A Christmas 2016 variation can be found here: http://sheepspeaks.blogspot.ca/2016/12/luke-21-with-christ-or-augustus.html
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair”: this is the famous opening line of A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens; it is about Paris and it is about London. Today’s story from Scripture is a real life tale of two kings by Luke the physician; it is about Augustus Caesar and it is about Jesus Christ and in Luke’s Gospel, like in Dickens’ story, it is the best of times and it is the worst of times.[1]
The second chapter of Luke’s Gospel opens with, “And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.” Caesar Augustus is the first king of our two kings, chronologically speaking, that we will address today.[2] What do we know of this king and of this world that he has ordered taxed?
Caesar Augustus was the Roman king and the world was certainly a Roman world that he ordered to be taxed. Prominent New Testament scholar and historian N.T. Wright, writes:
In the Mediterranean world …the fastest growing religion was the Imperial cult, the worship of [the king, Augustus] Caesar.
In Rome itself, …being hailed as the son of the newly deified Julius was an important part of [Caesar] Augustus’ profile, and that of his successors, at home as well as abroad. But in the East [including Judea] …the provinces saw no need for restraint. With a long tradition of ruler-cults going back at least to Alexander the Great, local cities and provinces were in many cases only too happy to demonstrate their loyalty to the emperor by establishing a cult in his honour, and in need by vying for the privilege of looking after his shrine.[3]
In our tale of two kings today, the first king here mentioned, Augustus Caesar, leader of Rome, the paramount Superpower in the first Century, when Jesus lived; he is worshipped as a god. Augustus Caesar, this alleged god-king, who rules the most powerful country in the world; this alleged god-king is seen as a son of god, in that his deceased adopted father Julius Caesar is also revered as a god; this ‘god-king’, ‘son of god’ has an interesting biography. This is the tale of Caesar Augustus. [4]
Augustus Caesar
Caesar Augustus is born Gaius Octavius on September 23, 63 BCE. He takes the name Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus (Octavian) in 44 BCE after the murder of his great uncle, Julius Caesar, who was the Roman ruler at the time. In his will, Julius Caesar had adopted Octavian thus making him his heir to the helm of the Roman world.
Octavian is a shrewd, brilliant and astute politician; he is able to achieve ultimate power in Rome. At the time of his uncle’s assassination, Octavian /Augustus – like Deng Xiaoping, centuries later in China, during the Tiananmen Square incident –held no official position. However, shortly afterwards, he, with his armies, march on Rome, forcing the senate to name him consul, thus showing to the world that indeed he is a power to be reckoned with.
Augustus, then, along with Marc Antony and another Roman General (Marcus Lepidus) begins to rule the Roman world. After taking power, they slaughter thousands of political enemies. Antony later marries Cleopatra and wages war against Augustus. The Roman Navy under Herod Agrippa defeats Antony and Cleopatra in 31 BCE and within a year they both famously commit suicide.
Following this Rome officially bestowed upon Octavian/Augustus the name ‘Augustus’, which means ‘the exalted.’ The politicians also gave him the legal power to rule every aspect of the whole Roman Empire all to himself. Through wars, murder and intrigue, Caesar Augustus becomes Rome’s ultimate Emperor, bringing stability to the realm.
Rome achieves its glory under Augustus. After 100 years of civil war, he becomes the prince of peace; no one dares challenge Caesar Augustus. His empire expands as his armies conquer Spain, Gaul (now France), Panonia and Dalmatia (now parts of Hungary and Croatia), Egypt and most of southwestern Europe.
Caesar Augustus rules with an iron-fist. He is worshipped as a god and as a son of a god; by destroying his enemies in war he even ironically becomes known as the prince of the ‘Pax Romana’, the Roman peace. When the Gospel of Luke that we read from today was recorded, Augustus was known as a god, a son of god and a prince of peace. Luke then tells of our other king, the real king.
Jesus Christ
Jesus truly is God, the Son of God, and the Prince of Peace. Notice how different the real King of Kings is from Caesar Augustus or any other king or any leader of any superpower either past or present. Luke, in invoking Caesar Augustus’ name and this taxation is drawing this parallel and making this contrast for all of us to see.
Luke and all his readers know very much what we have just said about Augustus Caesar. They know his story. That is their life and times. In our passage today Luke is intentionally showing us that Jesus, Jesus’ mother and adoptive father are very different from Augustus Caesar and his adoptive father. Rather than conquering an Empire by force, Joseph and Mary travel by foot to another city in order to pay their taxes to this aforementioned Caesar Augustus. In so doing it is ironic that Augustus Caesar is pretending to be what their child, who is about to come into the world, really is: the Son of God and the Prince of Peace (Luke 2:4).[5]
When Mary and Joseph arrive in Bethlehem to pay their taxes, the city is full. Imagine the buzz of activity with people everywhere coming to be registered. The buzz of activity: with everyone going to a specific location to register, it reminds me sort of hamper day. It is not feasible for us to deliver hampers to everyone’s home in the community so they need to come to us. It is not feasible for the Romans to go to every house in their empire to register them for the census; so the people needed to come to central locations.[6] On hamper day we have people everywhere: between volunteers, staff, and those in need coming to pick up their hampers. I imagine this buzz of activity of hundreds of people around here on hamper day to be a microcosm of what it was like in Bethlehem two centuries ago. As busy as it was here it was even busier there as the busyness filled the whole city.
I can’t quite remember what the situation was like here when we had the women’s world curling championships last year but I do know what it was like in Vancouver during the 2010 Olympics. I had friends of mine tell me repeatedly how landlords would evict tenants so they could rent out their rooms at much higher rates than they would ordinarily get. Hotel rooms were filled during the Olympics. People who lived in Vancouver were even going on vacation somewhere else during the Olympics and renting out their homes for enough money to pay for their entire vacation. The city was full. There was no room anywhere. If you didn’t have relatives or reservations and you wanted to stay in Vancouver during the Olympics you would have to be resourceful – even the shelters were full.
It is the same in Bethlehem. Anyone and everyone descended from the iconic figure King David of Judah, was descending upon this small city.[7] There was no room in the inns. This was the environment when this other king of the Jews, the real king of the Jews, the real Son of God, and the real God incarnate comes into the world – a little different from the life of Caesar Augustus, who is mentioned at the beginning of our text today and of whom the same claims of kingship and god’s sonship are made.
Jesus’ mother, Mary, gives birth in the only room available and makes her baby as comfortable as possible, wrapping him snugly in pieces of cloth and placing him in a feeding trough, in a manger packed with straw.
It is at this point in the narrative then that Luke begins to draw a real distinction between our two kings in our tale today: Augustus Caesar, who some uphold to be a god, a son of a god, and the Prince of the Roman Peace and Christ Jesus who really is God, the Son of God, and the Prince of Peace. Whereas the king Augustus Caesar had his power acknowledged by the powerful politicians of his day through war, murder, and intrigue. Christ Jesus’ kingship is heralded through angels to working class shepherds who were working the night shift.[8]
Luke 2: 8-14:
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night. And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid. And the angel said unto them, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.” And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
These working class shepherds, who are working that night, are invited by God’s messengers to come and see His new born Son, born to parents who are here to pay their taxes to the leader of the temporal superpower of their day: who is ironically enough an impostor pretending to be the son of a god. These shepherds listen to God and go to Bethlehem and are blessed to see the birth of God’s truly only begotten son who will grow up to save the whole world.
Luke 2:19-20: “…Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.”
Thus our tale of two kings concludes with the same question before us today as was before the shepherds and the readers of Luke’s gospel in the first century. Which of the two kings will we serve? Will we serve Caesar or Christ? Will we serve the rulers of our current time and place in history – Presidents, Prime Ministers, Kings, … – and their empires and systems – the English-speaking empire, capitalism, democracy, consumerism, imperialism, or whatever else… - or will we serve the only real Son of God who lived and died and rose again so that we can all rise again and live forever in His Kingdom to come if we so choose. On this Christmas Day two centuries closer to the return of our King, the choice is ours and I encourage us all to serve our Lord, who is returning anytime now. I invite us all today, in recognition and in a pledge of allegiance to Jesus who truly is the King of Kings; I invite us all to sing alongside the angels of two centuries ago, as it is recorded in Luke 2:14 where they sing: “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” Please stand with me and sing “Gloria in Execelis Deo” which, of course, in English means, “Glory to God in the highest.”
Let us pray[9]:
Glory to God in the highest,
and peace to His people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
Almighty God and Father,
we worship You, we give You thanks,
we praise You for Your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ,
only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
You take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
You are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For You alone are the Holy One,
You alone are the Lord,
You alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of the Father.
Amen.
and peace to His people on earth.
Lord God, heavenly King,
Almighty God and Father,
we worship You, we give You thanks,
we praise You for Your glory.
Lord Jesus Christ,
only Son of the Father,
Lord God, Lamb of God,
You take away the sin of the world:
have mercy on us;
You are seated at the right hand of the Father:
receive our prayer.
For You alone are the Holy One,
You alone are the Lord,
You alone are the Most High,
Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit,
in the glory of the Father.
Amen.
Benediction: Let us go forth on this Christmas Day forever serving the Lord of Lords and the King of Kings, Christ Jesus our Saviour. Amen.
---
[1] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 63 for a good discussion of the comparison made here by Luke.
[2] Cf. Walter L. Leifeld, The Expositor's Bible Commentary, Pradis CD-ROM:Luke/Exposition of Luke/II. Birth and Childhood Narratives (1:5-2:52)/B. Birth Narratives (1:57-2:20)/3. The birth of Jesus (2:1-7), Book Version: 4.0.2
[3]N.T. Wright, 'Paul and Caesar: A New Reading of Romans', originally published in A Royal Priesthood: The Use of the Bible Ethically and Politically, ed. C. Bartholemew, 2002, Carlisle: Paternoster, 173–193. Reproduced by permission of the author. Available on-line at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_Paul_Caesar_Romans.htm
[4] For more information on Augustus, cf. Will Durant, The Story of Civilisation III: Caesar and Christ. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster, 1944. See also Lucid Café Library On-line: http://www.lucidcafe.com/library/95sep/augustus.html
[5] Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 63
[6] Cf. Leon Morris, Luke: An Introduction and Commentary. Downers Grove, Il.: InterVarsity Press, 1988 (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries 3), S. 99. See also A. Deissmann, Light from the Ancient East (Hodder and Stoughton, 1927), p. 271. Deissmann says that Luke uses official ‘departmental language’ in reporting the order (ibid., p. 270, n. 5).
[7] But cf. Cf. R. Alan Culpepper, Luke (NIB 8: Nashville, Tenn.: Abingdon, 1995), 63
[8] Cf. Fred B. Craddock, Luke (Interpretation: Louisville, Kentucky: John Knox, 1990), 35. Re: the comparison between royal heralds of good news.
[9] ‘A Catholic Prayer: Glory to God’, available on-line: http://www.catholic.org/prayers/prayer.php?p=785
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