“From that time many of His disciples went back, and walked no more with Him. Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will you also go away?”
We usually think of Jesus’ twelve disciples as the only people who followed Him. They were appointed as apostles, but He had more followers than "the Twelve." A lot of people followed Jesus because of His miracles, and because they were fascinated with His teaching. But when it became clear that following Him would call for complete devotion, many turned away from Him and went on about their mundane lives. People today turn away from Jesus for much the same reason that the people in the text turned back, i.e., Jesus was not what they wanted Him to be. Jesus is who the Bible says He is. I hear and read many things about Jesus today that are not true. There is some idea afloat out there that Jesus does not really care how people live, or what people believe. These people have divorced Jesus from the rest of the Bible. People want to accept Jesus and do away with Paul. Jesus teaches us to be humble and to love all people, but He does not expect us to agree with people who have rejected Him and His calling on their lives. When it became clear to these people in the text that Jesus was not just a miracle worker, and that He would make some demands on their lives, they turned back from following Him. Jesus came to give His life as a ransom for our sins. He came to call out people to serve Him and , if need be, at some cost to themselves. Jesus is who and what He is, and we can’t make Him be what we want Him to be. People turn away from Jesus because He does not always do what they tell Him to do. Some people seem to think that praying in the name of Jesus is simply a formula for success. It is true that we have abundant and victorious life because of Jesus, but our every wish is not His command. It is thought today that all Jesus wants is for us to be happy. I’m not going to say that Jesus is against our being happy, but He wants to make a difference in what makes us happy. Let’s turn to the “beatitudes” in Matthew 5 for an example. In verse 10, Jesus said: “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” “Blessed” also means “happy.” This does not tell us that if we follow Jesus, we will not have any problems. It is not just that Jesus is happy when we are happy, but that we should also be happy when He is happy. Jesus will answer all of our prayers, but at times He will tell us what He told Paul in 2 Corinthians 12:9 after Paul asked for healing from his thorn in the flesh: “And He said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.” People turn away from Jesus because He is not popular with the world. The name of Jesus is almost a lightning rod in some places today. It is like people want to remove His name from the public conscience. Jesus told His disciples in John 15:18-19: “If the world hate you, you know that it hated me before it hated you. 19. If you were of the world, the world would love his own: but because you are not of the world, but I have chosen you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.” The Jesus of people’s imagination might be popular, but the Jesus who makes demands on people’s lives is not seek popularity, and we will not be popular in the world at large if we follow Him. I don’t mean to turn you away from following Jesus, but to remind you that if you follow Jesus, it must be for the right reasons. Bro. Joe
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AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
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