First Light – Week 2: The Advent of the Messiah

As evidenced in the Dead Sea Scrolls, by the time of Jesus’ birth, many Jews have begun to associate the “one like the son of man” who, according to the book of Daniel, will rule over the Kingdom of God, with the long sought Messiah. Many versions of the Messiah are described in the Dead Sea Scrolls and other texts of the time but nearly all paint a picture of a warrior king. This paradigm would be turned on its head by the time the Gospels were written.

Jesus grew up (and might have been born) in the town of Nazareth. Historians estimate Nazareth to have had a population of between 200 and 400, probably on the lower end of the range. All were Jewish and most would have lived their entire lives there. It was a small, tight-knit Hebrew community.

The economy was changing from one of subsistence farming to commercial agriculture. Three families owned approximately 50% of the arable land in Galilee. Families that had owned small plots of land for generations were now relegated to tenant farming or, worse yet, to working as day laborers. The barter system that had long supplemented subsistence farming was being monetized. If landless peasants couldn’t purchase enough to eat with the coinage they were paid, they were out of luck.

In this environment of growing injustice, the Jesus movement took root. Jesus’ followers were young; most would have been in their twenties or even late teens. And they were restless for change.