A good Christian is a bad Roman.
Allow me to explain in a simple, fundamental way.
Words have meanings.
The original meaning of the word Christian just meant “little Christ.”
That’s it.
No more, no less.
But we have to unpack this meaning nonetheless.
In the past, when someone was called a Christian it meant they imitated the Way of Christ; they patterned their way of being in the world to how their leader, Jesus Christ, showed them and instructed them to be.
So what then was a good Roman?
If you crack open a history book to read how the Roman Empire behaved when it ruled most of modern-day Europe, a majority of the Middle East and the North African coast for 400 years, what do you find? A dominance hierarchy, selfish/tribal economic practices, military exploits, and a mission statement that reads “Pax Romana,” or Roman Peace.
The Romans brought peace by the sword, known more accurately as military might, but let’s call that what it was: oppression.
Rome was a kingdom.
Caesar’s words and ways of being were to be followed by the greatest to the lowest of people in his lands. They were all his citizens and they were all intended to be good Romans.
And, the way to be a good Roman was one of might makes right. It was believed and is still believed by many today as the way peace is brought to the world: violence, or at the very least, the threat of it is an acceptable means to an end.
The good Roman, “might makes right” way of being in the world, abided by a dominance hierarchy that diminished the dignity of all those who opposed this way.
But there was a new Kingdom emerging.....
As the Roman Empire reigned from around 27 BCE to 285 CE before splitting in two, a little known Jewish Rabbi, by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, began to challenge the Roman way of being in the world in the first century CE.
This Rabbi began to gather followers around ideas that rejected the dominance hierarchy, the selfish/tribal economics, and the violence against one’s enemies accepted in the larger society.
He had a way to bring peace to the world as well, but unlike the Caesars’ way by the sword, it was a way of non-violence. It was the Way of the Golden Rule: do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
This Way defied the very core of how the entire world operated before the Roman Empire and every fleeting empire that has followed it. It was a Way, not of an earthly kingdom, but of The Kingdom of Heaven.
The Kingdom of Heaven is God’s Kingdom. The Kingdom where Christ reigns and His Word and Way of being is followed. Those who have and will follow this Way are called Christians, and the least of these are the greatest.
In the time of the Ceasars, it was not possible for one to be a good Christian and a good Roman. Each way of being opposed the other.
One must have had to make a choice: do I want to be a good Christian or a good Roman? Or to ask it another way: “do I want Caesar as my king, or Christ as my King?”
We have a similar choice today. Will we choose to participate in a way of violence and coercion? Or, are we going to walk in the Way of treating people like we want to be treated?
The history of the Roman Empire gives us a clear insight into which way is better to be in the world.
The Caesars’ kingdom has fallen.
The Kingdom of Heaven is still strong. It remains through the many empires that have come and gone and will continue to thrive through the current imperialism and beyond it.
The Way of Christ is winning, hands down. Loving your neighbor as yourself brings real and lasting peace, it is what makes the world a better place.
So if being a good Christian means being a bad Roman, then, by all means, let’s be Bad Romans...