Pentecost 7 year A Sermon Acts Series part 8
Four years after Jesus’ sent the disciples back to Jerusalem
to wait for the outpouring and enabling of the Holy Spirit for their mission…four years later a child was born…
who came to be known as
to wait for the outpouring and enabling of the Holy Spirit for their mission…four years later a child was born…
who came to be known as
Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus…
This Nero is adopted by his great-uncle Claudius…
to be his heir and successor…to rule the vast Roman Empire. And so when his uncle dies in AD fifty four…
Nero becomes Caesar…at the age of 17. He will ascend the throne in a social order…which gives absolute power to the ruling class…and which permits the Empire’s wealth
to be concentrated in their hands.
In a caste system stronger than India’s…the Caesars and their Senators… consider themselves to be gods…
all others… live or die …at their command…
to be concentrated in their hands.
In a caste system stronger than India’s…the Caesars and their Senators… consider themselves to be gods…
all others… live or die …at their command…
At the bottom of the social order in this vast Empire are slaves…human animals… beasts of burden…
with no more rights than cattle or sheep. At the top are males of a royal lineage…and men in every family…
rank as of right… higher than their women… husbands over wives… brothers over sisters…Every woman must give way to her husband’s demands… no matter how unjust…
or how cruel.
Even when it comes to killing her unborn children
or her new born girl children.
with no more rights than cattle or sheep. At the top are males of a royal lineage…and men in every family…
rank as of right… higher than their women… husbands over wives… brothers over sisters…Every woman must give way to her husband’s demands… no matter how unjust…
or how cruel.
Even when it comes to killing her unborn children
or her new born girl children.
into this rigid social order… across the empire
is mixed a highly complex religious system …and while Caesar demands to be worshipped as lord… and as god above all gods…hundreds of other gods and their worshippers … demand Caesar’s sensitivity…in order for him to rule…and some like the Jews are plotting revolt.
To add to Nero’s problems …a gaping wound is opening between the emerging Jesus movement and their mother Judaism. And the practises of this new superstition…the Roman’s call it… the way they live isn’t just troublesome… it threatens to undermine the entire social order
on which the Empire is built.
is mixed a highly complex religious system …and while Caesar demands to be worshipped as lord… and as god above all gods…hundreds of other gods and their worshippers … demand Caesar’s sensitivity…in order for him to rule…and some like the Jews are plotting revolt.
To add to Nero’s problems …a gaping wound is opening between the emerging Jesus movement and their mother Judaism. And the practises of this new superstition…the Roman’s call it… the way they live isn’t just troublesome… it threatens to undermine the entire social order
on which the Empire is built.
These Christians have introduced a revolutionary concept
found… neither in Roman society… nor in Judaism [pause]
Inclusion in their religious community…
which they traitorously call the Kingdom of God…
found… neither in Roman society… nor in Judaism [pause]
Inclusion in their religious community…
which they traitorously call the Kingdom of God…
comes from a repentance and washing… not from bloodlines…pedigree… or lineage…adherents to this new movement… founded by a rabbi in the eastern province Judea…wash each other’s feet regardless of rank
and welcome everyone to their sacred table …slave and free…Jew and Greek…male and female…
So as far as Nero is concerned…this sect better be stamped out before it can spread. Simply put…these Christians need to be killed off before they contaminate the social order.
By the time Nero takes the throne in AD fifty four
…the Jesus movement is flourishing …
and it’s spread as far as Rome…
where Jewish Synagogues are already rejecting anyone
who… names Jesus as Messiah…
it will take the apostle Paul three more years to get to Rome
…the Jesus movement is flourishing …
and it’s spread as far as Rome…
where Jewish Synagogues are already rejecting anyone
who… names Jesus as Messiah…
it will take the apostle Paul three more years to get to Rome
Dr Luke tells us that after three long missionary journey’s round the Mediterranean … Paul has already been beaten and jailed for upsetting the social order …for converting slaves in Philippi and for bringing Greeks into the Temple in Jerusalem.
Ironically it’s is Paul’s status as a Roman citizen that allows him safe passage under guard… all the way to Rome…
if you don’t include ship wrecks… and once in Rome
Paul will appeal to Caesar against the charge of treason.
Ironically it’s is Paul’s status as a Roman citizen that allows him safe passage under guard… all the way to Rome…
if you don’t include ship wrecks… and once in Rome
Paul will appeal to Caesar against the charge of treason.
In the final chapter of the Acts of the Apostles…Dr Luke tells us.
For two whole years Paul stays there in Rome in his own rented house and welcomes all who come to see him. He continues to proclaim the kingdom of God and teach about the Lord Jesus Christ—with all boldness and without hindrance!
Under house arrest but free to teach…Paul has claimed his rights as a Roman citizen. And so three years… after Nero comes to power…Paul ends his missionary journey
by joining the Christian community in Rome…
but their continuing insistence on Jesus as Messiah…
and on the resurrection…
only aggravates the rift in Judaism…
And the Christian’s continuing rejection of social divisions… teaching men and women and slaves…
their equality as brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God…well this incites the King of the Roman Empire to rage…and Nero will do more than simply shun the Christians …as the Jews have done…
by joining the Christian community in Rome…
but their continuing insistence on Jesus as Messiah…
and on the resurrection…
only aggravates the rift in Judaism…
And the Christian’s continuing rejection of social divisions… teaching men and women and slaves…
their equality as brothers and sisters in the Kingdom of God…well this incites the King of the Roman Empire to rage…and Nero will do more than simply shun the Christians …as the Jews have done…
Nero… will torture them… as public entertainment.
To kick things off… there’s a rumour going round that Nero himself set fire to the city… to get rid of the gossip…
Nero blames the Christians.
Nero blames the Christians.
And in an ancient document that still survives from that time…a Roman Senator and historian name Tacitus …writes…
‘Nero fastened the guilt and inflicted the most exquisite tortures on a class hated for their abominations…
called Christians by the populace…
called Christians by the populace…
‘…Accordingly, an arrest was first made of all who pleaded guilty; then upon their information…an immense multitude was convicted…not so much of the crime of firing the city… as of hatred against mankind.
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths.
Mockery of every sort was added to their deaths.
‘Covered with the skins of beasts, they were torn by dogs and perished, or were nailed to crosses, or doomed to the flames and burnt, to serve as a nightly illumination, when daylight had expired.[i]’
Two years after the fire … Nero will appoint General Vespasian of Gallus… to crush the Jewish rebellion in Judea… it would take four years… to bring the Temple down and destroy Jerusalem…
Jews caught attempting to escape the city were crucified,
as many as five hundred a day. so many Jews would flee to Antioch the city would be renamed the New Jerusalem.
Jews caught attempting to escape the city were crucified,
as many as five hundred a day. so many Jews would flee to Antioch the city would be renamed the New Jerusalem.
Back in Rome when the knock on the door came…soldiers would ask Christians if they were followers of Jesus
…there were three possible replies…
If they said yes…then everyone in their household including children… would be publicly tortured and put to death at the Circus Maximus…
if they said no…then they had to identify another family
who were Christian… and if they refused to name another family… well they’d be publicly tortured and killed…
…there were three possible replies…
If they said yes…then everyone in their household including children… would be publicly tortured and put to death at the Circus Maximus…
if they said no…then they had to identify another family
who were Christian… and if they refused to name another family… well they’d be publicly tortured and killed…
and if they refused to respond to the question at all…well…
their whole household would be publically tortured and killed.
their whole household would be publically tortured and killed.
They died with the knowledge of resurrection in their hearts… and Jesus last words on their lips … ‘Father forgive them for they don’t know what they’re doing.’
Surprisingly, in writing the book of Acts…Dr Luke
doesn’t tell us the outcome of Paul's appeal to Caesar …
nor does Luke give details of Paul’s death… but two hundred years later… Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea… would record that Paul was beheaded and Peter crucified upside down in Rome… during the reign of Nero.
doesn’t tell us the outcome of Paul's appeal to Caesar …
nor does Luke give details of Paul’s death… but two hundred years later… Bishop Eusebius of Caesarea… would record that Paul was beheaded and Peter crucified upside down in Rome… during the reign of Nero.
The persecutions would continue for one hundred and twenty five years…thousands would perish…but still …the Jesus movement didn’t die out… somehow the living Spirit of God would continue to flow… through the hearts of those who survived and into one new heart at a time…by their witness to the life of Jesus and by the way they lived and loved…
… until the Empire finally crumbled.
… until the Empire finally crumbled.
Dr Luke hoped to leave the persecuted church a record of Jesus’ life and teaching and of the Apostolic age …a spiritual discipline…a word from God…
which would enable them to move through the darkest of times… still celebrating the gift of resurrection.
Still loving their enemies… still breathing forgiveness.
Still loving their enemies… still breathing forgiveness.
Of course as the great river of faith flowed down through history… and as the church took on the power and authority of empire…the primacy of Jesus’ manifesto would be forgotten…the community would no longer hold everything in common or regard everyone as a child of God…
Sometimes we even became the persecutor and the executioner…
but still the Spirit flowed around these obstacles and down to us today…
Sometimes we even became the persecutor and the executioner…
but still the Spirit flowed around these obstacles and down to us today…
And the questions for us are not so different than for the early Christians in Rome…when unimaginable wealth and absolute power was concentrated in the hands of so very few…
are we still prepared to challenge by the way we live…
a social order where a chasm still remains between rich and poor…are we prepared to proclaim freedom to the captives and good news to those who are oppressed…
in our community and in the world.
are we still prepared to challenge by the way we live…
a social order where a chasm still remains between rich and poor…are we prepared to proclaim freedom to the captives and good news to those who are oppressed…
in our community and in the world.
As the great river of the Spirit flows today…can we remain in its stream… as individuals and as a church…when our neighbours don’t approve or understand …can we show the world a just social order within our own ranks.
And can we endure a downward spiral while clinging to the hope of resurrection.
Can we create where we are… a New Jerusalem where the bounty of this earth is shared across ethnic and cultural and religious frontiers…a world where men and women and children can come to the table as equals …
and where those who are oppressed are set free…
Can we create where we are… a New Jerusalem where the bounty of this earth is shared across ethnic and cultural and religious frontiers…a world where men and women and children can come to the table as equals …
and where those who are oppressed are set free…
Can we continue to speak this good news in love even when our friends reject us for it. Even when our favourite political party legislates against it.
The day of the Christian martyr is not dead…nor as Norway has experienced this week…is the day of the Christian executioner.
Can we live by the inner presence of God that strengthens us to respond to our enemies with mercy and compassion even if these acts of discipleship costs us dearly…
[i] The Annals (Latin: Annales) by Tacitus is a history of the reigns of the four Roman Emperors succeeding Caesar Augustus. The surviving parts of the Annals extensively cover most of the reigns of Tiberius and Nero. The title Annals was probably not given by Tacitus, but derives from the fact that he treated this history in a year-by-year form. The original title was most likely Ab excessu divi Augusti, "Following the death of the divine Augustus".
Tacitus is generally considered to be Rome's greatest historian.
