What Jesus Doesn't Understand About Church

Jesus enjoyed great popularity in the early days of His public ministry. People couldn't get enough of Him. Thousands gathered to hear His words. They marveled at all He said and did. Eventually, though, He reached a turning point, which is recorded in John 6:66.

"From this time many of His disciples turned back and no longer followed Him."

What you may not know is that archaeologists recently uncovered an ancient text that reveals a conversation that Jesus had with some of his disciples about this significant shift in His ministry. While it is unlikely that this record, translated below for The Message Bible, will make it into the canon of the sacred text, it does provide us with a fascinating historical perspective. Here it is:

Jesus was praying under a tree in the heat of the day when a familiar voice greeted Him.

"Jesus, we need to talk."

Jesus looked up to see Peter, with Matthew and John not far behind. "Sure, Pete, what's up?"

"It's about the people."

Jesus smiled. "What about them?"

"You haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what?" He opened a pouch with a few dried figs and offered it to Peter.

"Our numbers are down," Peter said, waving his hand to decline the morsels. "Way down."

"And this worries you?" Jesus inspected one of the figs and held the pouch out to the other men, shaking it. "Matt, John. They're really good."

"I really wish you wouldn't tempt me like that," Matthew said, shaking his head. John, however, quietly stepped forward to fish out a couple figs.

"Something's gotta be done," Peter said, trying to regain control. "Judas says our cash flow is really tight. We'll be lucky if we can afford to buy a single fish from the market to feed all of us."

"You do know I only need one."

"Yeah, right, but you haven't done that in a while. You need to do more of that fish-and-bread multiplying stuff. The crowds ate that up."

"They were hungry."

"I mean, they liked it. They thought it was cool. You do more of that flashy stuff to pull in the crowds, and our numbers are bound to go back up. Raise somebody else from the dead. That kind of thing."

"Numbers are important to you?" Jesus asked.

"How else can we tell how effective we are? Not long ago we had 5,000 men listening to us, but lately they've been dropping like flies. What I'm saying here is someone's gotta take responsibility for this loss, and since you're at the top and all ..."

"Perhaps it's the ones who left you should talk to."

"Oh, we have. And we found out some disturbing news."

"Really? What was that?"

"Some of 'em are sayin' your messages, well, they've gotten kinda dry."

Matthew chimed in. "And a bit depressing, too ... I mean, they say that. Not me. I wouldn't, y'know, say that."

Jesus turned to John. "And what do you think?"

John had been staring at the ground and shuffling his feet in the dirt. "I just want us all to get along. Can't things be the way they were when we were all so happy?"

Peter frowned. "We have to look forward. This ministry's in jeopardy if we don't make a course correction. Matt, tell Jesus what you've learned."

"Yes, certainly." Matthew pulled an abacus from beneath his garments. "I've been running the beads. It seems that giving is already down 54 percent. And the crowds are down by 64 percent compared to this time last month. My calculations indicate that we could well lose some of our biggest contributors if something doesn't change."

Jesus studied Matthew's abacus. "So what kind of course correction did you have in mind, Pete?"

Peter knelt beside Jesus, glad that He was finally starting to listen to reason. "You gotta do more stuff that gets people talking. They'll spread the word through the villages. That water to wine thing? Great stuff. Oh, and remember that time You walked on water?"

"That was the first time I ever did it. I was just getting My feet wet." Jesus laughed, but Peter didn't find this funny.

"Picture this. A big lakeside revival. We send you out on a boat, like a hundred yards out. Then we gather thousands of people around the shoreline, and you get out of the boat and walk straight to the shore on top of the water and start preaching. What an entrance!"

"So let me get this straight. You prefer that I have thousands of shallow followers, instead of a handful who are willing to follow Me wherever I send them?"

"Exactly!" Peter said. "Now we're gettin' somewhere!"

Jesus took a breath and placed His hand on Peter's shoulder. "I know you mean well, but I have a different path to travel. And when it's all done, even more people are going to leave me."

"But," Peter was struggling to find the right words, "that doesn't make any sense."

"It never has," Jesus assured him. "And it never will."

Clearly, this passage reveals that our Lord doesn't have a good grasp on what's important to the church today.
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The Parable of the Stranger on the Interstate

A very influential pastor of a St. Louis megachurch was driving his brand new Toyota Camry on northbound I-55 to attend a "grow your church beyond your wildest dreams" conference in Chicago. He was behind schedule and traveling over the speed limit to make up for lost time. Somewhere around Springfield, he needed to change CDs to listen to a very important message about how to double your church attendance -- in five easy steps.

A certain man stranded along the interstate was trying to flag someone down for help. Sadly for him, the very influential pastor was too busy changing CDs to notice that his Camry was drifting onto the shoulder. He hit the stranger, sending the man flying into the ditch alongside the interstate.

The very influential pastor, realizing that he hit somebody, floored the gas pedal and adjusted the rearview mirror so he wouldn't have to see the broken and bloodied body. "Why was someone standing along the highway like that anyway?" he wondered. Certainly, there was nothing the very influential pastor could do for him. He wasn't a doctor or anything like that. Besides, this conference was important. It would help him reach more people for Christ -- and his church. So the very influential pastor told God how much he loved the stranger and asked the Lord to bless him.

The stranger, fortunately, was still alive. He struggled to stand up and ventured across the busy interstate to find help. No one stopped because they, too, had very important destinations to reach. The man staggered across the median and started to cross the southbound lanes to find help for his wounds.

It was about this time that a very important deacon from Chicago was navigating his sporty Acura to St. Louis for a weekend rally to help him better understand which neighbors and co-workers were most receptive to accepting the gospel and which ones were hopeless causes that should be ignored -- in five easy steps. All in his church were awed by the number of sinners that he convinced to pray the prayer of salvation, whether they wanted to believe or just get him out of their living rooms.

The very important deacon had set his cruise control at 72 mph and was daydreaming about his future conquests at the very time the stranger crossed the southbound lanes. The stranger was treated to a very close look at the silver Acura's sleek and sporty hood ornament before he took a short flight back to the median.

Under normal circumstances, the very important deacon might have reduced his speed, but he was sensible enough to know that the souls of millions of unsaved sinners outweighed the fate of one stranger, especially one he didn't even know. It would not be a strategically wise use of his time. Flipping his rearview mirror so it would be too dark to see the stranger in the median, the very important deacon prayed that the stranger would find God's will for his life -- if he should survive.

A few moments later, a telemarketer was on his way to work. He was glancing in his rearview mirror when he spied something -- or someone -- moving in the grassy median. He eased his 1983 Buick Regal with its cracked windshield to the side of the highway and took the stranger to the hospital where he received care for his injuries. Unfortunately, this made the telemarketer more than an hour late for work. His unforgiving boss fired him on the spot because his priorities were clearly out of sync.

The moral of this story is simple. As you move forward, pay no attention to your rearview mirror lest you be tempted to feel compassion for anyone hurt on the way to your very important destination.
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