Wilmot First Presbyterian Church

Scripture: Luke 2:1-3

Caesar

There is a lot of hustling around during Advent/Christmas seasons.  As if there weren’t already enough daily stresses to keep the blood pressure elevated, this time of year can exacerbate an already chronic problem.  Who worries more, the poor or the wealthy?  Maybe they worry the same amount but just about different things because worry/anxiety seems to just be a part of who we are inside?  Maybe the uber-wealthy can hire someone to do the worrying for them?  If that was the case, Caesar may have been worry free. I strongly suspect that was NOT the case.

Caesar probably had more than his share of worries despite being the most powerful man on earth.  Caesar did not oversee the law, he WAS the law.  Caesar was the name given to the ruler of the Roman Empire.  The word itself means “hair” which is fitting since Caesar was the top of the top, but the name came from Gaius Julius Caesar, who was the first Roman Emperor.  Julius Caesar’s adopted son, Augustus, was Caesar when Christ was born.  He ruled for 45 years as the top of the top.  Caesar’s word and whim meant life or death in Rome (and in Spain, and in Turkey, and in North Africa.., and a tiny little crossroads corner of the empire called Israel).  When Luke says, “a decree went out and all the world came to be enrolled”, he means ALL the world.  Conceivably, Rome could have sent out census takers to the people, but powerful people seem to prefer watching others march to their beat, and so all the world proceeded, each and all to their home town.

If you had suggested to Caesar that he was doing the bidding on another you might well have given him the last laugh of your life.  Caesar was a god, and all false gods seem intent on proving their claims by threat and intimidation.  For whatever reason, the real God seems far less interested in proving power or exercising it in terms of coercion.  For all of God’s omnipotence, God seems more intent on displaying vulnerability and patient endurance.  The story of the incarnation involves future prophecy and also includes some irony.  Mary and Joseph live up north in Nazareth of Galilee, but the Son of God is to be born down south, in Bethlehem of Judea.  God spilled the beans 700 years earlier through the prophet Micah (5:2).  God could have just had the angel, Gabriel, tell them to move to Bethlehem but God used the most powerful man in the world instead.  Even the success of the mighty Roman armies appears part of God’s providence. Rome had made a relative “peace” through the ancient world (the “pax romana”) and a common language across cultures which would eventually allow the rapid spread of the gospel, but first, God would use little old Caesar to make a decree which would bring Mary and Joseph to David’s town, to Bethlehem.

There is an abiding hope in all of this as we consider the hostility and turmoil of our modern day and the stresses which come with it.  The chaos of the world may tempt us to question whether God is really in charge.  When it comes right down to my life or especially the lives of my wife and children/grandchildren, I have some apprehension in regard to what may be in store.  Now, I also know that there is a God in heaven who sees ahead 700 years with 20/20 vision and can play the most powerful man in the world.  If God can do that, count the hairs of my head (fewer though they may be), watch the sparrow, and clothe the lilies of the field, I know I can trust God with all the events of my life.  Things will not happen according to my will, nor should they, but God has a plan and God has a way and God has a will to see that all things work out for the good. Romans 8:28 isn’t just an empty reassurance Paul offers, it is the way God has always worked, the way God was working and the way God will work.  I don’t have to hire someone to manage my worries, God does it for free.

Prayer: Almighty God, you are in control, we are not.  Help us all to live in the freedom of trusting you with all that is real now and in the kingdom to come.  You are God, and you are good, and that is all we need.  AMEN.

Activity: Spend 10 minutes praying for God to use the political leaders of this world.