Welcome to 10 minute Bible Talks, where we connect the Bible to your life,

in the time it takes to get to work.

I'm Keith Simon.

Jesus and his disciples lived in a time very similar to our day, in that like us, they lived during a culture war.

In our world, the tribes are made up of conservatives and

progressives, people who live in the city and people who live in the country, the

poor and the rich, the religious and the irreligious, men versus women and

boomers versus every other generation.

Inside Judaism there were also different tribes and each tribe had their own perspective on how to respond to Rome.

See the Roman Empire was the major superpower and covered a vast part of the world. Its

border stretched from North Africa to Europe to the western part of Asia. The Roman general

Pompeii seized Jerusalem in 63 BC.

Rome had a relentless ambition for expansion,

leaving a trail of conquered nations as it touted its motto,

Pax Romana, or the Peace of Rome. But Rome brought peace by the power of the sword.

Within the Jewish community, there were different tribes with different perspectives about how

followers of

Yowue should interact with the Roman government.

One very popular perspective was that it was right and good to assimilate

into Roman culture.

This was the position of two groups that are found in the Gospels,

the Sadduces and the Herodians. Those advocating for assimilation said something like,

...