The Gospel Of Caesar

A Roman soldier gallops into the city center and begins to proclaim the Gospel of Caesar. The gospel tells of Caesar, a divine savior who would bring peace to the world. His Gospel (evangelia) was being preached to the ends of the earth. What can we make of this? Fake news? A scene from an alternate universe? No, it really did happen 2000 years ago in the ancient city of Priene. We know it happened because it is etched on a stone tablet on display in a Berlin museum.

 Fr Andrew Damick describes this scene in his book “Arise, O’ God.” In the first century the word evangelia (where we get the word Gospel) was  a proclamation of the victorious military feats of Caesar. It would also proclaim Caesar to be the “son of god” and the “savior of the world” because in the 1^st century Caesar was considered to be divine and  a bringer of peace to the world. Roman peace is not how we think of peace today, but peace by killing anyone who stood in their way. The  orator Tacitus commented on this observing, “They make a desert and call it peace.”

 Now imagine you are living in the  1st century under the yoke of the Roman empire. Everything you understand about the word evangelia connotates what was described above. Around sunset a feeble looking undernourished man dressed in rags limps into the city center. He looks exhausted yet the gleam in his eyes and the radiance of his face hints at an inner strength. He pulls out a battered scroll and reads aloud, “The evangelia of Jesus Christ, The Son of God” (the very first line of the Gospel of Mark).  He goes on about the true Savior of the world, Jesus, who would bring peace, not by war and destruction, but by love and charity.

You learn that oddly enough this Jesus suffered the most humiliating death by being nailed to a cross. Stranger yet, this Jesus was Resurrected from the dead and spent 40 days with his followers. His Apostles were so sure of this that they voluntarily went to their deaths proclaiming that they had seen Jesus risen, and that they would obey God rather than men. You are bewildered but at the same time drawn to what this messenger has to say. He continues and says Jesus will come again to establish his Heavenly Kingdom on earth.  

 With his very first utterance this disheveled and humble messenger has changed your understanding of  the word evangelia. As he goes on, your understanding of God begins to change as well. As more and more of these messengers enter cities and towns evangelizing, more and more people would come to believe and follow this Jesus person.

And the world would be changed forever.