Jesus is naming the terrors rulers will devise and is en-couraging people to be brave. Always rulers and their soldiers will devise “wars and insurrections.” Always in a ruler’s name “nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom.” Always in a ruler’s name will soldiers “seize and persecute you, hand you over to…prisons, lead … Continue reading “What in God’s Name?”
Tag: Caesar
Disturbing the Peace
Those disturbing the peace in Jesus’ time were the rulers. The rulers waged war on the people using capricious decisions, financial burdens, and punitive unto violent behaviors. Those restoring the peace included commoners like Jesus, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives peace do I give … Continue reading “Disturbing the Peace”
Conscientious Authority
This Sunday’s Gospel shows Jesus’ local opponents colluding with Roman sympathizers. The Pharisees and the Herodians are colluding in a plan to trap Jesus. They use a tax question to set the trap. “Is it lawful to pay the census tax to Caesar?” Jesus’ response is commonly misinterpreted by self-titled Christians. Martin Luther famously misinterpreted … Continue reading “Conscientious Authority”