He’s going to take things too far. He’s going to rub against your grain. He’s going to piss you off. He’s going to frustrate the hell out of you. He’s going to make you wonder if you made a seriously bad error in judgment in beginning to follow him in the first place.
This won’t happen every day, but it will likely happen a good handful of times during a lifetime of really following hard after Jesus. It’s all part of the package.
So when Jesus asks you, “Does this offend you?” it’s probably best to just be honest. because he already knows the answer. It’s not that he needs you to be honest—it’s that you need you to be honest. His question is an invitation for you to be honest with yourself.
If you can’t face a question like this, then maybe Jesus isn’t for you. At least not right now. Hopefully your time will come.
Jesus doesn’t invite people to become religious, but rather to become honest. Only honest people can follow Jesus. Disingenuous religious people were the only ones he has ever had any real beef with. But whoever can bring all their crazy to the table, ready to accept all of Jesus’ brand of crazy, well, we have a word for them: disciples.
