Jesus' fame

[AnonymousRevival]

Why they flock to him? It is simple. They believe he is the Messiah.

The Jews back then read the Bible heavily (and they still do today.) But if noticing a common trait, there are only temporal moments of peace in the history of the Bible due to figures like Solomon, David, Esther and Samuel. However, prophetic scriptures from Isaiah, Joel and other minor prophets speak of oppourtunities of eternal grace from the coming Messiah. They believe he is coming down with coertion, force and divine judgment upon thy enemies. Instead, he uses the greatest weapon of all: grace. It is so merciful yet powerful, meritless yet violent. It says it is like feeding your enemies with hot coal. From Jesus's application of grace and unconditional love, people realize that he was the Messiah and so therefore, flocked toward him.

[Savage]

No, I disagree.

No one knew for certain or believed enough that jesus was the Messiah until his Resurrection.

This is why he was called 'great teacher' and the only people who called him 'lord' were those who who witnessed private events of his divinity (such as the transfiguration).

Having knowledge beyond what these people knew and the power to challenge authority and still not be in breach of their beliefs is profound, even in today's standards, so I would say that is the reason.

[Zso_Zso]

People can be listened to for all sorts of reasons.  "FOAR EVERYWUN FRUM BOXXY" has sixteen and a half million views on YouTube.  She's started wars, got mainstream press attention, and garnered a cult-like band of followers.  None of that makes Boxxy divine or wise.

I'd say that it probably boils down to a couple of things - right place at the right time, and charisma.  And, probably, self-perpetuating hype.  There comes a point in some movements where the sheer momentum of the movement itself causes it to grow bigger.  People buy in to it simply because it's a thing that other people are buying in to.

Indeed, huge crowds have flocked to and cheered for Hitler too...

[Savage]

How do you respond then to Jesus fulfilling prophecies during his period? There are only a handful of prophecies Jesus could have looked up and made sure he fulfilled them.

Example: riding on a donkey into Jerusalem.

Also, let's not forget that Hitler took a very different approach than Jesus did to have people come and listen to him.