Almost exactly one year ago, last June, Esmae, Caity and I had the privilege of visiting the UK. As part
of our road trip we drove north to Hexam and visited the ruined remains of
Emperor Hadrian’s great wall. It is quite something to stand on what is still a
huge and solid stone fortification and stare East to West marvelling at how it
winds on and on for countless miles protecting what was then the Roman Empire
from the wild Scots hordes. Caity had a grand time mocking her mother on
her barbarian ancestry till we pointed out the obvious!
I stood for some time gazing south across England and imaging the
channel and a whole continent beyond that. Back in 120AD this was all Rome!
This was an empire that spanned the known world. The legions and their families
and slaves who had lived in barracks on these windswept rolling hills all paid
allegiance to Caesar as their Lord. Caesaris
est Dóminus.
Interestingly,
about a hundred years before the wall was built, Jesus was born and Augustus
Octavian had been emperor for
a quarter of a century. He was King of kings – A gift from the gods! He was the adopted son of the great Julius Ceaser and took the title - 'divi filius' - 'son of the divine'. He ruled
from Gibraltar to Jerusalem and from Britain to the Black Sea. He had done what
no one had done for two hundred years before him: he had brought peace to the
wider, Roman world – Pax Romana.
Says NT Wright: “Augustus gave peace, as long as it was
consistent with the interests of the Empire and the myth of his own glory.
There you have it in a nutshell: the whole ambiguous structure of human empire,
a kingdom of absolute power, bringing glory to the man at the top, and peace to
those on whom his favor rested.”
And yet, fifteen
hundred miles away, in an obscure province, a young couple undertakes a
dangerous journey, resulting in the birth of a child in the little town of
Bethlehem. And angels sing: Glory to God
in the highest heaven and on earth peace to those on whom his
favor rests.
What a contrast!
This young King in Bethlehem, born with a price on his head represents the
dangerous alternative, the possibility of a different empire, a different
power, a different glory, and a different peace. The two stand over against one
another.
The difference between these two Kingdoms is stark. Augustus ruled by
the sword, the shield, and the banners of his ruthless legions. A humble
manger, a criminal’s cross, and a tomb marked the kingdom of Jesus from
Nazareth. No greater contrast could be imagined. The birth of Jesus
Christ was simply revolution: the birth of a different king, ushering in a
differing kingdom, and threatening the greatest kingdom of this world.
“Jesus
represents the dangerous alternative to the power of Rome: a different
power, a different glory, a different peace, a different salvation. The birth
of Jesus is divine insurrection and outright revolution.” (The Jesus of Suburbia by Mike Erre)
Octavian’s Kingdom is long gone, and
Hadrian’s Wall lies crumbling. But the reminder remains that we must choose
between two radically different two kingdoms. Do we bow before the
Caesars of our time, or dare we embrace the reign of Jesus? Which will it be: Pax Romana or Pax Christo?
