Sermon — We are under a yoke

(Here is my sermon from yesterday’s worship. You can find the video on our church website — www.ststephenlc.org).

W. Fowler wrote an article in 1913 about how in ancient Rome, when an army surrendered, there were three options of what to do with the defeated army. First, they might put them to death. There was nothing to prevent this except the tradition among Romans against unnecessary bloodshed.

Second, they might take them as prisoners of war and sell them as slaves. But there are practical complications with this option. You have to feed and guard your new slaves before they are sold and you have to figure out how you will transport them and to where. And if you are on the edges of the empire, that would take a lot of resources and many of your own men to handle — leaving fewer for the front lines.

Third, they might let their captives go free, with or without imposing conditions on them. This was the simplest and easiest plan. But before the defeated were dismissed, they were made to go through a ceremony — a kind of dramatized form of degradation. Two spears were fixed upright in the ground, and third was fastened horizontally by each end to the tops of them. Under this arch the conquered army had to pass, stooping down to go through the makeshift arch, disarmed, and apparently wearing nothing but an under-garment, or the dress of slaves rather than soldiers or citizens. The point of this was clear to the defeated army — you have been defeated, we own you, and we are letting you live. You owe us your…