How "popular" was Jesus in his own lifetime?

Coriolanus

Really just an idle curiosity.

As an expression of the estimated/total population of Jerusalem or greater Judea, how popular were Jesus' teachings?
I know he had the 12 Apostles and various hangers on, but did things ever reach signifigant numbers amongst the surrounding population?

lmaopml

It's rather obvious nowadays the impact that Jesus of Nazareth had....and 'that' is something worth thinking about in and of itself...


...however, it's also apparent that his teachings ended up having him nailed to a cross and crucified...so I guess the authorities at the time didn't like him too much...

..still, people were waiting for such as him, and many understood the nature of his arrival and saw the continuity...others expected great glory and not a new covenant for all mankind...


..so go figure why?

..and why it is, that such a figure springs out from all of history, more complete than any other...as if you can almost touch the man...

..nobody can ever touch a word he said without getting at least inwardly embarassed at doing so..

PDN

He was certainly popular enough to make the religious establishment feel threatened (but religious establishments do get threatened notoriously easily ).

And the reports of Palm Sunday make it sound as if there was a lot of popular acclaim (possibly because people had heard about the raising of Lazarus). But the crowd appears to have been rather fickle and to soon have preferred a robber called Barabbas.

Soul Winner

As long as He was feeding them and healing them they wanted to make Him King but as soon as He told them to pick up their cross and follow Him they all forsook Him including even His closest disciples at the end. His meat was to do the will of the Father who sent Him not to court popularity among men, if it boils down to Him doing his Father's will or bowing to the demands of an evil generation, then doing the Father's will wins hands down and He proved this by dying on a cross. But God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead and now He is seated at the right hand of glory and is not running a popularity contest thank God. Now if He was just another nut job or deluded fool then it doesn't really matter what He said when He was here, . But if He was who he claimed to be then how you respond to what He said and did will determine your ultimate place in eternity.

Zombrex

It is very difficult to gauge how popular Jesus was in his own life time as he didn't do a whole lot that was of greater historical interest of historians of the time.

For example other "Messiahs" of the time raised armies and lead rebellions against the Romans. It is easier to see how popular they were based on the numbers that joined them in such campaigns.

Christians no doubt would say since Jesus didn't come to raise armies it is not surprising that he didn't do this. But does make it historically difficult to gauge much of Jesus' influence during his life compared to others.

Coriolanus

Soul Winner wrote: »

As long as He was feeding them and healing them they wanted to make Him King but as soon as He told them to pick up their cross and follow Him they all forsook Him including even His closest disciples at the end. His meat was to do the will of the Father who sent Him not to court popularity among men, if it boils down to Him doing his Father's will or bowing to the demands of an evil generation, then doing the Father's will wins hands down and He proved this by dying on a cross. But God vindicated Him by raising Him from the dead and now He is seated at the right hand of glory and is not running a popularity contest thank God. Now if He was just another nut job or deluded fool then it doesn't really matter what He said when He was here, . But if He was who he claimed to be then how you respond to what He said and did will determine your ultimate place in eternity.

So if I'm reading your answer to my question right, you think "not very"?

Fanny Cradock

At grass roots one would imagine that he was quite popular. However, for many it seemed to be a type flavour of the month popularity.

Oh_Noes

Also it's worth factoring into the equation that his philosophies would have been to a certain extent radical at the time. Openly supporting him in a relatively conservative society may have left you open to scrutiny.

As well as that, the written medium of his philosophies were what popularized him, as with all people of a similar influence, this technology would have taken an awful lot of time to develop and distribute.

I doubt his followers during his life amounted to more than a few thousand, if even that.

Fanny Cradock

Oh_Noes wrote: »

Also it's worth factoring into the equation that his philosophies would have been to a certain extent radical at the time. Openly supporting him in a relatively conservative society may have left you open to scrutiny.

I think that is a serious understatement. His message was deeply counter-cultural (see his interactions with the Pharisees by way of example) and the consequences of following Jesus could have been injurious to ones health. Not only does one have the obvious example of crucifixion, the Gospels also detail Peter's reaction when he is accused of being in cahoots with Christ - he did a legger. And in Acts we see how Saul was zealous in rounding up the followers of Jesus for beatings and prison.

Soul Winner

Nevore wrote: »

So if I'm reading your answer to my question right, you think "not very"?

Yes but it also wasn't His aim to be popular either. If He was whom He claimed to be then staying popular with the masses would have been a doddle for him but He wouldn't have saved many people, which was what He came to do in the first place, so He died a failure in the eyes of men after everyone (with the exception of His mother and a few women and John) had forsaken Him.

Edit: Fixed

Vinny-Chase

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

I think that is a serious understatement. His message was deeply counter-cultural (see his interactions with the Pharisees by way of example)

And then his attitude to the Samaritans, which were an "enemy" of the Isrealites at the time.

panzerachtung

Considering he got publically executed by crucifixion, he wasn't very popular at all in his own lifetime I should think.:D

Thomas828

Fanny Cradock wrote: »

At grass roots one would imagine that he was quite popular. However, for many it seemed to be a type flavour of the month popularity.

True. The time between when He started His ministry and when He was crucified was only a few years. To people at the time He must have been just a flash in the pan.