No gospel says Jesus carried a backpack, and the gospels never describe him carrying a bag of any kind. The nearest thing the New Testament has is a Greek word, pera, a leather traveler’s sack for food and money. It appears six times, always inside instructions about what to take on the road. So the question does have a real answer. It is also a fair question to ask, and most people asking it have seen something specific.
Why this question is going around
If you have never heard anyone debate this, that is normal. It is not an old theological argument and nothing in church history turns on it. The question is recent, and it travels with a television series.
Google’s own suggestion list shows where it comes from. Pulled on 13 September 2026, the completions for “did jesus carry a backpack” included “why does jesus wear a backpack in the chosen.” The stem “jesus backpack” returned “jesus backpack the chosen.” The stem “the chosen jesus bag” returned “the chosen jesus backpack for sale” and “the chosen jesus leather backpack.”
There is a shopping trail attached to it. The leather goods shop SoulCraft Goods sells a $649 Old World Jesus Backpack, listed with the line “Inspired by Jesus’ Backpack from The Chosen Series.” If the image that brought you here was a product photo, that is what you were looking at.
The bags in that series are made to order by working leatherworkers. Cheryl Hunter of Hunter Hill Bag Co writes in a post dated 8 October 2023 that “the head of the props department (The Prop Master) was looking for someone to make bags and was I interested,” and that “I have contributed bags to seasons 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7.” No statement from the show’s makers explaining that particular costume choice turned up in this search, so this page does not invent one.
What the gospels actually say about what to carry
Jesus gave packing instructions twice, and both times they were for other people, not for himself. The first went to the twelve apostles. It is recorded in Matthew 10, Mark 6 and Luke 9.
“Take nothing for the journey,” He told them, “no staff, no bag, no bread, no money, no second tunic.
The second went to a larger group sent out ahead of him.
Carry no purse or bag or sandals. Do not greet anyone along the road.
The word translated “bag” in both verses is pera. Strong’s G4082 defines it as a wallet, or a leather sack used by travelers and shepherds for carrying provisions. The King James Version renders it “scrip” in all six places it occurs. If you want a first-century equivalent of a pack, pera is the word for it.
The four accounts do not match
Read side by side, the lists differ. That is worth seeing rather than smoothing over.
| Account | Bag | Staff | Sandals | Money | Second tunic |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Matthew 10:9-10 | No | No | No | No gold, silver or copper | No |
| Mark 6:8-9 | No | Yes, take one | Yes, wear them | None in their belts | No |
| Luke 9:3 | No | No | Not mentioned | No | No |
| Luke 10:4 | No | Not mentioned | No | No purse | Not mentioned |
All four agree about the bag. They disagree about the staff. Mark has Jesus allow one:
He instructed them to take nothing but a staff for the journey—no bread, no bag, no money in their belts—
Matthew has him rule it out in the same breath as the bag:
Take no bag for the road, or second tunic, or sandals, or staff; for the worker is worthy of his provisions.
Sandals run the same way. Mark 6:9 says to wear them. Matthew 10:10 puts sandals on the list of things not to take. Translators and commentators handle the difference in several ways, and this page is not going to pick one and present it as settled.
Every place the word appears
Pera occurs six times in the New Testament, and every one of them is in this same set of travel instructions.
- Matthew 10:10, to the twelve apostles.
- Mark 6:8, to the twelve apostles.
- Luke 9:3, to the twelve apostles.
- Luke 10:4, to the seventy-two sent out ahead of him.
- Luke 22:35, where Jesus looks back at those instructions.
- Luke 22:36, where he reverses them.
Jesus changed the instruction later
This is the part most answers to this question leave out. On the last night, Jesus brought the packing rule back up.
Then Jesus asked them, “When I sent you out without purse or bag or sandals, did you lack anything?” “Nothing,” they answered.
“Now, however,” He told them, “the one with a purse should take it, and likewise a bag; and the one without a sword should sell his cloak and buy one.
The rule about traveling with no bag was tied to one sending, under conditions he named. It was not a standing principle about luggage. He said so himself, and then told them to pack.
The one bag the gospels do describe
In the four gospels a bag or purse is mentioned eight times. Six are pera, listed above. The other two are a different object and a different Greek word.
Judas did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief. As keeper of the money bag, he used to take from what was put into it.
The term there is glossokomon, Strong’s G1101, a case or money box. It appears only in John 12:6 and John 13:29, and both times it belongs to the group around Jesus, with Judas holding it. So the travelling party did carry money, and the gospels say who kept it. Luke adds where some of the funding came from.
Joanna the wife of Herod’s household manager Chuza, Susanna, and many others. These women were ministering to them out of their own means.
Is the picture wrong?
A leather shoulder bag on a first-century traveler is not an anachronism. Pera was a real object and people on the road carried one. What the gospels never do is describe Jesus wearing one, or describe what he wore on his back at all. A film has to dress its characters in something and has to choose. The image you saw is a costume decision, and a reasonable one. It is not a record.
If the question struck you as trivial, that instinct was right about the object and wrong about the passages behind it. Nothing hangs on what Jesus carried on his back. A good deal hangs on why he told people to leave the bag behind, and on why he later told them to take one.
Have never in my believing life (80 yrs.) have I ever heard a debate about whether Jesus carried a backpack. Never occurred to me that he might have. So why is it a thing? Is it relevant? From what I have seen on line it’s for marketing a product. Garments & sandals of the Chosen are indicative of time & place. To me backpack looks oddly out of place in style and material. But that’s me. Do not see backpack as important or relevant.