Is there anything I can say that will actually make someone change?

So too, in our lives, when we're interacting with the people around us, we should not think that there is a formula or a right set of words that we can stumble upon that is going to negate people's free will. Every person is given free will from God. There is no formula that takes that away from them. There's no way to make everyone listen to us. If people encountered God in the flesh and heard his words and rejected what he said, even just in his preaching, so too we should understand that when we tell people about the gospel, they will reject us as well, and our words. Likewise, when somebody asks for a specific word of instruction, like today's gospel, and Christ gives them the perfect word of instruction, the perfect word, it does not mean that they will answer it. It says, when he heard these things he became very sorrowful, for he was very rich. So what did Christ do? Did Christ say, okay, that was too much for you, I'm sorry, that was too harsh, maybe I should have said it nicer, maybe I should say something that's a little more palatable for you? Did he chase after him and say, just so you know, don't tell anybody, but I really am God incarnate, and I'm giving you the perfect word of instruction, and you should trust me? Does he chase after him? Does he amend the word? None of that. None of that. It's so interesting, because this happens several times in the gospel. Christ will give a word of instruction, people will get upset, and Christ does not do anything about it. Remember when he's talking about eating his body and drinking his blood, and it says some people were like, this is too much, and it says they left him. He didn't say, hold on, wait, let me help you understand, let me do this or that for you. It simply was what it was. We see this over and over and over again in the Gospels. Christ merely gives instructions. What people do with it is their own choice. They have free will. And the great irony is that we as people often want to usurp other people's free will and manipulate them and get them to listen to us or follow us or do what we want them to do. And we argue and we batter them and we badger them and we annoy them so that they'll listen to us. And yet here is God incarnate who gives free will, and the great irony is he honors and respects it so much that he doesn't try to force anyone to follow him or to listen to him or to love him. He isn't coercive. He isn't argumentative. He isn't manipulative. He just lets it be. He says what he needs to say, and that is all. When we encounter people in our lives, we have to get away from this idea that we are going to magically say the right words and people will listen to us, or try to argue and coerce them. This is unfruitful, and it is not the method of Christ. That is what we should be taking away from this gospel. It is not the method of Christ to argue, to try to manipulate, to try to coerce, to get emotionally upset, to become frustrated when people don't listen to us. It simply is that we should be like Christ. We say what we need to say, and then we let it go. Once we've said it, it's done. If they want to accept it, God bless them. If they want to reject it, may God help them.