16 people
The people around Jesus
The Gospels are full of people who met Jesus face to face: his mother, his friends in Bethany, a Pharisee who came at night, a tax collector up a tree. Some followed him, some opposed him, and some were simply changed by one conversation. Their stories show what it looked like to meet him up close.
Mary
The Peacemaker
A young woman who said yes to God and kept his words in her heart.
Joseph of Nazareth
The Reformer
A just, quiet carpenter who never says a word in Scripture, and obeyed every time God spoke.
Elizabeth
An old woman whose shame was taken away, and the first to call Mary's child her Lord.
Zechariah the priest
The Reformer
An old priest who doubted the angel, went silent for nine months, and came out singing.
Simeon
An old man promised he would not die before he saw the Christ, who took the baby in his arms.
Anna
A widow who prayed in the temple night and day for decades, then told everyone the child had come.
Mary Magdalene
The Helper
Set free from seven demons, she was the first to see the risen Lord.
Martha
The Reformer
The busy host who made one of the clearest confessions of Christ in the Gospels.
Mary of Bethany
The Individualist
She is found three times in Scripture, and each time she is at Jesus' feet.
Lazarus
The friend Jesus loved, wept over, and called out of the tomb by name.
John the Baptist
The Reformer
The wilderness prophet whose whole job was to point away from himself.
The woman at the well
The Enthusiast
A Samaritan woman with a complicated past who left her water jar and brought her whole town to Jesus.
Nicodemus
The Investigator
A teacher of Israel who came by night with questions and was there at the burial.
Zacchaeus
A rich, short tax collector who climbed a tree to see Jesus and came down changed.
Joseph of Arimathea
The Loyalist
A rich council member and secret disciple who found his courage on the worst day.
Herod the Great
The Challenger
The king of Judea when Jesus was born, who was troubled by news of a newborn king and tried to kill him.