Was Jesus a failure?

Lk.7:23 - And blessed is he, whosoever shall not offended in Me.

He had prepared for His ministry all His life and for three and a half years He had covered the whole nation of Israel preaching His message. He had taught on such relevant topics as heaven, hell, cross bearing, angels, sacrifice, prayer, surrender, and the worthlessness of the things of this world compared with the Spiritual blessings from the Father. He performed many miracles and healed thousands. Over the course of His ministry He had gathered thousands of seekers only to see them turn away in response to some of His "hard" messages. He baptized no one, He built no buildings, He operated on a shoestring budget, and He showed no material signs that God's blessing was on Him.

So after three and a half years He had 120 followers, most of whom scattered when He was arrested, huddled in an insignificant upper room, and lead by a man who just a couple of weeks ago denied he even knew Jesus. Nobody would have scheduled Jesus to speak at a church growth conference; nobody would read any book He wrote on how to reach people; nobody would examine His strategies to attract seekers. In the genre of today's "success" measuring stick Jesus was a dismal failure.

Now these 120 nobodies could never impact the world for Jesus. No training, no education, no plan, no television, no money, no New Testament, no graphics, and soon the whole world would seek their lives which all but one of them would gladly give up. If the early followers of Jesus had just had enough sense to be relevant and non-offensive they could have avoided the burnings, the stonings, the crosses, the lions, and they could have been accepted by the unbelieving culture - like we are! You see, if only they had presented their message in an appealing and positive way more people would have been saved It's a shame they didn't have a Purpose Driven Pentecost.

Either Jesus was a failure...or we are.