Better a Fan Than a Follower

Recently, I saw a pastor and church highlighting their fall theme, “Fan or Follower.” The pastor likely wants to encourage people to get more serious about Jesus. I get it. If your pastor doesn’t care whether you are serious about Jesus, find a new pastor. This Jesus guy is a life-or-death man.

But “fan or follower” is a spurious alternative. I assume the pastor doesn’t want his flock to be fans but followers. As Tim Robinson in I Think You Should Leave Now says in a couple of skits, “Are you sure about that!?” It isn’t either/or. In fact, the more you are a fan of Jesus, the more you will follow him.

You know darn well that Taylor Swift’s most intense fans do everything she says, even voting ha. Likewise, the more you become a fan of Jesus, the more you care about what He says, and the more you will follow. It seems counterintuitive, but the more someone realizes that Jesus did it all for free for them, the more she wants to follow Him. She doesn’t follow because she must but because she wants to. As Peter said in John 6, “Lord, where else can you go? You have the words of eternal life.” There’s no choice.

Of course, pastors should preach about what Jesus tells us to do: love our neighbor, forgive others, etc. Fans of Jesus want to know and should be instructed, even admonished, when their actions demonstrate that they don’t care what Jesus says. But telling people they need to evolve from being a fan to a follower creates false degrees of discipleship. It robs people of their identity and peace given to them for free in baptism. It introduces doubts in the believer, “Am I a follower, enough of a follower?” How dare you. Did Christ do it all for us or not? We all stand as empty-handed beggars before the cross, where Jesus did ALL the work for us. “Fan or follower” makes me question whether Jesus is a coach or savior.

Our hope is not our following or fandom of Jesus. It is Jesus, period. He is the one who said to people who failed at discipleship, “Come to me all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.

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John J. Flanagan on August 23, 2024 at 6:50 am

Well put. Interesting and insightful premise, “Fan or Follower?” The way I see it, being a fan seems more of a superficial, fleeting state of mind. One moves from one thing to the next in life, impulsive, and capricious, continually looking for something else, or someone new, to direct their attention, even developing an emotional bond. Yet this remains temporal, and what you liked yesterday may be replaced by tomorrow’s new thing. Sure, one can be a fan for many years, even a lifetime, as in our musical preferences and icons of song and art. We can be a fan of great men and women of history. But as we elevate them, we find things we may or may not like as well. But for a “Follower” as in a follower of Jesus, I see it as a permanent, infinite, eternal, and continuous relationship, and something humbling, that Our Lord would be the object of our affection in a way which is incomparable with the esteem held as a fan. If we are simply a fan of Jesus, and not a true follower, we have missed the mark. Better to be a follower and servant of Jesus, and plan your life, hopes, dreams, and redemption around this relationship. Soli Deo Gloria

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Better a Fan Than a Follower

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