Skip to main content

Revolutionary Christmas


What was the world like at the time of Jesus’ birth? Answer: The world was ruled by the Roman Empire. They ruled everything. How did the Roman Empire come to rule the world? For starters the Roman general Germanicus. He is known for killing people all across the Rhine area. For 50 miles around the Rhine area he killed women, children, the old and the young. From the General Germanicus point of view only the total annihilation of the population would end war.
How did Roman conquer the world? Well now you know. The Romans killed, murdered and beat nations and people groups into submission. Another Roman general named Pompey conquered the Eastern part of the Roman Empire in 64 BC. Because of his great conquest an inscription was placed in a temple in Rome in his honor. The inscription boasts that Pompey took 12 million subjects in surrender in 1,500 towns.[1] How did the Roman Empire rule the world? They dominated, destroyed, intimidated and killed anyone who attempted to stand in their way. A writer from this time states that – they made the boundaries of the empire equal to the boundaries of the earth.[2] They safe guarded the revenue of the Romans and increased some of them. The goal of the Roman Empire was to have the boundaries of the earth be the boundaries of the empire (orbis terrarium). Everything was done to increase the wealth, revenue and territory of the empire. The Romans wanted to rule everything and everyone.  
Before the birth of Jesus the Romans ruled the world. While Jesus lived and after his resurrection the Romans ruled the world. The Roman General Titus in AD 70 destroys Jerusalem. There had been yet another revolt among the Jews in AD 66. This time the Jews had organized well enough to take control of the city of Jerusalem. General Titus, soon to be Caesar, crushed the resistance with overwhelming force. Titus burned the city of Jerusalem and destroyed temple. During this operation the Roman’s claimed to have captured about 500 people daily. Titus, out of rage and hatred, took many of the captured Jews and had them nailed to crosses in different postures.
Who ruled the world? The Roman Empire. How did they rule the world? With terror. Even the disciples of Jesus were familiar with Roman rule. In AD 4 a Roman general named Varus wanted to punish a few Jews rebels so he killed 2000 Jews and burn the city of Emmaus.[3] You might remember that after his resurrection Jesus walks with some disciples to the city of Emmaus. The 2000 people that Varus tortured happened in a town called Sepphoris. Sepphoris was one of the major capital cities to Galilee. Nazareth, the hometown of Jesus, was a 3 mile walk away from Sepphoris. The Romans ruled the world and they did so by terrorizing people.
The Roman Empire was ruled by a series of Caesars. The first one was Julius Caesar. He tried but was unsuccessful in unifying the entire Roman Empire under his rule. Instead Julius Caesar ruled in tandem with a Roman Senate. After Julius’ death in 44 BC there was a time of civil war with different Roman Generals attempting to establish their rule. In 27 BC Julius Caesars’ adopted son named Octavian came to power and soon after changed his name to Augustus. Augustus was able to bring the whole Roman Empire under his rule. He did not rule in tandem with the senate instead all the power of the empire was given to one person. This is a major moment in human history. The world became united under one ruler. Augustus was ruling at the time Jesus was born.
Augustus comes to the power and he ruled from the United Kingdom (Great Britain), across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and portions of India. The Roman parliament proclaimed Augustus god incarnate on earth. Caesar Augustus was proclaimed god in the flesh on earth. Temples were built in his honor and prayers and sacrifices were offered to the god Augustus.[4] Now when he came to power the Romans created temples to Augustus all over. Romans were to worship Augustus as god in the flesh that has come to bring salvation to earth. Some Roman poets of the time said that Augustus would lift the people from fear and establish a universal age of peace and renewal of humanity. In 17 BC there was a strange cosmic event. Perhaps a comet cutting across the sky or a brighter than normal start. The cosmic event was interpreted as Julius Caesar ascending into the heavens to become a god.
If Julius is a god then Augustus is a son of god. So Augustus announces that he is a son of a god and puts on a 12 day celebration called Advent. The Romans thought that this was the turning point in human history. They believed based on prophecies and predictions that Augustus had united the whole world. World history had reached its highest point and Augustus was going to renew all things. Augustus was bring peace, salvation and the renewal of all things. People in the Roman Empire were instructed to go to the temples built to Augustus. They were to offering a sacrifice to Augustus and request that Augustus go to the gods on their behalf to forgive past guilt’s and sins.
So at the time of Jesus birth Caesar was proclaimed as the divine son of god that brings peace and salvation to the world. During this time if you had some message or slogan that you wanted to get out you put it on a coin. During the rule of Augustus coins were minted that stated “Augustus divine son of god.” Also a new greeting cropped up around the empire which was “Caesar is Lord!” The Romans rule the world and their ruler is a divine son of god that is bringing peace and salvation to the world.
Now how do you fund all this? Well you make people pay taxes. By some estimates by the time of Jesus’ birth people in the Roman Empire were paying around a tax rate of 80%. All of this money went into the empire machinery of making the empire bigger and destroying anyone who opposed them. Interestingly Jews in Jesus day you had land. Land that has been in their families since the time of Joshua. Yet with the tax rate so high many had to sell their land and take up a trade and go wherever the work was. The NT tells us that Joseph is not a famer instead he is a carpenter. Why? Could be because he had to sell the family land and go to where the work was as a carpenter so he could feed his family. The Christmas story is born out of some very tough economic times because Caesar brings peace. Caesar says he is going to make everything okay yet has he? If you are Caesar and you want to know how big your empire is and how much tax revenue you should be getting you count. So bow down and worship Caesar because Caesar is Lord he brings peace and salvation.
This brings us to Luke 2.  Luke wants us to know that in the corner of the empire, among an oppressed ethnic group a baby is going to be born. Not just any baby. This baby is a king. This baby is a savior. This baby is to rule over a different kind of Kingdom. This story is more than just about a teen pregnancy. Is this more than just the story of a young Jewish couple who is going to have a baby. A baby is going to be born and it is a different kind of baby. Caesar is Lord proclaim the Romans and yet in a corner of the empire a little baby is being born among an oppressed people. Soon some will say Jesus is Lord not Caesar.
Luke wants us to see two different kinds of empires. One empire that is built on crushing people and one that is built on loving people. One that is built on bondage and one on liberation. One on oppressing people and one on setting the oppressed free. This is why early Christians lost their lives. Because they said that there is one Lord and it is Jesus not Caesar. Luke is wrote a story that is treasonous. Luke, writing during the time of the Caesars and Roman rule, says there is a another Lord and savior. In Luke 2 we read that Angles appear to a group of Shepherds. The Shepherds are told that a savior has been born and it is not Caesar.
Luke would like to know which Lord you follow. It is Caesar or Jesus? Which Kingdom has your allegiance?   The Christmas story is calling into question what we worship. The Christmas story is calling the powers that be into question. The Christmas story is all about politics and political arrangements. The Christmas Story is the cry of every person who is oppressed because sometimes we need to know that Caesar does not get the last word. God does!

[1] Horsley, Richard A. Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003, p 22.
[2] Diododorus Siculus The Accomplishments of the Divine Augustus 40.4
[3] Horsley, Richard A. Jesus and Empire: The Kingdom of God and the New World Disorder. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2003, p 30.
[4] Ibid. p 23

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Thoughts on The Widening of God's Mercy by Hays and Hays

When I heard about the book by Hays and Hays titled The Widening of God Mercy I was intrigued. I had read Richard Hays' book The Moral Vision of the New Testament in seminary, especially the chapter on homosexuality. I ended up adopting much, if not all, of Hays' position on homosexuality and often used his reasoning while serving as a church minister.  I have read other things that Richard Hays has written such as Reading Backwards: Figural Christology and the Fourfold Gospel Witness and found it beneficial to my understanding of Jesus and what it means to be a follower of Jesus. When it was suggested that Richard Hays might have changed his mind about what he wrote in  The Moral Vision of the New Testament  on homosexuality, I wanted to find out for myself.  My Context I spent over ten years doing youth ministry in the local church. I now know many adults who used to be teenagers in my youth group. Some of those adults are gay or lesbian. That means unbeknownst ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Worshiping the executioner part 1 (Suffering and Faith)

The brother kept yelling "I did this" as I opened the door to one of the hospital family consultation rooms. Maybe you have sat in a room like this and received some not-so-good news. Rooms such as these tend to be basic. A few not-so-comfy chairs, a drab paint job, and odd abstract artwork on the walls.  I had asked the family members, who had been seated in the ER waiting area, to follow me to the family room. I told them that the doctor wanted to give them an update on how their loved one was doing. The family gathered up their belongings and nervously began to follow me. The family consisted of two adults, a baby, and two girls. One of the girls was the daughter of the patient that the doctor needed to give an update on.  She was a cute little girl. Probably about four or five years old. She had messy wavy short blond hair and green eyes. She was wearing a pale pink shirt with little white flower prints and a matching pair of pants. She had a pair of Crocs-style pink shoe...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Power of Touch

Some folks like to hug, and others would rather eat glass than get a hug. Okay, maybe not eat glass but they aren’t into hugs. You know who you are! Wherever you might be on the hug me or don’t hug me spectrum our human bodies were designed for human contact to thrive.1,2 Physical touch like a hug or holding a person’s hand can reduce pain, lower cortisol levels, boost immune responses, and foster empathy. Physical touch can also have a positive impact on our emotional health as well. It is a powerful moment when you feel down, outcast, and excluded and someone acknowledges your humanity with a handshake, hug, or hand placed on your shoulder. The point is there is power in human touch that goes beyond what our eyes can see. Frederick Buechner in his book  Whistling in the Dark talks about the power of human touch when he writes:  I hear your words. I see your face. I smell the rain in your hair, the coffee on your breath. I am inside me experiencing you as you are inside you ...
Post a Comment
Read more