Faith Venture

The Advent of the Son of God, Prince of Peace, Lord of Lords. It happened more than 20 years before the birth of Jesus (27 BC). It was an event perpetrated by Caesar Augustus (The Illustrious One).

That’s not the only parallel of Jesus’ life with Rome. Some scholars think that Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem from the east paralleled that of Rome’s representative to Jerusalem, Pontius Pilate, from the west.

Jesus’ teaching essentially turned the world view of Rome on its head. Where everything about Rome was power and glory, Jesus taught the Spirit of God. Living with God meant not seeking power over others, but instead it meant living with God, eschewing power and replacing that with serving others.

We ignore the power and influence of Rome over the events in the New Testament at the peril of not understanding how radical were the teachings. And how dangerous.

The Advent and birth of Jesus was celebrated by a few at the time, but by a billion people now. The birth of Augustus’ reign was celebrated by the entire Roman world in 27 BC (and for years later), but is almost forgotten now.

Does power come because I said I’m powerful, or does it come from God? I think we have been shown the answer.

This entry was posted on December 20, 2011 at 7:27 am and is filed under Christianity. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.