"Called to More: Whose Image Do You Carry?" (October 18, 2026 Sermon)
/Bearing the Image of God
Matthew 22:15-22
Then the Pharisees went and plotted to entrap him in what he said. So they sent their disciples to him, along with the Herodians, saying, “Teacher, we know that you are sincere, and teach the way of God in accordance with truth, and show deference to no one, for you do not regard people with partiality. Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not?” But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why are you putting me to the test, you hypocrites? Show me the coin used for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius. Then he said to them, “Whose head is this and whose title?” They answered, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, “Give therefore to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and to God the things that are God’s.” When they heard this, they were amazed, and they left him and went away.
Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and give to God what is God’s. Simple, right? Not so much. This is a part of the Bible that is unapologetically about money and politics. I recognize that many of us have a low tolerance for talking about money and politics in church. And yet Jesus does not give us that out this week.
In fact, as I was going through this week and preparing for this sermon, the first thing I thought was, “I really am glad I don’t have to preach on a really tricky parable again this week. God, give me a nice, simple text to give to these people.” And, well, this is the text we got. And yet, even though at the beginning of the week I wasn’t really looking forward to it, the more I prayed about it and the more I talked about it with you all (which is one of the most important parts of my sermon-writing process), the more I began to look forward to it and say, “You know what? God has something to say to God’s church.” This passage is about how we live our lives in a complex and violent world.
When I was talking with some of you during The Word This Week, we discussed how certain stories in the Bible feel as if the context in which they were written is so different from where we live now. Yet this passage doesn’t feel that way. Now, just as back then, we live in a complex, violent world. And the people were asking Jesus, “How do we navigate this kind of dual citizenship that we have?” Being citizens of the kingdom of heaven and, in the case of this story, citizens of the Roman Empire.
A Trap Disguised as a Question
So the Pharisees and the Herodians get together. They’re kind of odd bedfellows. The Pharisees and the Herodians normally did not get along very well, yet they both wanted to put Jesus on the spot. So they ask him a fairly straightforward political question: Should we pay the federal income tax? That’s kind of the modern, vernacular way of putting that question. And he knows that if he answers, “Yes, you should pay your taxes,” he can be accused of supporting the very political regime that is oppressing them. And if he says, “No, you shouldn’t pay your federal income tax to Caesar,” he can be charged with sedition.
And so he takes the political question he receives and returns it with a theological one, in which he says the line that I imagine most of us know very well: “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and give to God that which is God’s.” It sounds deceptively simple, and yet I think we all know that it is not simple at all. How we use our money, as it pertains to our values as Christians and as citizens of the United States of America, is a deeply personal matter for all of us. It’s a very contextual question for all of us. So I’m not going to stand here and lecture you about how to use your money. But it is my job as your pastor to help us think theologically about what Jesus is getting at.
Whose Image Is This?
And so he calls for a coin, not unlike this one. This is a quarter from my home state of Georgia, with George Washington on one side and a peach on the other. Yet the one they held up was a denarius bearing the image of whom? Caesar, right? So that’s already a politically loaded thing he knows he’s holding in his hand. And he says, “Give to Caesar that which is Caesar’s, and give to God that which is God’s.”
And so, even though that’s a very simple answer, there’s a much deeper subtext at play. Like, yes, Caesars come and go, do they not? And yet our God, “immortal, invisible, God only wise,” created the whole shebang, even Caesar himself! So I think the answer that Jesus is lifting up for us is to remember this: though the coin at the time bore the image of Caesar, Jesus was saying to his disciples then and to his disciples now, “Though the coin with which you pay the tax bears the image of Caesar, remember that you bear the image of God in the world.”
Not Because We Have To
And so, really, it’s a question of accountability. I don’t enjoy paying my taxes any more than the rest of you do. Some of my taxes go to things that are very important. I passed some fire trucks on the way to work today that were heading out to take care of someone who is in pain or sick. That’s a good use of my tax dollars, right? I love the fact that my tax dollars go to pay our teachers. Not nearly enough, but they do. I personally love that my tax dollars help subsidize health care for my neighbors who can’t afford it. I love all those things. There are also places where my tax dollars go that I’m not too crazy about. I suspect that’s true for you as well.
And so, yes, we may give to Caesar, or pay our taxes, because we have to. And yet when we give to the church, I hope we do so not because we have to, but because we get to. This church is a place I come to every single week to be reminded that I am made in the image of God. It’s the place where I bring my family, including our daughters, to remind them that in a world that tries to tell them they belong to X, Y, and Z, the church is where we are all reminded that we belong to God, and to God alone.
And so I’m not going to tell you how to vote. I’m not going to tell you how to spend your money. But I do think that God is calling all of us to remember, as we write our checks, pay our bills, and step into the ballot box, or, for the A&T students who walked an hour to reach their polling location because there is no longer one on campus, as we do all of these things, that we are made in the image of God.
Now, we’re wrapping up our stewardship season, so I simply wanted to say this: I pay my taxes because I have to. I pledge to this church because I get to, because I love it. And so the Fearing family has submitted our pledge card for the 2027 budget. I’m also happy to share with you all this week that, as of a few days ago, one hundred percent of your elected session members have submitted their pledges for 2027 as well.
Because I hope that together we are building the kind of place where we remember that we belong to God. And as we step out into the world, into this messy world where we sometimes face competing allegiances, I hope we remember, through the waters of our baptism, that each of us bears the image of God. That matters in how we treat one another. It matters in how we spend our money. And it matters in how we vote.
So, friends, remember. Right now, let’s close this sermon. Turn to a neighbor and say, “You’re made in the image of God.” You’re made in the image of God. Turn to another neighbor and say, “You’re made in the image of God.” You’re made in the image of God. Now place your hand over your heart and say to yourself, “I am a beloved child of God.”
In the name of God the Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, may all of us, God’s beloved children, say: Amen.