‘The large crowd enjoyed listening to Jesus teach.’ (Mark 12.37 CEV) Is that a better rendering than the KJV: ‘The common people heard him gladly.’?
Whatever we favour, there is an inescapable relish about the reaction to Jesus. It was not that he was making things easy for his audience, He did not smother the difficult bits or cover them with a thick layer of verbiage. He was straight with them. We also see that Jesus knew when people were sincerely looking for the truth. Noticing that the inquirer had given him a sensible answer, he said, ‘You are not far from God’s kingdom.’ Clearly Jesus was accustomed to people coming to him with a chip on the shoulder and a hostile intent.
Here we see how it was that Jesus made an impression so weighty that people wanted to hear more. As the days passed by, they realised that this meant the compilation of the Gospels – though who could have foreseen the surprising way in which the story came together? We can also see how it was that there came to be a need among the early believers to have Jesus’ teaching put together in an orderly way, as Paul endeavoured to do when writing to the Roman Christians. Consumer demand was at work, then as now, when something had captured people’s imagination.
It happened to later generations. People relished the teaching of William Booth and Charles Spurgeon. They filled the Metropolitan Tabernacle and marched behind the bands. They lined the streets when Dr Barnardo died. Sometimes popular taste is correct in its estimation of popular voices. Not so long ago people tuned in to listen to Rabbi Lionel Blue. (The Jews have continued the line of good story-tellers.) And we have to notice the response to C.S. Lewis.
THE SCREWTAPE LETTERS ETC
C.S. (Clive Staples) Lewis wrote more than 30 books; they were translated into more than 30 languages. His children’s books were as popular as his religious writings. He invented Screwtape, a teasing demon out to upset budding Christians, science fiction books with a Christian basis and books on prayer. All these were in addition to his academic work on English literature at Oxford and Cambridge. I happily joined the crowd eager to hear his lectures.
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