the gospel writers' motives were not to document jesus' life and works as history but to make them meaningful in a world of competing theologies. >> when matthew is going to have jesus give a sermon on the mount, he's going to model him on moses, even as he is being born. so as moses was almost killed by the evil pharaoh, jesus is going to be almost killed by the evil herod. >> the number-one message from roman imperial theology was that the emperor was divine and that the emperor had a divine right to rule. >> and reed takes note of the symbols caesar used throughout his empire and how they were seized by the new christian religion. >> after julius caesar died, halley's comet flew over the sky in rome, and his adopted son, augustus, proclaimed, "that is, in fact, my father. julius caesar -- it's his soul ascending into heaven." and caesar augustus used that