Where would the Road Now Lead?

I'm reading a very thick book at the moment; "Jesus and the Victory of God" by N.T. Wright and it is simply a massive book! I am now at page 301. It is a 700+ page book which simply is gigantic compared to my usual standards of reading. I have been reading this book like for ages and there are some things that doesn't make sense, because I don't think this sort of book matches the reading level that I am at. That shows how far behind i am. But the struggle will be worth it.

Anyway, reaching the 300 page mark there was something that caught my attention:

"The summons to following Jesus, going beyond the challenge to be loyal to his cause in one's own setting, thus focused itself more and more narrowly. Some were summoned to abandon all to follow Jesus; within that, some were called into a special and deeply symbolic inner group; within that again, some had a further symbolic, as well as humanly supportive, function. All of this prompts the further question: what would such followers have thought they were signing on for? And what impression would the average Galilean onlookers have received from this wandering prophet gathering followers whose loyalty went so deep as t override normally binding obligations."
(Wright, N. T. JESUS AND THE VICTORY OF GOD. Pg 300)

It makes me kind of think, when one follows this Jesus guy, people like you and me do we really count the risks involved following him? Some might think that following Jesus is following a road that is always peaceful, always wanting to resolve conflict by just brushing it aside or with as much non-retaliation (by this I mean verbal) at all.

Looking at the story of Jesus in the Gospels, Jesus' call and challenge were really demanding and required the utmost devotion that one is required to conjure. That is why this question is somewhat disturbing in a sense taken from the excerpt above of Wright's book;

"what would such followers have thought they were signing on for?"

Reading the Gospels and the NT for that matter this question disturbs me to the core. Do I know what I am signing up for when I make the profession that I want to be identified with Jesus of the Bible?

Following Jesus as seen in the bible is enlisting yourself in a movement. But for much of the teachings we get, we are taught that following Jesus means conforming to institutionalized religion, and because of that there is a stagnant force manipulating the urgency of this movement-following Jesus.

I'm just perceiving that the times have tamed the movement so much that Christianity has become wimpy, soft and cuddly in my part of the culture. Christianity has become a tower, and it actually mimics the depiction of Babel.

Who will free us from this destructive form of false following Jesus movement to what the movement really is in its truest form? I hope we wake up from our drunken stupor, and put some sense in what following Jesus really is.