I am reading an excellent book by the deceased William Barclay, Jesus As They Saw Him: New Testament Interpretations of Jesus. I am a Barclay fanboy even if I do not agree with everything about his theology and some of it I find grossly in error. He was a great man in the faith who pastored a church and also taught in the seminary and wrote many many books, of which I only have somewhere between 6-10. We need not agree with someone 100% to recognize their contributions to the faith.
In the chapter on "Saviors" Barclay describes a Roman empire and men seeking a savior. Every leader was given the title of savior because people knew the leaders had a chance to make their lives better. Certainly they could make their lives worse, no one is arguing that, but they could also make their lives better by being good leaders and honest brokers. This was seldom the case in reality, but the people on the bottom rung still hoped and dreamed the leaders would be less corrupt and less rotten and less evil than they could be so their lives would at a minimum not be made worse.
The Romans were not the only people who did this. Lots of people had the same problem as life was really hard and bad leadership only made it worse. Barclay describes a sentiment amongst the people where even their gods were so corrupted and wicked that it was not the gods who left the people, the people left their gods because they had become so vile they wanted nothing to do with them because it was all misery.
It was into this sentiment and mood that Jesus arrived on the scene as the one true Savior. Many flocked to him and the message of deliverance and salvation even as their world collapsed. Barclay has some language that made me think so much of our current world and the system of governance at play. Barclay said for those who would listen and were aware, they could hear the crumbling of the empire. The empire was crumbling at the edges first and as it fell apart it became a time of turning in your neighbor for profits.
Barclay describes the empire dwindling away so much so that snitching on people so they were imprisoned/executed and their wealth confiscated became the easiest and quickest way to get rich yourself. The government was so corrupt that it paid through the teeth to devour and destroy any who might question the emperor or the direction of the empire. The government was so busy trying to keep what it had once had that it was literally destroying itself in the process of trying to save itself and the regular people who had nothing to do with any of it were just looking for protection and salvation because they would certainly be the victim of empire and bad governance at any time.
This is the corrupt world we still live in. The US and its empire is dying. So are the European powers. The edges are burning hard and breaking away and seeking safe harbor in other ports while the cretins at home are doing everything they can to turn the monolith against other people for their own gain while the politicians are looting every single corner and flake of beaten gold off the walls and statues. We are living through a period of madness and if you have the wherewithal you can hear the crumbling sounds of an empire breaking and witness the looting first hand while all us normal folks who are existing under the umbrella are simply trying to survive with gardens, guns, and good friends, seeking a Savior.
There is no political savior. Each one will try and claim the title and they will make promises to either restore the lost glory or expand into new unfounded lands, but none of it is real. They are all liars and frauds. The only real Savior is Jesus. The world is bad. The world is corrupted and no war, policy, or party will save it. They are the seeds of it's destruction and their voracious sinfulness knows no boundaries. It is only Jesus and only through Jesus do we see what is happening clearly and understand there is no hope in this world and it will not get better. This world is fallen and she is not getting up. Trust in Jesus. It is the only Way.