Matthew 22:15-22 (Pentecost 21)
St. John, Galveston 10/18/26
Rev. Alan Taylor

+ In Nomine Jesu +

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen.

    In last Sunday’s Gospel reading, Jesus told the chief priests and the elders a parable about a wedding feast that a king gave for his son. Many of those who were invited to the feast refused to come. They had more pressing matters to attend to, farms and business and the like. Of those who came to the feast, there was a man in the great hall who wasn’t wearing a wedding garment. Once spotted, he was cast out and thrown into the outer darkness, where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

    The parable was an indictment of the chief priests and elders, and others of the same heart and mind, who rejected Jesus as the Son of God.  They are the one’s who would be kicked out of the King’s feast. After all, the wedding garment, which they refused to receive, was none other than the purity and holiness of the King’s Son, Jesus Christ.

    In the Scriptures, when you find the chief priests and elders, the Pharisees are generally not very far behind. In this case, they were enraged by the parable that Jesus told, because they were also indicted by it. As such, like the chief priests and elders, they too would be cast out of the King’s feast into the outer darkness.

    The prospect of eternal condemnation and torment ought to generate a few questions in one’s mind. If I’m to be cast out of the King’s wedding feast given for His Son, I might ask, who is this King? Perhaps more importantly, who is His Son? What can I do to prevent the King from throwing me out?  Or, to put it another way, how can I be saved? I thought I was a really good person, why am I the one being thrown out of the feast? Why, one might have even asked about the wedding garment and where such a garment could be acquired. All of those would be valid questions, but to ask them, the Pharisees would have to have acknowledged Jesus and His authority, something they were unwilling to do.  

    They did ask Jesus a question though. Well, it was sort of a question, in that, some questions are meant as a trap and not to learn. You’ve heard those kinds of questions before: “Do you still support this or that policy?” “Are you loyal to the church or are you loyal to the nation?” “Are you one of us or are you one of them?” They sound like choices, but they really aren’t. They’re traps. The Pharisees came up with one such question for Jesus. “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” Yes or no? Heads or tails? Pick a side.

    Of course, Jesus recognized the trap. If He said, yes, it is lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, the people would have been upset with Him, because they hated the dishonesty and the profiteering that were part of the system. If He said, no, it isn’t lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, He knew that He would be accused of disloyalty to Rome, a serious civil offense.

    As you know, Jesus asked for a coin. A denarius was handed to Him. The coin would have had on it the image of Tiberius Caesar. It would have also been inscribed with the words, “son of the divine Augustus.” Jesus held the coin in His hand, and He asked, “Who’s image is this? To which the Pharisees said, “Caesars.” “Then render (Jesus said) to Caesar the things that are Caesars, and to God the things that are God’s.”

    As you might expect, Jesus’ answer to the Pharisee’s question was more profound than their question. They asked about taxes. Jesus’ answer was about the two kingdoms in which we live our lives. We have, as it were, one foot in the Kingdom of the left, Caesar’s realm, and we have one foot in the Kingdom of the Right, God’s Realm. As such, we are bound to render to each what is due. For sure, God is the King and Lord over both Kingdoms, but He rules the two Kingdoms quite differently. The Kingdom of the Left He rules with laws and with power. The Kingdom of the Right He rules with grace and mercy.

    Interestingly, this past week, Pope Leo XIV spoke for Roman Catholic Christians all over the world, and in their understanding of the papacy, he also spoke for God, when he declared capital punishment “inadmissible because it is an attack on the dignity of the person.” In this case, the Pope spoke in opposition to the Scriptures which tell us that punishment for wrong doing and for evil, is the responsibility of Caesar, the government. “Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority (that’s Caesar)? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, for she is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, an avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer.” God cares for you in life by those whom He has sent to exercise power, to curb evil and to punish injustice. They are His ministers for your good.

    Enough though with the things of Caesar. What are the things of God of which Jesus speaks? Or, to put it another way, what belongs to God? Well, broadly speaking, you could say everything, since He is Lord of heaven and earth. But, more specifically, and as it relates to this passage from Matthew 22, what belongs to God? Well, what bears His image? Not the coin! Simply put, YOU DO.

    That you belong to God. And that He would have you, is, in itself, an amazing thing. As the apostle says, “Behold what manner of love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God.” Children, not by virtue of creation, but children by virtue of God’s redemption in Christ Jesus, children by virtue of God’s love.

    In Christ, God has called you to be His own. The churches baptismal rite expresses so beautifully the reality of the power of water combined with God’s word, a power to change reality and kingdoms, a power to realign allegiances, to resurrect the dead and to soften hearts of stone. “Receive the sign of the cross, both on your forehead, and on your heart, to mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified.” Baptized you are, “In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit!” Indeed, I am His and He is mine.

    Luther’s explanation of the second article of the Apostle’s Creed is so helpful in expressing what it means for us to confess the name of Jesus and to belong to Him. “I believe in Jesus Christ, (God’s) only Son, our LORD.” ” It means, I believe that “God redeemed me, a lost and condemned creature. He has purchased and freed me from all sins, from death, and from the power of the devil, not with gold or silver but with his holy, precious blood and with his innocent suffering and death. He has done all this in order that I may belong to him.” What are the things of God in relation to Jesus’ comment in Matthew 22? Simply put, you are!!

    So yes, as Jesus says, pay Caesar his tax. But remember this—the most important thing about you is not your citizenship, or your ideology, or your wealth. It is that you bear the image of Christ the crucified. Not just an image on your skin, but a cross-shaped mark on your heart and your soul. “Behold, says Jesus, I have bought you with price and YOU are mine.”

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

The peace of God that passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus unto life everlasting. Amen.

+ Soli Deo Gloria +