seeks a meeting of hearts. He wants us to be one with him, to get where he is coming from. He wants us to follow him from the heart. That is what will see you through the tough times in your Christian life.
Remember the four soils. The seeds planted in the second soil sprang up quickly, but they died fast because they had no root. It was all on the outside. And it looked really good for a while. But soon it became like the East Bay hillsides in summer — a brown wasteland. Whereas the good soil — “they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience” (Luke 8:15). The word reached the heart and it had staying power.
So — don’t worry about the demands of Jesus. There aren’t any. There are only invitations, possibilities, new approaches. Even more, there is life — and that life is the light of men (John 1:4). The life Jesus communicates to you through your relationship with him will show you the way. And it will be a well of water springing up to eternal life (John 4:14).
And you are invited to drink that water: “The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price” (Revelation 22:17).