Caesar Augustus was the functional founder of the Roman Empire. He gained the power Julius Caesar desired, but that got Caesar killed. Feted by Virgil, victor over Antony and Cleopatra, Octavian took the name Caesar Augustus to give himself grandeur without assuming the dangerous title of King. Augustus is a major player in ancient Western history, but oddly if Linus did not mention him every year in the Charlie Brown Christmas Special most of us would soon forget his name.
The historical records say:
In those days a decree went out from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be enrolled.
As a result, Joseph and Mary went to Bethlehem and the rest was Christmas.
Poor Augustus made it into the story, but he did not make it to the party.
Every day of the year millions more people think of Mary, the Jewish girl who became the mother of God, than ever consider Octavian. Historically, the most important thing that happened in his reign happened amongst an allied people under the tyrannical rule of a friend, Herod the Great, in a city just outside Jerusalem.
There is no reason to think Augustus would have cared, even if someone had told him that Jesus was born. Octavian had a high opinion of himself, see his choice of a moniker: Augustus or “Majestic.” When he died, the state said that Octavian had joined the Roman gods. Meanwhile, the God of the philosophers came down, emptied himself of Divine attributes, and became a man. Jesus was born to become a man while Augustus died to become an official god.
Christians, like our Jewish brothers, will never give final or divine power to the state. We reserve final authority for God alone. Caesar was god in the making and if he played his part well, then his final applause would be to join the immortals. There was no human authority that could stand in the way of the Caesar on this way to divinity.
Christians can only laugh at any temporal power. We know that time will pass and that if God wills it, then Mary will make Octavian history or a footnote to her life. The carol says: “Mary did you know . . . ” to which the answer is: “Yes, of course she did. It is how historians could write about the birth of Jesus.” If somebody had the courage to ask the Emperor, “Augustus did you know . . . ” the answer would have been: “No.”
Government is powerful in this age, but idiotic when it comes to the age to come.
Augustus’ reign gives us the date to the party, but he ignored the greatest celebration in cosmic history. People who are big shots in their day are often losers in fact. People who glorify themselves often gain glory mainly by becoming associated with the “humble.” The President can be less important in the long run than an “insignificant” person. Nobody is born a “little person,” but people glorifying themselves make themselves little.
At Christmas there is a very ancient tradition to say: “Christ is born!” to which the proper response is: “Glorify him!” That is the right response to the glory of Christmas, but the statist in Rome would never have glorified any living person other than himself. As a result, Caesar Augustus became a footnote in Mary’s story of Jesus.
Christ is born!
Glorify Him!
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Jar Jar, Santa, the innkeeper, and the leaders of the time did not make it either, Caesar.
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