Revolutionary Christmas I: The Advent of Caesar Augustus

Here's my summary of Part 1 of Mars Hill's recent Christmas series.

Summary: (details)
Bell sets the context of the Christmas story by answering the question, "What was the world like when Jesus was born?" The Romans ruled by extreme force from Briton to India. The caesar's were considered gods. Slogans such as "son of god", "he will establish a universal empire of peace", and "divine king of salvation" were prevalent. Caesar taxed to pay his war bills. It is estimated that 80-90% of a person's income in Judea was given in taxes. So, why does Luke include certain details? Why caesar? Why a census? How do the angels' words relate to the slogans used of caesar? How is the story about religion? About politics? About power? About worship?

Thoughts:
I guess you could say Rome was the world's first super power. It seems the Text has much to say about true power and how to wield it. Luke is asking in his Christmas story, "Who is your Lord? Is it Caesar?"

I'm part way through a book that Bell mentions, Christ and the Caesars by Ethelbert Stauffer. Stauffer is a coin expert and comments heavily on the god-like proclamations made by the caesars on the coins. When Jesus is asked if taxes should be paid to caeasar, he was probably shown a coin with caesar on it (an idol/graven image) that claimed caesar as god. What was Jesus thinking when he saw the text on the coin? And yet he says render to caesar what is his.

In the sermon, Bell mentions temples built to honor and worship Augustus. We visited a Roman temple in northern Israel that dates to the first century and might have been built by Herod as part of the Augustus' emperor cult. The temple site is called Omrit and is an active dig. The column capitals are at least one Quentin tall, see the photos. It's near the road to Damascus, which Paul traveled, but that's another story.

Here are a few of my photos from Sepphoris (Zippori in Hebrew) and Gamla, two places that Bell mentions. Here is a slide show on Gamla from Roy Blizzard (thanks Eric).