In Who is This Man?, a book written as a response to his lecture on the historical impact of Jesus, Pastor John Ortberg of Menlo Park Presbyterian Church in California writes about the lasting impact of Jesus' life.
Looking back on the first century, he suggests the comparison of Jesus and the Roman Empire was stark.
"[If] you took a look at the Roman Empire on the one hand, with its money … its armies … its roads and all of the power that Caesar [had] and the greatness of the Caesars and the way they thought they ruled the world, and then you were to look at Jesus, who was killed on a cross and [had a] tiny, little band of ragtag followers -- if you had to make a bet on whose influence was going to be the strongest in 2,000 years, you would never put your money on this crucified carpenter and His motley crew," Ortberg poses.
He also points out that non-Christians in modern history like Gandhi and Tolstoy still had the utmost respect for Jesus -- perhaps indicating that even though they may have not have believed in Jesus, they did admire Him.
"Like in the first century, Jesus didn't actually come to his disciples and say you have to affirm all these creedal, doctrinal statements about me or else go away," Ortberg notes. "He just had people come and check out what he said and try it out in their life, and people came to admire Him immensely and to believe He was right. Then they would become His followers … actually seek to live with His help, His kind of life, and then eventually they came to believe that this really is the unique expression of God and to trust Him for this world and the world to come."
Ortberg's book reveals that Jesus' impact 100 years after his death was greater than when he was alive on earth, and it has continued to grow exponentially -- influencing the calendar system, art, architecture, music, government, medicine and education.