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Gaius Octavius was born in 63 B.C. in Rome. When his maternal nice uncle, Julius Caesar, was assassinated for subverting the Roman Republic, the younger Octavian, solely 18 on the time, turned his inheritor. And although Julius is remembered as an awesome common and the person who set in movement Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire, it was younger Octavian who really oversaw that transition.
Initially partnering with Mark Antony and Marcus Lepidus, Octavian defeated his nice uncle’s assassins, dividing the Republic into three components. Then Octavian conquered his former allies and assumed sole rule of the Republic in roughly 31 B.C. Over the subsequent three many years, Octavian enacted a sequence of legal guidelines that made Rome an empire. Deifying his nice uncle and renaming himself Augustus, Octavian introduced down the traditional world’s best Republic and rebirthed it an empire. Brilliant and ruthless, Octavian did so in a method that created stability and positioned the realm for development—making a 200-year interval of unprecedented peace and power often known as the Pax Romana. The unified empire lasted greater than 400 years, and its successor empire within the East lasted greater than 1,000 extra, lastly collapsing in 1453 A.D.
Octavian is probably going probably the most profitable political chief in historical past. He was maybe our world’s richest and strongest man. And his legacy permeates every thing from the trendy political construction of Europe to our calendar, the place the month of August bears his identify. Despite all this, the only most well-known historic passage about Octavian regards him as little greater than a footnote. That passage reads:
In these days, Caesar Augustus issued a decree {that a} census needs to be taken of the complete Roman world. (This was the primary census that happened whereas Quirinius was governor of Syria.) And everybody went to their very own city to register. So Joseph additionally went up from the city of Nazareth in Galilee to Judea, to Bethlehem, the city of David, as a result of he belonged to the home and line of David. He went there to register with Mary, who was pledged to be married to him and was anticipating a baby. (Luke 2:1-5)
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That child was born to an outcast teenager and her carpenter husband. He got here into this world in a unclean steady in an unimportant province with out fanfare or discover. Because of a prophecy, he would ultimately be hunted by the King of that area—hundreds slaughtered in his pursuit—and reside as a refugee in a overseas land. When he returned, he would develop up in obscurity, spending greater than a decade training his father’s blue-collar career. While the smallest particulars of Octavian’s life are recorded, that child’s life would go largely undocumented aside from his final three years of ministry.
Two of the best males in historical past lived at the exact same time. They walked very totally different paths.
At 30, the boy born in Bethlehem would start preaching to the poor and disenfranchised in small cities and forgotten locations. He would start communing with prostitutes, foreigners, laborers, and the diseased. He would supply therapeutic and hope to these folks the world rejected and ultimately encourage envy and hatred amongst his period’s non secular and political elite. He could be betrayed by one in every of his 12 closest mates, then executed on a cross beneath Octavian’s successor, Tiberius. He would die penniless, homeless, and a felony, utterly unknown to the {powerful} emperors beneath whose rule he lived.
Jesus got here into this world in a unclean steady in an unimportant province with out fanfare or discover. (Fred de Noyelle through Getty Images)
After his demise, it was those self same poor and outcasts who saved his reminiscence alive, even because the oligarchs of the Empire dominated. The murdered man’s followers could be persecuted however largely missed till their numbers grew massive sufficient that emperors like Nero tried to stamp them out. But of their persecution, they flourished, for the poor and hurting will at all times outnumber the wealthy and {powerful}.
For 300 years, this case endured till the Roman emperor Constantine declared a tolerance for Christianity in 313 A.D. And even after that changing into the official religion of Rome, that religion flowered greatest amongst these “meek” folks the murdered man as soon as famously referred to as the inheritors of the world. It was a radical subversion of the standard morality of energy. Nietzsche declared it a “slave morality”—sneeringly at its elevation of the weak over the robust. And virtually each authoritarian for two,000 years has tried to commandeer, corrupt, or destroy that religion.
Though Julius is remembered as an awesome common and the person who set in movement Rome’s transition from Republic to Empire, it was younger Octavian who really oversaw that transition. (iStock)
But at present, greater than two millennia after Augustus compelled that poor household on a journey to Bethlehem, billions of individuals world wide will sing to not Octavian however to that frail little boy the world merely can not neglect:
“Come, Thou lengthy anticipated Jesus
Born to set Thy folks free;
From our fears and sins launch us,
Let us discover our relaxation in Thee.
Israel’s power and comfort,
Hope of all of the earth Thou artwork;
Dear need of each nation,
Joy of each longing coronary heart.
Born Thy folks to ship,
Born a baby and but a King,
Born to reign in us eternally,
Now Thy gracious kingdom convey.”
Augustus remains to be remembered. Scholars examine him. Students learn of him in historical past. One of my very own favourite biographies is Adrian Goldsworthy’s glorious “Augustus: The First Emperor of Rome.” His empire, political legacy, and navy improvements have formed the world. Were it not for a child born throughout his reign, he is perhaps probably the most well-known man of his time. But God and historical past had different plans. Augustus is now a member of the supporting solid within the best story ever informed—the very dates of his delivery and demise marked in relation to that evening within the manger. Octavian’s identify, within the fashionable creativeness, is eternally related to a larger king.
I consider that timing was intentional. God raised up historical past’s best politician at simply the time he despatched his reverse into the world. One praised the robust, the opposite the mild. One dominated by drive, the opposite by means of religion. One sought energy, the opposite sacrifice. One preached loyalty, the opposite love.
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Two billion of us now consider that child was God made man, a message of hope and therapeutic to all of us who’re damaged. Jesus is an assurance that God omnipotent isn’t careless, hurtful, and cruel just like the gods of Ancient Greece and Rome, however that as an alternative, he cares infinitely for every human coronary heart.
The Nativity, 1892. A print from a complement to the Le Petit Journal, 24rd December 1892. (Photo by Art Media/Print Collector/Getty Images)
But even for individuals who don’t consider within the divinity of that Jewish baby, there’s a message price remembering. What is vital on the planet is so typically not what we predict it’s. True impression just isn’t energy wielded violently over others. It’s not born of armies or edicts, conquests or palace vaults. It’s not decided by the tastes or allegiances of the wealthy and {powerful}. It’s born of affection. It’s born of submission and sacrifice.
Octavian is now studied on school campuses. Jesus is worshipped in every corner of the world. And at this second in December, presidents, prime ministers, shopkeepers, and enslaved folks alike collect to wish to and sing of a God made flesh whose rule relies not on political energy however on love. When executed, Jesus mentioned, “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” When pressed for a approach to reside, he mentioned, “A brand new command I provide you with: Love each other.” His message well-lived would supply hope and peace to the world.
Even for individuals who don’t consider within the divinity of that Jewish baby Jesus, there’s a message price remembering. What is vital on the planet is so typically not what we predict it’s. True impression just isn’t energy wielded violently over others.
Today, whereas there are various good folks, there are not any scarcity of those that would do something for energy. They will not be as gifted as Octavian or as profitable, however they’ll clamor for riches, fame, and adoration. Many of them will harm or kill others to get there. Some will enslave others. And a few of these folks will probably be “profitable” for a time. They will grow to be dictators and presidents, CEOs or celebrities. And they’ll try to be worshipped. But like Augustus, they and the morality they embrace will finally fade into historical past. And what is going to supplant them would be the tales of those that sought not energy however compassion, not rule however liberation.
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That is the message of Christmas. For believers, it’s a reverent time of reflection for that particular second in historical past when the omnipotent God of the universe humbled himself to revive our relationship with Him. For all folks, even those that haven’t come to that perception, it’s an inspiring historic narrative. Two of the best males in historical past lived at the exact same time. They walked very totally different paths. And modern observers would have did not determine which of the 2 was actually nice.
Merry Christmas to all. May this redemptive message be the sunshine of the world, hope for the hopeless, and an encouragement to each human coronary heart.
