The News in Jesus' Day

Author

Jason Woodruff
March 09, 2025

Quick Programming Note

After a few month hiatus… I’m back.

While I was out of your inboxes, I welcomed my second daughter—who is happy, healthy, beautiful, and adored by her older sister—and took a couple of weeks off work (during which TPO crossed 1 million subscribers; I’m choosing to believe the timing is a coincidence).

I’m excited to return to News Health. The news is a huge (and growing) source of anger and anxiety in the world, and I’m increasingly convinced that it shouldn’t be. We just need to reset our relationship with the news.

Expect to see me in your inbox every Sunday moving forward.

Jason Woodruff

Happy Sunday,

“Come to me, all of you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, because I am lowly and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Jesus (Matthew 11:28-30)

How would Jesus consume the news?
(Given my job and the number of WWJD bracelets I had growing up, I probably should have asked this question years ago. Apologies to my youth pastors.)

Let’s start with an easier, unhypothetical question: how did Jesus consume news? 

The best I can tell from the Gospels, Jesus consumed a small amount of mostly local news, which he primarily heard about through friends. 

Now, this is more a product of the time than unique to Jesus. In his day, you had little way of knowing what was happening even 50 miles away, let alone on another continent. Almost all the news you heard was about places you’d been and people you could reasonably bump into. Any news from farther away was rare and important—maybe a census decree from the Emperor telling you to return to your hometown (Luke 2:1)—because it wasn’t worth sending someone on a days-long walk to share unimportant news. 

In rereading the Gospels, I was also struck by how Jesus didn’t consume the news.

Being fully God, Jesus could have been aware of everything going on everywhere in the world. But, there’s no indication he did this; throughout the Gospels, he consistently hears news and then responds to it as if he’s learning it along with everyone else (Matthew 4:12, John 4:1-2). He may have even known less, as he frequently went off on his own, unplugging to commune with God (Mark 1:35-37).

So, how would Jesus consume the news today? I think he’s already shown us. He’d make no particular effort to stay up to date, would respond to things as they came up, and would keep his focus serving/caring for the people physically near him.

Honestly, that sounds nice. It sounds manageable. I feel a constant pressure to know what’s happening in the world, but if Jesus was okay with being less informed than he could be, I should be, too. 

What do you think?
Jason

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