Jesus has been a modern day pop culture icon since the musical Jesus Christ Superstar opened on Broadway on October 12 1971 and is again, in 2024, popularized in Deadpool and Wolverine as he is referenced as Marvel Jesus.
Although Jesus is a pop culture icon, that doesn’t mean the real Jesus is actually popular. Jesus is unpopular with sinners, for various reasons, but I would make the case that Jesus is more unpopular among religious people.
I think people think Jesus is all about love, forgiveness, being counter cultural, feeding the poor, heals the sick (and all of this is true) and wanders around quoting some pretty cool philosophies one should live by.
This is the 30,000 ft view of Jesus. He can be whatever we think He is until we start to zoom in and that’s when the illusion falls apart. People love the idea of Jesus, not the actual Jesus, the Son of God.
Here is why I think the real Jesus is so unpopular,
His exclusivity
To the naked and/or stained glass eye, Jesus is inclusive and He is. Jesus loves everyone. God loves everyone. But not everyone is going to make it to heaven. Why? Because Jesus said,
Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’
Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness!’
Matthew 7:21-23
This was said right after Jesus was talking about false prophets.
So, not everyone who is religious gets into heaven. This really pissed off the religious people of his day who had a system to make heaven and then Jesus came and blew it up.
Jesus also said,
Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. John 14:6
This is further confirmed by the disciples in Acts 4:12
Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
These are not metaphors or words that can be misconstrued. According to Jesus’ own words, He is the only, the exclusive, way to heaven which means every other method, religion or system to get to heaven is wrong.
His “Selective” Will
Jesus does not give us what we want, He gives us what we need, what is best for us.
After 30 years in the church and watching how people behave as well as my own 43 years as a believer, , people (myself included) want to exploit Jesus for their needs rather than surrender to His will.
We love Jesus when He gives what we want and have little use for Him when He doesn’t. It can be a very one sided relationship. Consider what Jesus said to those who chased him following the feeding of the 5,000,
Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus
then he says to them,
When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”
When they find him, Jesus says,
Jesus answered, “Very truly I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw the signs I performed but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.”
and then the kicker
Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?”
Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.”
John 6:23-29
They came looking for bread and Jesus told them, stop looking for what spoils and look to me.
When Jesus does not give people what they want, they become spoiled children (myself included) and “suddenly” Jesus is not very popular anymore.
People only love Jesus when He does what they want Him to do.
His inclusivity
“Didn’t you just say that Jesus is unpopular because He was exclusive?”
Yes, and that stands, in regards to salvation and eternity with God, which makes sinners mad, but inclusivity makes Jesus unpopular with the religious crowd.
Jesus is just as unpopular because of who he hung out with as who he did not hang out with. Jesus can’t catch a break. Look at these statements, one from a religious leaders mouth and the other where Jesus addresses the religious crowd as a whole.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.” Luke 7:39
For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.” Matthew 11:18
Jesus welcome everyone. He calls everyone to be saved and to follow Him but when it comes down to it, they will reject Jesus’ call based on who Jesus calls them to love, their neighbors, including samaritans, our enemies, prostitutes, other races, other genders and other lifestyles.
The call is inclusive; the road is exclusive.
He asks us to change
I don’t like it when Jesus tells me who I have to love.
I don’t like it when Jesus tells me to be accepting.
I don’t like it when he tells me to curb certain habits.
I don’t like it when Jesus tells me to quit sinning and doing things that are damaging our relationship.
I don’t like it when Jesus ask me to share my faith at inconvenient (and convenient) times.
I don’t like it when Jesus asks me to give more than I am willing to give.
If I don’t like it, my guess is that you don’t like at least some of these things.
We don’t like mandates. We don’t like commandments. We don’t like when Jesus meddles in our business, especially if we’re Americans.
We want to change but we don’t want to change the way Jesus prescribes.
Jesus becomes real unpopular when He asks us to sell all we own and follow Him.
Jesus becomes real unpopular when Jesus interrupts our lives to come to a banquet.
Jesus becomes real unpopular when He ask us to carry a cross and live like Him.
It doesn’t matter what I like or don’t like, change will be on His terms not mine.
My terms yield comfort and His terms yield change.
Teenagers and Popularity
I’ve taught teens for over 30 years. There are some teens that want to be popular, well liked and loved (just like adults do). In the age of social media, the way that is communicated is with views, likes and positive comments.
And there are some teens who don’t care if their popular, they just don’t want to be hated or disliked (also like adults). But the gospel is not a popularity contest. It’s the good news the Apostle Paul shared,
Here is a trustworthy saying that deserves full acceptance: Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners—of whom I am the worst. I Timothy 1:15
It’s hard enough for teens to grow up and find themselves, and some will become unpopular but for all the wrong reasons. In my new 4 week series, Unpopular, we look at four people from scripture who (among many) who were unpopular for obeying God rather than man, Gideon, Daniel, Paul and Jesus.
If you teach teens, each lesson in this series comes with activities, bible studies, questions and graphics. The series is available here. It’s time believers were unpopular again, but for all the right reasons.