The gospel message is a threat to all dominant powers

"Of course, when we pray in the name of Jesus, we find, again and again, that what we want to pray for subtly changes as we focus on Jesus himself. Part of the game is the readiness, in great things and small, to put our plans and hopes on hold and let God remake them as we gaze upon him, revealed in the inglorious glory of the manger, in the powerless power of the cross...."

N.T. Wright

Wright goes on his statement to show of course that the cross was the true power. The little humble King born in the animal trough would crush the great power of Caesar Augustus' Rome through conversion only 4 centuries later.