How are Jesus and his disciples people of their time?

Answer 1

I'm not sure I understand the question well. But if you mean "Were Jesus and his disciples relevant for their time?", we can look at it this way:

The generation of Jesus was a time ripe for the appearance of a messiah, or savior, for the Jews. Having suffered heavily from the Greeks, after a short-lived successful rebellion by the Maccabees, the Jews were now under the more oppressive regime of the Romans. They longed for a messiah, one who would liberate them from their oppressors.

Jesus, according to Christian accounts, came just in time for the "70 (biblical) weeks" after the appearance of the last Old Testament prophet. According to this view, Jesus was born of a virgin from the line of King David, performed miracles, taught radical views about salvation, was crucified, but came back to life and later, bodily ascended to heaven, from where he would someday return to fulfill his role as the Messiah. Jesus' "resurrection" is central to this belief, for without it, he would fail to prove his claim to messiahship.

Unfortunately for the Jews who rejected Jesus, their Temple was later destroyed for the second time, this time by the Romans (the first Temple was destroyed by the Babylonians), who grew tired of the rebellious Jews. The Jews were once again scattered all over the globe, and have been suffering untold persecutions since then. Apart from failing to liberate the Jews, the coming of Jesus at that time seemed to fulfill an earlier prophecy about a false messiah who would destroy the Jewish nation. So while the Christians are awaiting the second coming of Jesus, the remaining Jews of our time have yet to recognize a true Messiah, according to their criteria. Which view is correct may or may not be revealed soon, as the world watches for an epochal event preceded by the numerous disasters, wars and disintegration of society that we are now experiencing. Many Christian and Jewish scholars agree that our own time is now ripe for either the return of Jesus, or for the coming of the real Jewish Messiah.