Tim Maas Retired Quality Assurance Specialist with the U.S. Army

First, it occurs to me that some of Jesus' followers (although not specifically chosen as apostles) might have been with Him on a full-time basis with the intent at some point of evangelizing others (such as the followers to whom He spoke just before His ascension (Matthew 28:19)). (Paul mentions in 1 Corinthians 15:6 that, on one occasion following His resurrection, He appeared to more than 500 people at one time.) 

Also, perhaps the jobs of those who followed Jesus around might have either been of an itinerant nature, or the type of work that could have been done or practiced anywhere. (For example, people engaged in some vocations (such as fishermen) might not have needed an established "home base" to practice their trade.)

In addition, it would seem to me that, even at that time, individuals would not have had their time consumed by their occupations 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. They could have listened to Him during their discretionary time and then gone back to their everyday lives, just as people who hear evangelists today disperse after the evangelist has finished speaking or preaching. (As such, the crowds who followed Jesus possibly did not always consist of the same people, but were composed of different individuals who started or stopped following Him depending on His location relative to them at any given time.)

Some followers (such as the women mentioned in Luke 8:3) were apparently already affluent and did not need to work, and could even provide for the material well-being of Jesus and the apostles out of their means.

And some people might have followed Him out of misguidedly selfish motives (even at the cost or sacrifice of their normal livelihoods) in the hope that Jesus would somehow provide for their material needs, endow them with some of His supernatural powers, or even bring them wealth.

Finally, people may have forsaken their occupations in the belief either that the close of the age was at hand, or that Jesus would institute a new political or economic order (such as by freeing Palestine from Roman domination), and they therefore wanted to be "in on the ground floor" of that development.

October 07 2020 • 0 responses • Vote Up • Share • Report