Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Did people have time for Jesus? A platinum post from Doug Waidson, Md.
[00:00:08] There is nothing better than a guest blog post that flat out disagrees with me. And here we have one. Is it plausible that Jesus could have had large crowds gathering together to hear his preaching in rural Galilee? I say not really. Platinum blog member Doug Waitson says, oh yes, here's his post. What do you think?
[00:00:31] On those few occasions when I have challenged something Doctor Ehrman has said, he can usually shoot me down pretty quickly based on his range and depth of knowledge. But I'm going to try again. Doctor Ehrman has suggested that one reason the stories of Jesus attracting and preaching to large crowds are unrealistic is because most people were too busy during the day eking out a living to be able to spend time listening to his sermons. I have also heard him suggest that Jesus would have been too busy working as a laborer in Nazareth to have had time to travel to the city of Sepphoris, about 4 miles from Nazareth. The significance of sepphoris is that some speculate that if Jesus worked in that city, he would have been exposed to more advanced culture and philosophy and that could have influenced his teachings. So did people have time to listen to Jesus and did Jesus have time to visit places like Zephyrus? The idea of preaching to large crowds did not start with Jesus, but with John the baptizer and all the country of Judea was going out to him and all the people of Jerusalem.
[00:01:38] Let's allow for some exaggeration here, but the idea is that large numbers of people went out to hear John preacher. The gospels continue that image with Jesus as in the sermon on the mount. Now when Jesus saw the crowds and particularly in the tale of his preaching to and then feeding large groups of people, there were about 5000 men who ate besides women and children and those who ate were 4000 men besides women and children.
[00:02:11] Again, lets allow for some exaggeration of the numbers, but the idea is clearly that Jesus sometimes preached to large groups of people. Is this realistic? One common objection is that the people of Galilee were too busy all day with their subsistence work trying to eke out a living. Who could afford the luxury of sitting around listening to Jesus? I personally find it odd that people assume that everybody in a rural area like Galilee had full time work available to them. A characteristic of economically struggling areas is unemployment and underemployment, not full employment. Nazareth has been excavated by archaeologists. It was hardly a thriving boomtown, even though Jesus may have had some wealthy supporters. See Luke 8131 gets the impression that most of Jesus followers came from the lower class. Paul certainly suggests so. First Corinthians 126 29 consider the story of the feeding of the 4000. In Matthew 1529.
[00:03:14] Jesus was ministering to people with a variety of afflictions, in other words, unemployable, likely beggars, or perhaps supported by family, not the cream of the crop, and likely with time on their hands. I wonder if this story is an allusion to David. In one Samuel 22 two, we are told then everyone who was in distress and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him, and he became captain over them. Now there were about 400 men with him. I see Jesus being portrayed in a similar way. But while David had his 400 men, Jesus had his 4000. Again, we can allow for some exaggeration of the numbers, especially if 4000 was meant to echo Davids 400. But I can see such people having time to sit and listen to Jesus. But even those who are not beggars or otherwise unemployable may have had time to listen to this preaching phenom they were hearing about. We assume that people worked from sunup to sundown, but that may not have been the case. We know from roman records that the workday was mainly in the morning and typically ended by mid afternoon. Even in a more rural setting, most chores are done in the morning, tending your garden and your animals, going to market and such. Jesus himself gives us a clue about this in the parable of the vineyard laborers in Matthew 20, he says, and he, the vineyard owner, went out about the third hour and saw others standing idle in the market place, and again at the 6th and 9th hours. Clearly not everyone was busy all day with work, and some work was done at night. Recall the story of Jesus disciples fishing all night. Luke five five.
[00:04:58] There also would be a time in the evening to listen to this traveling preacher, especially in the longer days of summer. That might be one reason we have stories of Jesus feeding people. They were gathered together around dinnertime now, when it was evening and the hour is already past, to eat. Matthew 1415 it's not like they were sitting around watching television or going to the theater in the evenings.
[00:05:21] The Jews had one day in particular when they had time to sit and listen to a sermon. The Sabbath. That may be one reason we have a number of stories of Jesus having confrontations on the Sabbath. Mark 121 Mark 223 Mark six two Luke 1310 Luke 14 one John five nine John 914, etcetera. Perhaps that is when he did most of his public teaching and thus could have attracted large crowds. Even in acts. You see hints of this. The next Sabbath, nearly all the city assembled to hear the word of the Lord.
[00:05:59] My belief is that the numbers in the stories may be exaggerated, but it is quite plausible for Jesus to attract significant crowds.
[00:06:07] What about Jesus himself before he began his preaching ministry? Did he have time for things other than work, like time to travel to Sepphoris? Well, most historians, including Doctor Ehrman, believe that Jesus began as a disciple of John. How did Jesus have time to listen to and be baptized by John? The Jordan river is a lot farther from Nazareth than Sepphoris. Clearly he could make the time for such excursions. And how did Jesus befriend fishermen along the sea of Galilee like Peter, Andrew, James, and John if he was stuck in Nazareth? Footnote unless you take the view that they left their family and work the first time they met Jesus, which seems unlikely, Luke explains that they were impressed by a seemingly miraculous catch of fish. But then why would they even put out their nets at the word of a stranger? Even that story seems to presuppose they already knew Jesus.
[00:07:04] And to return to my earlier point, what makes us think Jesus had so much work that he was busy all day? Was Nazareth such a hotbed of economic activity that laborers like Jesus had enough work to keep them busy all day long? And what happened to Jesus family after he went into the ministry? Did they starve to death? No. Apparently, at some point his brothers could work to support the family, freeing Jesus up to travel.
[00:07:29] Even if Jesus could pull together enough work around Nazareth to keep himself busy, how would the pay from those minor jobs compare to what was available in a city like Sepphoris? A fast walk would take you to sepphoris in an hour. Even today, people are willing to spend several hours a day commuting if the pay makes it worthwhile. Consider our current border situation and how people will walk hundreds of miles in search of a more prosperous life. But Jesus couldn't walk an hour away, and if the pay was sufficient, Jesus could have rented some floor space to sleep the night, perhaps commuting home once a week for the Sabbath. It is not hard to envision Jesus traveling to and working in Sepphoris. It is a possibility at least, but I do not know of any hard evidence for it. Jesus never mentions it, and I do not believe any non canonical early sources placed Jesus in Sepphoris. However, some have pointed out Jesus use of the term hypocrite, which derives from an actor, a stage player. Sepphoris had a theater, possibly constructed around the time of Jesus youth? Did he and his father work on it? And thus Jesus became familiar with the term hypocrite. Interesting speculation, but perhaps a bit tenuous. I doubt we will ever know for sure unless archaeologists unearth an inscription like Jesus. Bar Joseph was here.
[00:08:49] In summary, I believe it is plausible that Jesus was able to assemble and preach to large groups of people, although we have to allow for some typical storytellers exaggeration as to the actual numbers. Some people had time on their hands, even laborers had time in the evenings, and they all had the Sabbath. At least we have some evidence in the gospels to support this. I think it is possible that Jesus visited Sepphoris or even worked there, but we do not have any substantial evidence for this point. It makes for some interesting speculation, though. Whether Jesus had the opportunity to preach to large crowds or not, and whether he spent time in a more sophisticated place like sepphoris or not, it is still remarkable that this common laborer from an obscure town became one of the most influential figures in western civilization.
