Today is the fifteenth of March, and if you know anything about Roman history (or if you paid attention that one day in Literature), you know that means this is the day Julius Caesar ate it. He was killed by a conspiracy involving enemies and friends alike, men who were worried he would bring the downfall of the Roman upon them. Most of the senators come off like jerks in Shakespeare’s play, but Brutus—the friend—is a sympathetic figure, dragged into the going along with the conspiracy by the real villains. If you ask me, though, Brutus is the worst of the villains (I don’t care what Mark Antony says), being too weak to stand up for what he knew to be right.

~Insert Comparison to Jesus Here~

Like Caesar, our Lord was the subject of a conspiracy to kill him, organized by the religious ruling class and one of His own disciples. The ruling class worried that Jesus’ radical teaching would stir up a violent reaction by (ironically, in the comparison to Julius Caesar) the Roman Empire. They justified killing Jesus in the name of “preserving their own lives” (John 11:50) and found a helpful ally in Judas (rhymes with Brutus ) to pull it off.

The big difference between Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ? Jesus rose from the dead (and the Book about Him is much better that the Play about Julius, no offense to William Shakespeare). Also a big difference: Caesar’s death sparked a war between Mark Antony/Octavius and Cassius/Brutus, filled with violence on both sides; the war that followed Christ’s death (and resurrection) is a spiritual one, where the soldiers of the Lord fight, not to end lives but to save them.

I like that much better.