Apart from my disciples, there are mentionable men I interacted with during my sojourn on earth. Here are some among the many:

a) Joseph, the carpenter. A just and noble man. Everyone thought I was his son. Only Mary and a few others (including Elizabeth and her husband Zachariah) knew that I was conceived by the Holy Ghost even before my mother and Joseph came together to beget a child. Mary had conceived even when she was betrothed to Joseph. Joseph was afraid to take her as his wife and was planning to silently let her away to save her from death and reproach. After his encounter with an angel in a vision, he changed his mind and continued to care for her. He took her to be wife but stayed from any physical relationship until I was born. He was a law-abiding citizen. So, when Caesar Augustus decreed, that people should move to their hometowns for a census, Joseph took her (us) to Bethlehem. He took her to an inn close-by where I was born in a manger. Joseph marvelled when Simeon declared that I would bring salvation to both Israel and the gentiles. (Many like him were expecting a Messiah to deliver the Jews from the Roman hands politically). When I was around the age of two, warned by an angel, Joseph took me to Egypt because king Herod was after my life. After Herod’s death, Joseph brought us to Nazareth where I lived with him and my mother Mary. Joseph was obedient to the angel of the Lord who brought messages to him from God all these three times. I was called the son of the carpenter by the people there. At the age of twelve, they took me to the temple, where I stayed behind to “be in ‘my’ Father’s business”. Yes, Joseph was father to sons and daughter Mary begat for him. However, I was not one of them.

b) John ‘the Baptist’ as he was popularly known, was my relative from my mother’s side. He was elder to me by about six months. He was born miraculously to papa Zachariah and mamma Elizabeth in their old age. He jumped in his mother’s womb when my mom visited her. As my forerunner, he would prepare a way for me so that I can launch my ministry among the Jews of my day. He preached a message of repentance from ungodly works (to the people in Judea who were following an empty religion). He was a strict Nazarene, ate locusts and wild honey and dressed in camel hair and a leather girdle. He introduced me to the public as ‘the lamb of God that takes away the sin of the world’. He was so humble that he hesitated to baptise me. He budged only after my earnest request. He saw the Holy Spirit of God descending on me like a dove and he heard a voice of my Father from heaven testifying about me, “This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”. He was the Elijah to come preceding the Messiah. The Old Testament ended with him. I ushered in the New covenant. My believers will be greater than him in the kingdom of God. The reason? They are my ‘bride’ while those of the old would be the alert virgins and the ‘marriage party’.

c) A Roman centurion beseeched me to heal his dying servant. I said I would come to his house. He asked me to just say a word of healing from wherever I was so that the servant would be healed. Such was the faith he had in my authority. I had not seen such faith in all of Israel. I sent him with the assurance that his servant has been healed that very instant. And he was. Even the time of the healing was verified to be exact. Another gentile that received a miracle!

d) I met Nicodemus when he came to me with a question as to how he could inherit eternal life. He was a teacher of the Jewish law and a member of the Sanhedrin, the Jewish council of seventy prominent men in the society. I told him he must be born again if he wished to enter into the kingdom of God. He failed to understand the spiritual meaning behind my statement. I was speaking about a person being born of water and spirit. Both represent the word of God that is able to quicken the dead spirit and cleanse the sinful soul when one believes in the word. It is then that a man is born of God. Ironically, at least three years afterwards, he brought valuable myrrh and aloes to embalm my dead body after my death on the cross.

e) A rich young ruler (he had it all world-wise – wealth, youth and power) approached with the same question. He told me he had kept all the law all his life. I asked him to give away all his treasures and then follow me. You should have seen his sad face!

f) A lawyer approached me with a question about the law, “Which is the primary commandment”? I told him that loving God and loving the neighbour are two but equally important commandments. Then he asked me, “Who is my neighbour?”. With the help of a parable, I told him that everyone who is desperately in need of help is a neighbour to the one who can provide that help. I also told him that the Jews who take pride in the law disregard it while the Samaritans, a mixed race of people and untouchable to the Jews, keep the law in its true spirit, even without knowing that the law demanded such humane behaviour.

g) Bartimaeus was a blind man who used to sit on the roadside asking for alms. He heard that I was passing him by. He started calling me at the top of his voice begging for healing. He recognised that I am the promised Messiah and son of David. I rewarded his faith immediately with sight. Come to me and you will see too!

h) A Samaritan was among the ten lepers who approached me for healing. I sent them away to show themselves to the priest for social acceptance. They were healed on their way. However, only the Samaritan returned to thank me. None else returned. It was his faith that brought him wholesome healing. Gratitude is a noble but unpopular gesture today. People tend to take everything for granted. Thank every gracious gesture – from God as well as men.

i) I met a man at the pool of Bethesda. He was severely sick for thirty-eight years and none had offered to help him enter the pool for healing when it was stirred up by an angel now and again. I healed him. Later, I met him on the streets and warned him not to sin anymore lest he fall into greater evil. If you would follow after sin after receiving healing, why should I heal you at all?

j) Zacchaeus was an evil tax collector who was fleecing the public and had gathered much wealth by sinister means. However, he had a strong desire to see me. One day he climbed upon a tree – he was a man of short stature – to have a glance of me when I passed by that way. I stopped under that tree and bid him come down. I said I wanted to stay in his house. He was shocked but thrilled to take me there. People witnessed an immediate turn-around in his life that day. Salvation had come to his house. He confessed that he would make amends and restore manifold the ill-gotten money to those he had cheated earlier. He too was a son of Abraham because of his faith. And, the right kind of faith results in righteous action!

k) Pontius Pilate was the Governor of Galilee at the time of my trial. Only he had authority to award capital punishment; the Jewish religious heads had not the right to do this. And Pilate believed this. I had to remind him that he would have no authority over me unless it has been given to him from above. I restored his friendship with King Herod. He scourged me; his soldiers put a crown of thorns on my head and put on me a purple robe to mock me. They said, “Hail! King of the Jews”, and smote me with their hands. Pilate was terrified when he heard people accusing me of my claim to be the Son of God. However, he also did not want to rule anything that would be against Caesar. Pilate brought me out of his palace calling people out, “Behold the Man”. He confessed that he found no fault in me – not once, not twice but three times. Having received a prompt from his wife, he was all the more inclined to release me. Pilate ‘washed his hands off’ to relieve himself of the guilt of sentencing me to death. And, he delivered me unto them to be crucified. He also put a title on my cross ‘Jesus of Nazareth the King of the Jews’. How I wished he recognized me as King of the gentile Romans too! I want to establish my kingdom in everyone’s heart.

l) Simeon of Cyrene, the father of Alexander and Rufus was passing by when I went bearing the cross to Golgotha. It was too heavy for me, a man who was scourged heavily and beaten severely, blood oozing out of my body from the wounds all over. The soldiers compelled him to bear my cross for a while. What a relief it was, though a short one! I know how heavy it is to bear a cross – not just the wooden one. That is why I have instructed my believers to bear each other’s burdens. I went through the whole experience for you!

m) Paul. He was known as Saul earlier. He was a very zealous Jew and a religious Pharisee. He did not believe that I had risen from the dead. So, he started arresting the people of ‘the way’ and putting them in prisons for torture. He had even consented to the death of Stephen, the first martyr of the New Testament Church. I stopped him on his way to Damascus – this time he had letters of consent from the high priest to bring men and women, my disciples, bound to Jerusalem. I knew already that his heart was pricking due to the apprehensions he had over his own actions. He immediately recognized that I am the Lord and submitted his will to me right there. One who was proud of his heritage and education humbled himself so low that he considered himself chief of sinners. He was glad to be addressed as ‘Paul’ – the small one. Later, he was caught up into paradise, and heard unspeakable words. He had a vision of me in heaven when I gave him revelations of the mysteries of the unified Church, the Israel of God, consisting of Jews and the gentiles. I sent him with a mission to reach the gentiles with the gospel. I kept interacting with him all along his missionary journeys. He established and strengthened churches in Rome, Corinth, Galatia, Ephesus, Phillipi, Thessalonica and elsewhere. He gave his life for the cause of the gospel. He wrote Scripture inspired by the Holy Spirit for the edification of the Church. Would you carry this message to the people around you?