One could not live in any village in...

One could not live in any village in lower Galilee and escape the effects and ramifications of urbanization.” Life here was urbanized and urbane as anywhere else in the Empire. Did these urban influences escape the attention of Jesus and his disciples whose principal ministry was in this region? Not if we judge by a vocabulary studded with references to urban institutions like courts (Mt. 5:25) and city market squares (Mt. 23:7; Mk. 5:56), and with financial analogies built on interest-bearing accounts (Mt. 25:27; Lk. 19:23) and metaphors of God as an absentee landlord (Mk. 12:1-12). Centurion leaders of one thousand soldiers (Mt. 8:5) and bureaucratic tax collectors controlling even fishing rights (Mt. 9:10; Lk. 5:27) dot the Galilean narratives.