No Bait and Switch

Life Under the Roman Empire

Living as a citizen under the Roman Empire in the first century CE meant inhabiting a world shaped by order, hierarchy, and the immense reach of imperial power. For many, especially those in Italy or major provincial cities, Roman rule brought a sense of stability after centuries of civil war. The Pax Romana—the “Roman Peace” inaugurated under Augustus—did not mean an absence of violence, but it did mean predictable governance, secure roads, and relatively safe travel across vast distances.

Daily life depended greatly on one’s social status. Elite citizens enjoyed privileges such as political influence, legal protections, and access to education. They lived in spacious homes, participated in public life, and demonstrated their status through patronage, civic benefactions, and leisure. For ordinary citizens—artisans, shopkeepers, soldiers, and farmers—life was more precarious. Most worked long hours, lived in modest dwellings or crowded apartment buildings (insulae), and relied on local networks for support. Still, citizenship conferred important rights: the ability to marry legally, to engage in contracts, and to appeal to Roman law, even to the emperor himself.

The presence of the state was constant and visible. Taxes were collected, laws enforced, and imperial authority symbolized through statues, coins, and public rituals. Emperors were not distant abstractions; their images appeared in marketplaces and temples, and their favor—or disfavor—could shape a city’s fortunes. Public entertainment played a major role in civic life. Citizens gathered for chariot races, theatrical performances, and gladiatorial games, events that reinforced social values such as courage, discipline, and Roman dominance.

Religion permeated everyday experience. Traditional Roman gods were honored alongside local deities, and participation in public religious rites was seen as a civic duty rather than a private matter of belief. New religious movements, including early Christianity, emerged within this pluralistic but tightly controlled religious landscape, often attracting suspicion or persecution.

Overall, living as a Roman citizen in the first century meant balancing opportunity and constraint. The empire offered unprecedented connectivity, legal order, and cultural exchange, yet it also demanded loyalty, conformity, and acceptance of deep social inequality.

No Bait and Switch

Today, we are in Matthew’s gospel, looking at Matthew 4:13-23. This passage begins abruptly with the death of John the Baptist, Jesus’ cousin, at the hands of King Herod. In the structure of Matthew’s narrative, this heavy, significant event acts as the catalyst that propels Jesus into his public ministry.

As Jesus begins his ministry, he settles in Capernaum, a town by the sea. Matthew is careful to remind his audience that this land once belonged to the Israelite tribes of Zebulun and Naphtali. This isn’t just a geography lesson; it’s a deep connection to heritage and a history of both oppression and faithfulness.

Zebulun and Naphtali were the first tribes to be deported by the Assyrian army in 721 B.C.E. Unlike the tribes of the Southern Kingdom, who were taken to Babylon a century later and managed to keep their culture alive, these northern tribes were broken apart and assimilated. Practically speaking, they disappeared. Their culture and traditions were lost to the world.

By highlighting this, Matthew tells us that Jesus’ ministry is specifically for those who have been lost, oppressed, and defeated by imperial forces. To a people sitting in the “shadow of death,” Jesus arrives as a “great light.”

Jesus’ first act is to call his disciples: first Peter and Andrew, then James and John. These were regular guys doing regular jobs. They were fishermen, a profession tied directly to the economic systems of the Roman Empire that controlled the waters.

When Jesus invites them to “fish for people,” he is inviting them to leave behind the ways of the Empire and embrace the ways of God, while still inviting them to do what is familiar to them. Consider the contrast between these two worlds:

The Way of the Empire values profits over people and creation.

The Way of God is willing to let go of profit for the sake of others.

The Way of the Empire prioritizes institutions over individuals.

The Way of God loves people and seeks to gather them home.

The Way of the Empire prefers the powerful over the marginalized.

The Way of God remembers the lost and the forgotten.

The Way of the Empire chooses domination and judgment.

The Way of God chooses peace, love, and compassion.

Peter, Andrew, James, and John didn’t just change their mindset; they changed their lives. They left behind their nets, their boats, and even their families to follow this radical new way. They laid down the tools of the “Empire trade” to take up the work of God.

But this doesn’t mean God asked them to be anyone other than themselves. He still invited them to be fishermen. I encourage you to check out the podcast for this session. You’ll find a great conversation on how God’s call is to call us to be more ourselves.

We are all living in systems that ask us to value power, productivity, and status above all else. Jesus walks into our “regular lives” and calls us to something different.

What is it that you need to leave behind today to follow God and live into the person you were created to be? What “nets” are you holding onto that keep you tied to the values of the empire instead of the way of God?