This statue at Creighton University depicts Jesus washing the feet of a disciple. Can we find other references to Jesus from non-Christian sources?
There’s extremely little doubt Jesus was a real person
“I don’t know any mainstream scholar who doubts the historicity of Jesus,” said Eric Meyers, an archaeologist and emeritus professor in Judaic studies at Duke University. “The details have been debated for centuries, but no one who is serious doubts that he’s a historical figure.” - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/2017/12/jesus-tomb-archaeology/
Even if the Bible never existed, there's plenty of historical records indicating Jesus did. These records are from writers who were indifferent to or even opposed the Christians of their day. Yet these writers still wrote as though the existence of Jesus was common knowledge. You'd think if back then Jesus was little more than a myth, they would have argued that.
Read a short, clear list of references to Jesus not from the Bible
Read this forum thread: How to talk to people when they ask, "Did Jesus Exist?"
This is an excellent forum thread where you can get good ideas from other Christians on how to engage someone on this topic, along with links to other references on the historical Jesus. (No registration or login required to read.)
Watch this 28-minute video
Former homicide detective J. Warner Wallace, walks you through several "un-friendly" sources that often inadvertently affirm what people within the first hundred years thought about Jesus.
The first third of the video is him providing context regarding how historians look at ancient sources when trying to validate whether what is being said is true.
The best part was the last three minutes, where Wallace highlights what we'd be able to know about Jesus if the Bible never existed.
In the blog post below, Wallace goes beyond what he put in the video. He provides a lot of background related to all 11 non-Biblical authors who talk about Jesus.
Photo by Patrick Garmoe