Twenty-first
Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 24A)
October
22, 2023
Text: Matt. 22:15-22
There
are things we must render to Caesar.
That is the first thing we have to say on the basis of our Holy Gospel. Our fallen flesh doesn’t like that,
and it is especially difficult for pious Christians and conservative Lutherans
to acknowledge the fact. But Jesus is
clear. Whose image is on the coin? That which bears Caesar’s image belongs to
Caesar. Give it to him.
What
about our coins? What about our paper
bills? In what is, for all practical
purposes, a cashless society (and possibly heading that way completely), we may
have trouble remembering this, but our money, too, bears the image of
presidents and the inscription, the official seal of the government. Beloved, it is our Christian duty to pay
taxes. Jesus says it here. And St. Paul preaches this very thing, including
our duty to submit to our rulers, in Romans 13: “Let every person be subject
to the governing authorities,” he says (Rom. 13:1; ESV). Why?
Because government is a good gift of God, given as an antidote to
lawlessness and chaos, to punish the wicked and reward the good. Government is necessary for society to
function. And though it is true that all
governments among men are corrupt to one degree or another… that they act
outside of God’s will in any multitude of ways… and that we should and must
call them to repentance for those things (we live in a society where we have the
luxurious freedom, and therefore responsibility, to speak out against evil, and
abuse, and downright incompetence, a freedom unprecedented in world history)…
it must not be lost on us that Paul is writing this during the reign of Emperor
Nero, a man who burns Christians on poles to light up his garden parties, who
personally and ravenously attacks them before cheering crowds in the arena, and
who would eventually give the order for Paul’s beheading (and Peter’s
crucifixion). Nevertheless, “the
authorities are ministers of God,” Paul says, and this is also why you pay
taxes (v. 6).
“Pay
to all what is owed to them,” says the Apostle: “taxes to whom taxes are
owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor
to whom honor is owed” (v. 7). Now,
of course, there are exceptions, and that is any time the governing authorities
command something contrary to God’s Law, when they require us to sin. Like if they told us to stop preaching God’s
Word, or dictated which parts of God’s Word we could preach, or forbade us from
worshiping together, demanded we perform same-sex marriages, things like that. Then it is as Peter and the Apostles say in
Acts 5:29: “We must obey God rather than men.” But otherwise, we should pay our taxes, be honest
on our tax returns, obey the laws, perform our civic duties, and, yes, honor
the office of our rulers according to the Fourth Commandment: “Honor your
father and your mother. What does
this mean? We should fear and love
God so that we do not despise or anger our parents and other authorities, but
honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them.”[1] This is, as you know, the first part of the
Two Kingdoms doctrine. God rules the
world through the vocation of government, what we call “The Kingdom of God’s
Left Hand.” God rules through
Caesar, whether he knows or acknowledges it, or not. So, “render to Caesar the things that are
Caesar’s” (Matt. 22:21). That is
what our Lord Jesus commands us to do.
But
you also know that that is only the minor point in our Lord’s teaching
us this afternoon. The supreme point
that we should render to God the things that are God’s (v. 21). What belongs to God? Everything. He created it, all things, visible and
invisible. Everything belongs to
Him. That means all that you have, all
you possess. He gave it to you. It is all gift from Him. It is His to begin with. And He places it all in your hands, to be stewarded. For your own needs, and your enjoyment,
yes. And for your neighbor’s needs. And above all, for His own glory. Are we talking, here, about money? Of course.
Be generous with it. Give an
offering. I encourage you to tithe. Give to charity. Feed people.
Clothe them. Be generous to
family and friends, to your waiter or waitress, and to strangers in need.
But
it’s so much more than money. We often
speak of time, talent, and treasure.
Fine. Good. Be generous with those. But what about your home? Your home belongs to God. He has given it to you as a gift, to be
stewarded. Is your home a place of prayer
and spiritual nurture, of safety and solace, a shelter from strife? Do you use it to show hospitality? That is a biblical admonition for
Christians. What about your daily
bread? Do you share it? What of your friendship? Mercy?
Patience? How about your
vehicle? Your place of work? You get the point. Everything you have. How should you steward it and use it for
God’s purposes? We really shouldn’t be
selfish with anything, but as we all know, it’s harder than it looks. God have mercy on us.
But
it’s not just your money, time, and stuff.
Render to God the things that are God’s.
You, yourself, belong to God.
Your life is not your own. Your
body is not yours to do with as you please.
Your soul is not yours to do with as you please. God created you. He gave you yourself, body and soul. And more than that, He redeemed you
from sin, death, and the devil… from yourself! He sent His Son to do that very thing by His
blood and death on the cross. You are
bought and paid for. You belong to Him.
But
there is something even more, here. Look
in a mirror and ask yourself, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” And now you’ve got it, don’t you.
“Then
God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’… So God created man in his own image, in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created them” (Gen.
2:26-27). That’s how it was in the
Garden, with Adam and Eve. Well, what
does it mean to be created in God’s image?
It means to have a clear and firm knowledge of Him and His will, to be
of like mind with Him (that is, to be in agreement with His will), and to be
righteous and holy, as He is righteous and holy, doing as He commands, and not
doing what He forbids. Now, you know
what happened to that image when our first parents rebelled in the garden. Image lost. It is true, insofar as we still retain a
rational soul (we’re able to think logically and critically), a conscience (at
least some conception of morality), and an instinct that there is such a thing
as divinity, that there are higher and lower things, things we’re obliged and
forbidden to do, etc., this is evidence of a vestige, at least a dim
shadow of the image. But we
essentially lost it. We defaulted on
what we owe God, that which Ibears His image and inscription. We became obsessed with creating an image of
ourselves according to our own will, divorced from our God.
But
we also know what God has done about it.
He sent His Son. Jesus. “He is,” Paul says, “the image of
the invisible God” (Col. 1:15). Very
God, Son of the Father from all eternity, He is born in time of the Virgin Mary
in our flesh. God with us. Like us in every way, yet without
sin. “(I)n
him,” that is, in His human flesh, our flesh, “the fulness
of God was pleased to dwell” (v. 19).
And so, He doesn’t just know God and His will. This Man is God. He is not just of like mind with the
Father. His will is to do the
will of the Father. Perfectly
righteous. Perfectly holy. And He is our new Adam. As Adam is the father of our fallen race, now
Jesus… undoing by His holy life all the damage Adam did, by healing creation of
its brokenness, by casting out Satan and the demons, dying the accursed death
in our place, as payment for our sins, rising again, living, ascending,
reigning… and sending His emissaries to preach the Good News… Jesus has become
the Firstborn and Source of New Creation.
And you are born anew when you are baptized into Him. Old Adam, drowned and dead. New Creation in Christ risen and living. Clothed with Christ. Covered with Christ. Image restored.
Look
in a mirror. Whose likeness and
inscription is this? You have been
re-created in the Image and likeness of God.
His Name, His inscription, is written on you, Father, Son, and Holy
Spirit. So, render your whole self to
Him, all that you are and have. You
belong to Him, and there is nothing better than that.
And now,
look at your neighbor. Whose likeness
and inscription is on him? Render love,
and service, and generosity to your neighbor, because that is rendering to God. “Whatever you do to the least of these,”
right (Matt. 25)? And in that sense,
even paying your taxes is rendering to God.
Caesar will find out soon enough he’s not God. It is God who rules all things in heaven and
on earth. And everything belongs to Him.
What
does it mean to render yourself to God?
It means to repent. Repent of all
that you hold back for yourself, all of you that you prefer to rule for
yourself. That’s all part of Old Adam’s
quest to know good and evil for Himself.
Repent
of all that you hold back from your neighbor who needs you, who likewise bears
the divine Image.
Be
ruled by God’s Word. Let it change
you.
And
then, live in the Image. Live in Christ. Live by faith. Forgiven of all your sins. Renewed by His Word and Spirit. Come to Church. This is what we call “The Kingdom of God’s
Right Hand.” It is ruled alone by the
Word. In the end, to render yourself to
God, is simply to receive that Word, and live in it. To receive Christ and live in Him. Such rendering is not a tax. It is life from the dead. In the Name of the Father, and of the Son X, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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