The Unpopular Jesus (Probably Not The Jesus You Thought You Know)

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?” ...... And he said, “This is why I told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted him by the Father.” After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him. 

John 6:60,65-66

If you think you are believing in a teaching that is nice and popular, probably you should think again. Today, I could probably talk you out of following Jesus. (Or maybe not.)

Jesus wasn't exactly a very popular guy. Really. The things that He had said probably offended all the unbelievers churches today strife hard to attract. I mean look at Him: how do you think exactly the things He taught and said in John 6 would actually convince somebody to come to church? Instead, many of His followers, who followed Him from one place to another, turn away and left Him. And get this, they "no longer walked with him."

Jesus isn't popular. Consider these:

And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 

Luke 9:23-24

To another he said, “Follow me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” And Jesus said to him, “Leave the dead to bury their own dead. But as for you, go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” 

Luke 9:59-60

Yet another said, “I will follow you, Lord, but let me first say farewell to those at my home.” Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.” 

Luke 9:61-62

Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three. They will be divided, father against son and son against father, mother against daughter and daughter against mother, mother-in-law against her daughter-in-law and daughter-in-law against mother-in-law.” 

Luke 12:51-53

And he answered them, “Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans, because they suffered in this way? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish. Or those eighteen on whom the tower in Siloam fell and killed them: do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem? No, I tell you; but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.” 

Luke 13:2-5

Haha, and whenever there's a crowd following Him:

Now great crowds accompanied him, and he turned and said to them, “If anyone comes to me and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be my disciple. Whoever does not bear his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple. ...... So therefore, any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple. 

Luke 14:25-27,33

And a ruler asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not commit adultery, Do not murder, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said, “All these I have kept from my youth.” When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “One thing you still lack. Sell all that you have and distribute to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” But when he heard these things, he became very sad, for he was extremely rich. Jesus, seeing that he had become sad, said, “How difficult it is for those who have wealth to enter the kingdom of God! For it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” 

Luke 18:18-25

 These are found in Luke alone. I omitted some of them because they are slightly irrelevant to our culture yet carries the same sentiment. You can definitely find more in the other Gospels. I will not try to explain any of them, but I will encourage you to read for yourself, the Scriptures that revolves around these verses, because I might have taken them out of context.

But my question is this: Is this the Jesus that you really want to follow? Jesus demands us our family, our wealth, our status, our righteousness, our identities and even our lives. This same Jesus demanded Peter to leave his job, Matthew to leave his high place as tax-collector, and Nicodemus, a Pharisee to give up his life (John 3:1-3). Are you willing to give them up in order to follow Jesus? Luke 14:33 simply says "any one of you who does not renounce all that he has cannot be my disciple."

If you continue to believe in a Jesus that does not demand you to give up your everything to follow Him, who tells you simply that if you have said the Sinner's Prayer, go to church every Sunday and you will be okay, I ask you to examine the Bible again and compare that Jesus to your Jesus.

Jesus in the Bible didn't tell us to study hard and get A for every subject, He told us instead to go to Him and take up His yoke and follow Him (Matthew 11:28-30). Jesus in the Bible didn't tell us to build a bigger church, to attract bigger congregation, He told us instead that the Son of Man does not have a place to lay His head. (Luke 9:58). Jesus didn't ask us to come to church in our best clothes and put 10% into the offering box, instead He commended the widow who put in all that she had to live on (Mark 12:41-44). Jesus claims to be The Way, The Truth and The Life, no one goes to the Father except through Him (John 14:6), and He said that the door leads to eternal life is narrow, many will seek to enter but will not be able. (Luke 13:24) (In other words, there's only one way, whether you like it or not.)

Jesus demands our everything, but in return, Jesus gives us the greatest treasure of all: not eternal life, not citizenship in Heaven, but Christ Jesus Himself. In Him, we can find all that we need, and all that we want. In Him, we shall feel the joy of the one who sold all that he had to buy the land on which he found the precious jewel (Matthew 13:44).

So, I ask you again, is this the Jesus you want to follow? You better consider what's at stake here.

"For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it? Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who see it begin to mock him, saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ Or what king, going out to encounter another king in war, will not sit down first and deliberate whether he is able with ten thousand to meet him who comes against him with twenty thousand? And if not, while the other is yet a great way off, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace."  

Luke 14:28-32

Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”  

Luke 9:62

If you have decided, then live all out for Him, because He did the same for you too. He gave up His place in Heaven, His privilege as God, come in the lowly form of a baby born in a manger, walk the earth without nothing but a poor look, healed the sick and lame and poor and afflicted, suffered the innocent accusation of the people He came to save, struck 40 minus 1 at the hands of men, and worse of all: all that He did and said, led Him to the cross. To die on the cross, what the ultimate reason that He came in the first place, that all man may be saved through Him.

This Good Friday and Easter, will you follow Jesus to the cross?