Taxes! Christmas is only four days away and our Congress and President are locked in an impasse over taxes. Our taxes! Funny how things stay the same, isn’t it? Two thousand Christmases ago everyone was in an uproar over taxes, too. Same song, different verse. The emperor then was Caesar Augustus, a brilliant man and formidable ruler of a vast empire. So highly revered was he that he was called “the savior of the world.” Those words are actually inscribed in stone! “Augustus” means “revered one” or “honored one,” the title given him by the Roman Senate. Thus the people worshiped him as a god and as a deity. In hindsight here’s what was really going on. While the arrogant, self-absorbed emperor was concerned with his taxes he was actually accomplishing the True Sovereign’s objectives. The real “Savior of the world” was to be born soon, and He needed to be born in Bethlehem according to God’s prophecies. Caesar’s decree for everyone to register in their own ancestral town made certain Joseph and Mary arrived there right on time for the birth. Imagine that! The emperor was just a pawn. How do you suppose 2000 more years will illumine the taxes and decrees of our day? I suspect the most news- and noteworthy accomplishments of our high-profile “saviors of the world” will be covered in dust. Their self-centered, greedy maneuverings will instead turn out to have been affecting God’s grand purposes. And the faithful–albeit obscure–Josephs and Marys of our day? They’ll be the ones being celebrated and honored by the Savior of the world.
Merry Christmas,
