Matthew and Luke intentionally set Jesus’ birth in the context of world and local history. Caesar Augustus heads a Roman Empire known for peace and prosperity and a glorious culture. Herod, as client-king over Judea, is known for his power and propaganda of the Hellenistic culture, but also for his murderous paranoia and moral evil. So it is a great predicament for the Jews: do we succumb to the grandeurs of Rome, or the evils of Herod, or both, and lose our way in the world? In a way, that remains our predicament today: our world offers great material blessings but also great moral evils.
Will we succumb to one or both and lost our way in the world?
Scripture: Luke 2:8-20