For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. – Colossians 1:19-20

Today's Scripture Reading (May 30, 2024):  Colossians 1

On July 18, in the year 64, a fire broke out in Rome. No one really knows how the fire began, but it appeared to start in the shops that sold flammable materials near the south end of the Circus Maximus. The fire burned in Rome for days. Popular legend says that Emperor Nero set the fire and that the Roman Emperor "fiddled while Rome burned." Of course, the fiddle would not be invented for another 1000 years, but it made a good story.

Nero was an accomplished musician; he played the lyre, a stringed instrument played in a similar manner to a modern-day guitar. Historians argue that the rumors of Nero's apathy toward the fire were greatly exaggerated. But following the fire, blame had to be leveled on someone. Nero chose the object of the blame to be a group of people who followed an eccentric leader who lived during the reign of the emperor Tiberius. Tacitus, a Roman Historian, says that the man's name was Christus, and the followers of this man were often called Christians. Christians were people haters. The problem really was that they believed in a Universal King (Christus) and a universal Kingdom. They swore no allegiance to Rome as other peoples did.

Who set the fire, we don't know. A fire in Rome was hardly an oddity. Rome would burn twice more before the end of the first century, but the peace of Rome (Pax Romana) had to be maintained. Christians were a threat to this peace, and the fire of Rome provided an excuse to rid the city of them.

In all situations, Pax Romana was kept by the threat of the cross. Anyone who threatened the Peace of Rome was risking that they would find their end hanging on a cross. After the fire, Nero, using the excuse that he was keeping the peace of Rome, killed the Christians, nailing many of them to crosses. Some historians have said that, as darkness fell on the city, these crosses were lit on fire, lighting up the night and providing a visual reminder of how Rome dealt with anyone threatening its peace. Peter, his wife, and Paul all found their end in Nero's Rome, executed during Nero's extermination of the Christians, all under the command that Rome's Peace would be kept.

These words in Colossians are part of an ancient hymn: "For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross" (Colossians 1:19-20). "By making peace through his blood, shed on a cross" is an important phrase. Pax Romana, Rome's peace, was kept by making a threat with the cross. If you violate Rome, these are the consequences you will suffer. Rome's cross also maintains Pax Christi, the Peace of Christ. Only this time, it was by God voluntarily dying on that cross, by making peace through his blood, shed on a cross. It was the same cross, but it had a different purpose.

Dear reader, my prayer for you is Pax Christi, the literal peace of Christ, bought through the blood that flowed on a Roman cross. That this peace, forgiveness, and love would flow from us to each other and to a world that needs it. All because of the Roman Cross.

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: Colossians 2