30 July 2022
We don't know our Lord's educational experience. We can surmise certain things based on admittedly thin circumstantial evidence. He got the same community schooling most young men could get in those days. We're talking no higher than the equivalent of junior high school. This was about as much as you could get from the local synagogue. If you were exceptional in your bar-mitzvah studies, you could be offered more education in the oral traditions. Near as we can tell, Jesus would have gotten that kind of recommendation, given how He wowed the scholars in Jerusalem at age 12.
The Twelve varied widely. The fishermen among them were fortunate to have gotten the basic education. At the other extreme, Matthew as a tax collector was most likely able to write and do some math in his head, and probably spoke at least one foreign language that the others didn't. It's a good bet they all knew some Greek, but Matthew probably had to deal with Latin some, even as a tax collector for the Herods.
Almost none of them would have what we call a Classical or Liberal Arts exposure. They surely heard some literary stuff from Greece and maybe Rome, not least because of the influence of Alexandria, but more likely got a heavy dose of Persian and Babylonian literature. More to the point, they would have gotten a solid dose of the standard Ancient Near Eastern philosophical assumptions. Only when they delved into rabbinical studies did they get any taste of Grecian logic.
On the one hand we would rank the average Jewish male who wasn't dirt poor down with junior high kids. On the other hand, their philosophical assumptions would have been radically different and far more ancient than Greek or Roman studies.
And Jesus knew the Father.
I'm not going to tell you education is a waste of time. I'm going to warn you that western education is a waste of time. That is, it's a heavy investment in taking you as far away as possible from Jesus and His Father. A western education starts with the assumption that the Ancient Near East was spooky and barbaric. In other words, the man we call Jesus was spooky and barbaric. And something more than half of His immediate disciples were simply ignorant and barbaric.
Unless you happen to tap into that portion of western education that examines the Ancient Near East -- something exceedingly rare, even among clergymen -- then you'll have no idea that your "normal" is hostile to divine revelation. If you are part of the western normal, you'd be better off without too much "education". At least you won't have to unlearn so much. You'd be more like the fishermen who followed Jesus and became Apostles.
You'll notice Jesus promoted learning the Word more than any other kind of education. Further, He promoted learning it from that Ancient Near Eastern mystical viewpoint. That's the viewpoint from which it was recorded in the Bible. And those simple men managed to touch the hearts of the educated elite and kings and everyone down to the nobodies. And your local First Century Churches became like synagogues, providing the basic education for the children.
An awful lot of what I got on the way to my academic degrees means nothing these days. Sure, I use it, but I also realize I probably could have gotten where I am without a lot of what was pushed into my head. Does it not seem odd to you how your faith settles all the questions you once had, and leaves only the one that matters most: Father, how can I please You? I give God the credit for what I have, and it all belongs to Him. I sincerely wish I could have learned faith a lot younger. That kind of teaching was never offered me when I was young.
I suspect I would have turned out more like John the Baptist.
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