Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: roman

Relationship with a Roman
Luke 7:1 After he had finished all his sayings in the hearing of the people, he entered Capernaum.

Jesus has just taught the crowds who were amazed at His teaching (probably under the watchful Roman eyes of their area squad of the Legion).

Jesus taught His own people with such sayings as:
- Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you.
- Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful.
- The good person out of the good treasure of his heart produces good.
- “Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?
The multitudes followed Jesus from place to place (under watchful Roman eyes, along with ears to hear the true motives of this Jewish teacher who taught in the synagogues of the towns and on the distant hillsides) … waiting to see what their promised Messiah would do. (The Roman authorities and Jewish authorities wanted to know that as well.)

Jesus has told the crowds, “For no good tree bears bad fruit, nor again does a bad tree bear good fruit, 44 for each tree is known by its own fruit.”

What is the fruit of Jesus’ ministry? For most of the crowds just watch. Many bear no good fruit.

Jesus returns to his new home, followed by the crowds of onlookers.

2 Now a centurion had a servant who was sick and at the point of death, who was highly valued by him. 3 When the centurion heard about Jesus, he sent to him elders of the Jews, asking him to come and heal his servant.

This Roman soldier had a servant, possibly a captured slave from their many battles of the Roman campaign and rule of the region (perhaps even a zealous Jew). We know that the culture of the City of Rome required many slaves (25% of the population). This person (slave or servant) was valuable to the Roman Centurion (a General in charge of many men, in addition to his own servants).

Propriety and protocol require communication at the proper levels of leadership to approach a common Jew like Jesus; therefore the centurion sends another servant to communicate with the servant of a Jewish elder about dealing with this common Rabbi of the hillsides about possibly helping him in a personal matter of his gentile (Roman) household.

The Elders themselves (highly esteemed and with the authority of Jewish leadership of their fellow Jews like Jesus) come to the Rabbi Jesus and ask Him a favor. No faithful Jew would refuse such a request directly from an Elder.

4 And when they came to Jesus, they pleaded with him earnestly, saying, “He (this gentile, Roman centurion) is worthy to have you do this for him, 5 for he loves our nation, and he is the one who built us our synagogue.”

So the Jews then begin a short journey toward the Roman encampment nearby, but not in Capernaum.

6 And Jesus went with them. When he was not far from the house, the centurion sent friends, saying to him, “Lord, do not trouble yourself, for I am not worthy to have you come under my roof. 7 Therefore I did not presume to come to you. But say the word, and let my servant be healed.

Fruit of His teaching! AND from a Roman gentile.

8 For I too am a man set under authority, with soldiers under me: and I say to one, ‘Go,’ and he goes; and to another, ‘Come,’ and he comes; and to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and he does it.”

And Jesus had just asked on the hillsides:

“Why do you call me ‘Lord, Lord,’ and not do what I tell you?”

Beloved believer, you who this day claim Christ by calling yourself a christian; do you hear now Jesus’ teaching to faithful followers of God?

It is a further lesson for the ears of skeptical Jews and their local Elders:

9 When Jesus heard these things, he marveled at him, and turning to the crowd that followed him, said, “I tell you, not even in Israel have I found such faith.”

And later report would come back to Capernaum from the gentile Roman camp of this miracle that did not even require the touch or near presence of Jesus:

10 And when those who had been sent returned to the house, they found the servant well.

Adoption and mercy for gentiles like most of us. Jesus IS Lord of all.

We cry out to Christ, “Lord, Lord.”

Do you have the faith of this centurion?

Is He your Lord?
February 25, 2014
A Light of Revelation to the Gentiles

Birth of John the Baptist Foretold

Luke 1:5 In the days of Herod, king of Judea, there was a priest named Zechariah, of the division of Abijah. And he had a wife from the daughters of Aaron, and her name was Elizabeth. 6 And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statutes of the Lord…

The Birth of John the Baptist

57 Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. 58 And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. 59 And on the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, 60 but his mother answered, “No; he shall be called John.”

(a few months later in Jerusalem, which is near to Bethlehem)

Jesus Presented at the Temple

22 And when the time came for their purification according to the Law of Moses, they brought him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord…

25 Now there was a man in Jerusalem, whose name was Simeon, and this man was righteous and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel, and the Holy Spirit was upon him. 26 And it had been revealed to him by the Holy Spirit that he would not see death before he had seen the Lord’s Christ. 27 And he came in the Spirit into the temple, and when the parents brought in the child Jesus, to do for him according to the custom of the Law, 28 he took him up in his arms and blessed God and said,

29 “Lord, now you are letting your servant depart in peace,
according to your word;
30 for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”

33 And his father and his mother marveled at what was said about him. 34 And Simeon blessed them and said to Mary his mother, “Behold, this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed 35 (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed.”

(Jesus was eight days old; then Joseph fled from the wrath of Herod to Egypt.)

We have picked up the story of Jesus’ early ministry 30 years later.

He is filled by the Holy Spirit, baptized by John, faced Satan for 40 days in the wilderness and returned to Nazareth and the surrounding towns to preach repentance.

Jesus has been rejected by his own brothers and neighbors of Nazareth. The people of Nazareth try to stone Him!

Jesus moves to Capernaum. He teaches and performs miracles on the Galilean hillsides. All the time, of course, Galilee is under the administration and watchful eye of Rome. A Roman army could occupy any town at any time if they perceived a threat from its people or a charismatic leader with thousands of followers listening to his teaching. Of course, watchful Roman ears would have the intelligence to hear what such a Galilean would be saying to his followers. Rome and the gentile solders certainly knew Jesus prior to His triumphal entry into Jerusalem which would occur just three short years from now.

Christ Jesus is not only a teacher and friend of the Jews. Jesus IS a light and salvation to the gentile Romans.

The Prophesy of Luke 1:

30 …for my eyes have seen your salvation
31 that you have prepared in the presence of all peoples,
32 a light for revelation to the Gentiles,
and for glory to your people Israel.”

(Next we continue Jesus’ journey and witness to Capernaum and Nain in Galilee.)

February 24, 2014
Conquered and the Conquerers

Jesus, Son of Man, comes among us with a perspective of history of another dimension we can scarcely comprehend: time.

I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end.

Before Abraham was, I AM.

Remarkable statements! A perspective of history which can only be viewed outside of our dimension of time.

Never-the-less, let us view some of the maps of the nations (gentiles) over the times preceding the incarnation of the Son of Man.

Israel has fallen. God has pronounced judgment on Israel for her unfaithfulness. God sends his Prophets to unfaithful Judah (her sister of whoredom) and to the gentile nations as well.

Judah is small. Assyria, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Syria and Egypt are large and powerful, opposing each other with God giving victory to varied enemies of Judah in the times of the Prophets and the times of His silence before a newer map at a later time.

In the fourth century B.C. comes another conqueror from the west: Alexander the Great. He defeats the eastern empires and spreads Greek culture throughout the Mediterranean. The map again differs and the language and culture from the time after Alexander’s death is called Hellenism. Greek becomes the common language of the empire, including Jerusalem and the former areas of defeated Israel and fallen Judah (now called Phoenicia). Don’t think of it as small Greece, islands of the Mediterranean, but Empire Greece, as in Asia (or most of what we now call Asia) as far as India in the East.

Now, much nearer the time of Jesus, 62 B.c.- 14 A.D., we read of the Incarnate Son of God in Luke 2. (No doubt all are familiar with the story, yet few are familiar with the map.)

Luke 2

English Standard Version (ESV)

The Birth of Jesus Christ

2 In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be registered. 2 This was the first registration when Quirinius was governor of Syria. 3 And all went to be registered, each to his own town. 4 And Joseph also went up from Galilee, from the town of Nazareth, to Judea, to the city of David, which is called Bethlehem, because he was of the house and lineage of David, 5 to be registered with Mary, his betrothed, who was with child.

Again in our timeline under Rome, again we must view the map not as a place of Israel or Judah. Rome conquered Jerusalem, Tyre and Sidon (of Syria), Nazareth and all the rest. The map is of Rome and every town in every land is a crossroads that leads to Rome.

Judea is nothing more than a minor province in a key expansion of Rome, extending south from Tyre and Damascus beyond Jerusalem. The military control of Rome over the conquered provinces involves an infusion of Roman military control and government and taxes, along with the sharing of a common culture of Hellenistic roots in the Greek language and culture.

The power of Rome is not its politics or religion, but it’s army. The success of Rome is due, in part, to the integration of a common language (Greek) and culture with the local customs and religions and trade (including taxes to pay the army, administrative costs of Rome). Pay your taxes and keep your local customs.

The religions of the gentiles of Rome, the gentiles of Greece, and the gentiles of the conquering Babylonians, and other conquering nations like Assyria and Egypt have one thing in common: many gods. The “god of the current time” is often the current ruler, a Pharaoh, a Caesar or worshiped human king. The Asians worship idols. The Greeks and Romans worship idols. Only the Jews have One God and no idols.

This same Caesar Augustus of Luke 2 had (for political reasons) declared himself a god. Later, the local Jewish politicians seek to draw Jesus into this controversial debate.

Want to start a controversy among lovers of Greek mythology (yes, myths as origins of various gods and the ways they serve man)? Just ask how many. Answer? Thousands!

And Rome cared more for her power and politics than culture. However Rome’s idols and gods also explained which gods served man in which ways. How many? Again, a countless number of gods to serve the Roman citizen and the slaves of Roman rule.

Another fact of Roman life overlooked is that the population of Rome had many slaves It was the culture, discipline organization and administration of the Roman army that best modeled any success of Rome. A conquered people in the days of Jesus, like in the days of the Prophets, could be taken away from their cities and towns and homes to any foreign town or province and sold as slaves. The Roman army used this as leverage to have local leaders do as they wanted under a local administration of Rome.

Into this environment comes the family of the Herod’s who chose their sides with the right Roman generals and were rewarded for their efforts.

(Why all this background? NEXT we continue with Jesus’ early encounters with Romans in His travels…)

February 21, 2014