A note from Pastor regarding his sermon:

As Jesus taught in the temple during the week of His passion, we know that the Pharisees, the chief priests, and the elders attempted to trap Him with His words, getting Him to say anything that could be used against Him and prove that He was a false teacher. Our Gospel reading for this week is a familiar example of this. The Pharisees hoped that getting Jesus to encourage people to pay taxes to the pagan Roman government could ruin His reputation among the people, who resented their occupation and government by a foreign government who blasphemed against God. Or, perhaps Jesus would encourage people not to pay taxes to the Romans, and they could use that to accuse Him of encouraging lawlessness or rebellion against Rome.

We know that Jesus masterfully disarms the Pharisee’s trap by getting them to acknowledge first that the coins they use to pay the tax bear the image of Caesar on them, and encouraging the people to give to Caesar what is his, and to God what is God’s. But as we consider our own day and time – especially with Election Day coming soon – we might wonder about what we should do for our government, especially in a world in which society, government, and church often seem to come into tension with one another. What do we render to Caesar in this day and age?