Manuscripts were very costly to produce, so even individuals who could read were not able to afford their own private copies of the Scriptures. Only the scribes had access to the scrolls kept in the synagogue. When Jesus gathered his twelve disciples, he communicated with them orally. The crowds who heard him came without notebooks and left without paperback copies of “The Good News According to Jesus.” They simply had to retain his message by applying it to their daily lives, retelling it, and memorizing