Under Rome

The carpenter from Nazareth whom the New Testament proclaims as the Messiah promised to Israel and the Son of God. He taught for roughly three years in Galilee and Judea, was executed under Pontius Pilate, and was raised on the third day. Christians across every tradition confess him as fully God and fully man, the formula the Council of Chalcedon settled on in 451.

A young woman in Nazareth who answered the angel's announcement with consent, and whose song of God lifting up the lowly is one of the earliest Christian hymns. She appears at the wedding in Cana, at the cross, and with the disciples in the upper room.

A prophet in camel's hair who preached repentance at the Jordan and baptized Jesus. He named himself the voice crying in the wilderness from Isaiah, and was beheaded by Herod Antipas for condemning the king's marriage.

A Galilean fisherman who spoke first and thought later, walked on water and sank, confessed Jesus as the Christ, denied him three times, and was restored on a beach over breakfast. He preached the sermon at Pentecost and opened the door of the church to Gentiles at Cornelius' house.

A fisherman called with his brother James, part of the inner three, and traditionally the author of the fourth Gospel, three letters, and Revelation. The Gospel calls him the disciple Jesus loved and places him at the cross, entrusted with Jesus' mother.

One of the twelve, who kept the money box and sold Jesus for thirty pieces of silver, then threw the money back into the temple and hanged himself. The Gospels report his motives sparingly and do not speculate.

A woman from Magdala on the Sea of Galilee, out of whom Jesus cast seven demons, who supported his ministry and stayed at the cross when most had fled. All four Gospels place her at the empty tomb, and John has her as the first person to see the risen Jesus.

Sister of Mary and Lazarus, remembered for working in the kitchen while her sister listened, and also for the confession she made at her brother's grave, that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God.

The brother of Mary and Martha, whom Jesus raised after four days in the tomb. John presents it as the last and greatest of the signs, and as the event that hardened the authorities' decision to act.

The Roman official who tried Jesus, judged him innocent, and sentenced him anyway under pressure from the crowd. A stone inscription found at Caesarea in 1961 carries his name and title, confirming the office the Gospels give him.

A client king under Rome, a prodigious builder who expanded the temple into one of the wonders of the ancient world, and a ruler so afraid of rivals that he executed members of his own family. Matthew reports his order to kill the children of Bethlehem.

A Pharisee trained under Gamaliel who persecuted the church until he was stopped on the road to Damascus. He then spent thirty years planting churches across the Roman world and writing the letters that make up roughly a third of the New Testament. He was a Roman citizen by birth, which is why he could appeal to Caesar.

A Levite from Cyprus whose nickname means 'son of encouragement,' which fits the two things he is best known for: vouching for Saul when the church was still afraid of him, and later splitting with Paul rather than give up on John Mark.

One of the seven chosen to serve the Greek-speaking widows, who preached a sweeping survey of Israel's history before the council and was stoned for it. Luke notes that the witnesses laid their coats at the feet of a young man named Saul.

A young believer from Lystra with a Greek father and a Jewish mother, who traveled with Paul and was left in charge at Ephesus. Two of Paul's letters are addressed to him, and the second is the last one we have.

A dealer in purple cloth at Philippi, which was an expensive trade, who was worshiping by the river when Paul arrived. She was baptized with her household and opened her home as the base for the church there.

A tentmaker who, with her husband Aquila, hosted churches in their home in three cities and took the eloquent Apollos aside to explain the way of God more accurately. She is usually named first of the pair, which was unusual enough to be worth noticing.

A son of Herod the Great, ruling Galilee through the whole of Jesus' ministry. He imprisoned John the Baptist for condemning his marriage, had him beheaded on the strength of a rash oath at a birthday party, and later heard about Jesus and wanted to see a miracle. When Pilate sent Jesus to him, he got nothing and sent him back.

She held a grudge against John the Baptist for calling her marriage unlawful, and used her daughter's dancing and her husband's oath to get his head on a platter. Mark notes that Herod himself had feared John and liked to listen to him, which makes the manipulation the point.

The high priest who presided at Jesus' trial and had already reasoned that it was better for one man to die for the people. John records that line as unintentional prophecy.

A magician with a following who believed and was baptized, then offered the apostles money for the power to give the Spirit. Peter's answer is blistering. His name gave English the word simony, the buying and selling of church office.

A widow of many decades who never left the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. She came up as Simeon was speaking over the infant Jesus, gave thanks, and spoke about the child to everyone waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.

He had been told he would not die before seeing the Lord's Christ. When the parents brought the infant in, he took the child in his arms and asked to be dismissed in peace, then warned Mary that a sword would pierce her own soul too.

He predicted a widespread famine, which prompted the first relief collection sent from Antioch to Judea, and later took Paul's belt, bound his own hands and feet with it, and warned him what waited in Jerusalem.

He came to Jesus by night with careful compliments and was told he must be born again. He appears twice more, arguing for due process when the council wanted to condemn without a hearing, and finally bringing seventy-five pounds of spices to the burial, which is a royal quantity.

A wealthy member of the council who had not consented to its decision. He went to Pilate and asked for the body, which took nerve, and buried Jesus in his own new tomb. All four Gospels record it.

Short, rich, and hated, he climbed a sycamore to see over the crowd and was told to come down because Jesus was coming to his house. He gave half his goods to the poor and offered fourfold restitution, which is the penalty the law set for a stolen and slaughtered animal.

He shouted for the Son of David and was told to be quiet, so he shouted louder. Mark records that he threw off his cloak, which for a beggar was the thing he collected coins on, and jumped up. Asked what he wanted, he said he wanted to see.

A Gentile mother who asked Jesus to free her daughter and was answered with a hard saying about not giving the children's bread to the dogs. She took the image and turned it: even the dogs under the table eat the crumbs. It is the only exchange in the Gospels where someone answers Jesus back and is commended for it.

She came to draw water at noon, when nobody else would be there, and got the longest recorded conversation Jesus has with anyone. She raised the real dispute between their peoples, which mountain was the right one, and left her water jar to go tell the town.

He asked for his servant to be healed and then said not to bother coming, because he understood chains of authority: he gave orders and they were obeyed, so a word would be enough. Jesus said he had not found faith like that in Israel.

A respected official who fell at Jesus' feet begging for his dying daughter, then had to stand through a delay while a woman in the crowd was healed, and heard while waiting that the girl had died.

A court official returning from Jerusalem, reading Isaiah aloud in his chariot and getting nowhere. Philip ran alongside, asked whether he understood it, and was invited up. They stopped at water and he was baptized, then went on his way rejoicing.

A God-fearing officer who prayed and gave alms, and whose vision and Peter's happened on the same day. When the Spirit fell on his household while Peter was still speaking, the argument about Gentiles was effectively settled by God before the church could vote on it.

Known for the coats and garments she made for widows, which the widows were holding up and showing Peter when he arrived after her death. She is the only woman in the New Testament called a disciple with the feminine form of the word.

The most respected rabbi of his generation, and Paul's teacher. When the council wanted the apostles executed he counseled patience with an argument still quoted: if this is of human origin it will fail on its own, and if it is from God you will not be able to stop it.

Eloquent and mighty in the Scriptures, teaching accurately about Jesus but knowing only John's baptism. Priscilla and Aquila took him aside privately and filled in what he was missing, and he became a formidable public advocate.

Chosen to serve tables, he ended up preaching in Samaria, baptizing an Ethiopian official on a desert road, and settling in Caesarea, where Luke notes he had four unmarried daughters who prophesied.

He ran from his owner Philemon, met Paul in prison, became a believer, and was sent back carrying the letter that asked for him to be received no longer as a slave but as a beloved brother. His name means useful, and Paul makes a pun of it.

They sold property, kept back part of the price, and presented the rest as the whole. Peter's charge is not that they gave too little but that they lied about it when they were under no obligation to give at all. Both fell dead, and great fear came on the church.

A leading man in the Jerusalem church who carried the council's decision to Antioch and then traveled with Paul after the split with Barnabas. He was beaten and jailed at Philippi and was singing at midnight when the earthquake came.

A Greek believer Paul deliberately did not have circumcised, making him a test case for the whole Gentile question. He later handled the difficult mission to Corinth and was left to organize the churches of Crete.

A younger son who asked for his inheritance while his father was still alive, which was as good as wishing him dead, spent it all, and ended up envying pigs their food. He rehearsed a speech about being made a hired servant and never got to finish it, because his father saw him a long way off and ran.

A traveler from the despised neighboring people who stopped for a beaten man that a priest and a Levite had walked past, bandaged him, paid for his lodging, and promised to cover anything more. Jesus told it in answer to a lawyer looking for a defensible definition of neighbor.

A farmer with a bumper harvest who decided to tear down his barns and build bigger ones, then take life easy. God's answer is the only line in the parables where God speaks directly, and it is one word of address: fool. He died that night.

A man in purple who feasted daily and a sore-covered beggar at his gate, whose positions are reversed after death. The rich man, still treating Lazarus as an errand boy, asks for water and then for a warning to be sent to his brothers, and is told that people who will not hear Moses and the prophets will not be persuaded even by a resurrection.

Two men praying in the temple. One thanked God he was not like other men and listed his observances, all of which were true. The other would not lift his eyes and asked God to be merciful to him, a sinner. Luke says the second went home justified.

Forgiven a debt so large it could never have been repaid, he walked out and seized a colleague over a trivial sum. Jesus told it when Peter asked whether forgiving seven times was enough.

Ten bridesmaids waiting with lamps for a bridegroom who was delayed. Five had brought extra oil and five had not, and the ones who left to buy more arrived after the door was shut. The point is stated plainly at the end: keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour.

Three servants entrusted with different sums while their master traveled. Two traded and doubled what they had; the third buried his in the ground and explained that he had been afraid. A talent was an enormous weight of silver, so even the smallest share was a fortune.

A craftsman of Nazareth, betrothed to Mary, who was told in a dream to take her as his wife despite a pregnancy that was not his. He named the child, which in that culture was the act of claiming him as a son, and it is through Joseph that Jesus is legally of David's line.

The governors, kings, and officers who handle Paul's case. Felix keeps him two years hoping for a bribe. Festus inherits the problem and cannot work out what to write to Caesar. Agrippa II and his sister Bernice come to hear him out of curiosity.

The apostles the gospels say least about. Andrew, Peter's brother, is the one who keeps bringing people to Jesus: his brother, the boy with the loaves, the Greeks who came asking. Thomas is remembered for one sentence of doubt and forgotten for another, let us also go, that we may die with him.

The names at the beginnings and ends of the letters, which most readers skip. They are the actual shape of the early church: a courier, a runaway slave, a treasurer of a city, a woman who hosted a congregation in her house, two women whose disagreement was serious enough to be named in a public letter.

The deuterocanonical books, and the King James New Testament, often carry names in their Greek shapes: Josias is Josiah, Jeremias is Jeremiah, Elias is Elijah, Esaias is Isaiah, Noe is Noah, Booz is Boaz, Jonas is Jonah, Zorobabel is Zerubbabel, Nave is Nun.

The fathers, mothers, and relatives named around the Twelve. Zebedee is left in the boat with the hired men when James and John walk away from the family fishing business, a detail Mark includes without comment.

Luke names three of the women traveling with Jesus and the Twelve, and says plainly that they were supporting them out of their own means: Mary called Magdalene, Joanna the wife of Herod's steward Chuza, and Susanna, with many others.

The tax collector called from his booth at Capernaum, on the road running from Damascus to the coast. Mark and Luke call him Levi; Matthew's gospel calls him Matthew and adds the detail that he was a tax collector, which the others leave out of the apostle list.

James son of Zebedee, John's brother, one of the inner three, and the first apostle martyred, killed by Herod Agrippa. James son of Alphaeus, of whom almost nothing is recorded. And James the brother of Jesus, who did not believe during the ministry and became the leader of the Jerusalem church.

A priest of the division of Abijah and his wife Elizabeth, both descended from Aaron, both righteous, and both old and childless. Struck mute for doubting Gabriel's announcement, he wrote the boy's name on a tablet and his speech returned.

A family name that became a title. Augustus orders the census in Luke 2. Tiberius reigns during the ministry. Claudius expels the Jews from Rome, which is how Paul meets Priscilla and Aquila. Nero is almost certainly the Caesar to whom Paul appealed and under whom he died.