Sermon for the Twenty-Third Sunday after Trinity, 2024

Jesus rendered perfect obedience both to God the Father and to Caesar. He, true God, begotten of the Father from eternity, and also true man, born of the Virgin Mary, fulfilled every Commandment and did what you could not: His entire life was one continual offering of loving obedience to His Father and self-sacrificial love for His neighbor. Thus, He submitted to Pontius Pilate’s authority as God’s authority and died under the same Caesar pictured on the coin that the Pharisees and Herodians brought to Him. There, upon the Cross, Jesus purchased and redeemed you, not with gold or silver but with His holy, precious blood and with His innocent suffering and death. And because the image of God in Him was perfect and His sacrifice was of infinite value, He fully atoned for your sins and for the sin of the whole world. The life and death of Christ Jesus are the true renderings to God of what belongs to God. So, when it comes to settling accounts with God, you can do one of two things: you can render to Him your own goodness and works, which will always fall short, or you can render to Him the works and the sacrifice of Christ Jesus as the full and complete payment for your sins. So then, to render to God the things that are God’s is to rely on Jesus and believe in Him; it’s to point to Christ crucified and say, “There is my salvation; He alone is the offering that secures for me everlasting life.”

Readings:

• Old Testament: Proverbs 8:11-22

• Epistle: Philippians 3:17-21

• Holy Gospel: Matthew 22:15-22

Sermon: