Easter and Popular Jesus

By Michael Griego on April 18, 2025 • ( 0 )

There’s a spiritual shift underway – led by younger people in the US. Yes, Jesus is growing in popularity quite a bit this Easter. Truth, like cream, has a way of rising to the top eventually. ◊

There is some fresh research tracking the resurgence of popularity of Jesus, particularly among younger people in the United States.

According to Barna Group here in April 2025, 66% of all U.S. adults say they have made a personal commitment to follow Jesus that is still important in their life today, up from 54% from only 4 years ago. That marks a 12-percentage-point increase since 2021, when commitment levels reached their lowest in more than three decades of Barna tracking.^¹

The Jesus topic always comes up around Easter time. Particularly interesting is that the resurgence of spiritual renewal and popularity of Jesus is being led by younger generations, even more by young men. Specifically, the uptick is coming from Millennials and Gen Z. Boomers and Gen Z have stayed relatively flat when tracked from 2019.

Young People Are Leading the Shift to Jesus
The percentage of US adults by generation who say “I have made a personal commitment to follow Jesus that is still important in their life today” breaks down as follows from Barna’s research:^²

Gen Z (born between 1999 and 2015)

Men: 45% in 2021 to 67% in 2025
Women: 48% in 2021 to 61% in 2025

Millennial (born between 1984 and 1998)

Men: 52% in 2021 to 71% in 2025
Women: 60% in 2021 to 64% in 2025

Gen X (born between 1965 and 1984)

Men: 51% in 2021 to 64% in 2025
Women: 59% in 2021 to 66% in 2025

Boomer (born between 1946 and 1964)

Men: 46% in 2021 to 62 in 2025
Women: 61% in 2021 to 66% in 2025

Yes, the numbers are interesting. I believe they reflect a culture more readily exposed to apparently objective portrayals of Jesus and the Gospels in accessible television shows like The Chosen as well as online spiritual inputs, viewpoints, experiences, and opinions openly shared and debated in the privacy of one’s family room and/or electronic device.

From the Advent of Christmas to the Victory of Easter
But Jesus and any tie to public popularity has always been about more than good marketing, online likes and website hits. Jesus is personal. Jesus is spiritual. When addressed, the Jesus-topic absolutely does hit one at the core of one’s soul and being.

Yes, one’s mind too, as one must calibrate the truth of information flow, historical accuracy, witness and document source credibility and reliability.

We have to deal with the birth of Jesus at Christmas, the advent of the God-Man. And we have to deal with the death of Jesus on Good Friday, and then we have to deal with the resurrection of Jesus on Easter, 3 days after His crucifixion as He predicted.

The fact that Jesus was seen alive in Jerusalem on that first Easter Sunday by His friends and disciples, and then by as many as 500 people over the next 40 days, (1 Corinthians 15:1-8) is key to understanding why we, and believers around the world, still talk about, hold up, and worship Jesus as the Christ, the Son of God, as revealed, described, and predicted throughout the hallowed Word of God, the Holy Scriptures, the Old and New Testament of the Bible.

It’s not a minor thing or a passing cultural fad.

Jesus is not going away.

And through the promised Helper, the Holy Spirit, which was unleashed to the public in Jerusalem on Pentecost (see Acts 2), Christ lives on since then through today in the hearts and souls of any and all who would believe in Him as who He is, the Son of God and Savior of the World.

That is how and why Christianity quickly exploded throughout the Roman Empire and the world over, and is very vibrantly alive in the hearts, minds, and souls of over 2 billion people today.

No matter how hard people may try, you can’t bury truth when you see and experience it.

The Full Easter Story
If you want the whole written story, read the amazing Gospel accounts of Jesus’ final week leading up to Easter Sunday in Matthew chapters 19-28, Mark chapters 10-15, Luke chapters 18-21, and John chapters 11-21.

On your own, relive the path to Easter this weekend in a way that stirs your mind and heart beyond religious ritual or nodding acquiescence to holiday tradition. As you read, in your mind’s eye, place yourself in the middle east as a 1st century person living in or around the Judean countryside experiencing this heralded man who claimed to be one with God, and then actually proved it.

No matter your age or demographics, may God bless you this Easter Weekend as you vividly experience the Scriptures with a new level of meaning and significance.

Happy Easter! “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” (Luke 24:34)
_______________________________
This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true. Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written. – John 21:24-25

^¹New Research: Belief in Jesus Rises, Fueled by Young Adults, Barna Group, https://www.barna.com/research/belief-in-jesus-rises/, April 7, 2025.

^²Ibid.