And he was sad at that saying, and went away grieved: for he had great possessions.
Read Chapter 10
Augustine of Hippo
AD 430
He did not follow. He just wanted a good teacher, but he questioned who the teacher was, and scorned the identity of the One who was teaching. “He went away sad,” bound up in his desires. “He went away sad,” carrying a great burden of possessiveness upon his shoulders.
God provides a fairer wind for more willing souls. But if they early abandon their eagerness, the wind which God provides is thereby obstructed. For to save the unwilling is an act of compulsion. But to save the willing is the act of one showing grace.
The rich man followed his own counsel, having rejected the precept of dividing his resources with the needy. He was abandoned by the Lord to his own opinion. There is no justification for applying the term “harshness” on this account to describe Christ. For each individual free will is able to choose to defile itself. “Behold, I have set before you good and evil.” Choose that which is good. If you cannot because you will not (for he has shown that you can if you will, because he has proposed each to your free will) you ought to depart from him whose will you elect not to do.
