Wherever the elements are favorable and make survivability a possibility we find writing materials: ostraca, wooden tablets, papyri, parchment books, endless inscriptions and graffiti. I’m beginning to wonder if perhaps our estimations of literacy rates perhaps are a bit too low; maybe a larger percentage of the population in the time of Jesus could read. In any case, Jesus was no ordinary, average person. I think it’s very likely that Jesus and at least some of His disciples were able to read.