The Roman Empire in the year 58AD was the greatest the world had ever seen, stretching from Britain through western and southern Europe, into Asia Minor and the Middle East and across Africa from Egypt to the Atlantic. It was ruled by one man, the Emperor Nero, who wasn’t the most stable of characters. The empire was full of violence, greed and treachery. St. Paul writing to the Church at Rome that year, was not intimidated by the empire or this “one man” because Jesus, by his death and resurrection, had overcome the forces of evil. Where sin increased, grace overflowed all the more. In our time we can feel overwhelmed by external forces: social media out of control, greedy corporations, political dysfunction, religious polarization, racist institutions. But the overflowing grace of Jesus is still available to us so there is no cause for fear. There is an old spiritual, “Be not dismayed whate’er betide, God will take care of you.”
