Jesus didn't want everyone to follow Him

You know that WWJD saying?  Everyone has seen it or had it on some rubber bracelot one time or another.  You ever wonder what would Jesus NOT do?  My wife and I have been reading Mark

separately lately and it's been pretty cool to read the life of Jesus and try to read it without bringing into it our preconceived notions of what Jesus was like.

So I wanted to start looking at some "Jesus didn't..." things.

Here's my first:

Jesus didn't...want everyone to follow Him (in the same way).

So in Mark 5 there's this crazy guy who lives in the local cemetary and who cuts himself (and we thought that was a modern phenomenon!).  So Jesus rips out these evil spirits from him and, as you can imagine, the guy BEGS to be able to follow Jesus.

His whole life has been changed in a crazy, dramatic way!  With all his heart and passion he can only think: I have to follow this guy!

So, what does Jesus do?  He says, "No."
Huh?
"I'm begging you, Lord.  Let me follow you."
It actually says, "But Jesus would not let him."
Weird!
Instead, he tells him to go home to his fam and tell them how He changed him and about God's mercy.

This is the same Jesus who asked people like Peter to leave his family and follow Him.  Is Jesus schizo or something?  I don't think so.  Think of this: Jesus wants you to follow Him in a way that is specific to you, a way that He tailor makes with your personality, your strengths, your heart in mind.  In fact, I suspect that He also tailor makes it with your weaknesses, failures, hurts, and longings in mind as well.

We Christians love to give people formulas and 4-step how-tos to follow Him.  Don't let that stuff crush your freedom to walk with the Lord yourself.  It will look differently than others, as much as my marriage looks different from someone else's, or your friendships look different that other people's friendships.

Ok, remember the former crazy guy?  It says in Mark that "the man left and began to tell the people in the Ten Towns about what Jesus had done for him."  And then the cool part: "And everyone was amazed."