Holy Trinity Sunday (G)

Mark 12:13-17

¹³ And they sent to him some of the Pharisees and some of the Herodians, to trap him in his talk. ¹⁴ And they came and said to him, “Teacher, we know that you are true and do not care about anyone’s opinion. For you are not swayed by appearances, but truly teach the way of God. Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar, or not? Should we pay them, or should we not?” ¹⁵ But, knowing their hypocrisy, he said to them, “Why put me to the test? Bring me a denarius and let me look at it.” ¹⁶ And they brought one. And he said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They said to him, “Caesar’s.” ¹⁷ Jesus said to them, “Render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” And they marveled at him.

There are many people who confuse these things. We confuse the authority of the Government with the Authority of God. We like to think that God and the Government are always on the same page. There are many people who like to think God preordains their destiny and therefore any decision they make is blessed by God.

Most Lutherans teach that the Second Commandment is, “Thou shalt not miss use the name of the Lord thy God.” But other denominations would say the Second Commandment is, “Thou shalt not make for yourself any graven image.” Jesus asks them to “Bring me a denarius.” They bring him an image of Caesar upon a coin. They bring a graven image to the Son of God and ask him, “to whom should we give this?”

Many countries put people’s faces upon their money, but most of these people do not have teachings which say these people are God. Caesar was thought by the Romans to be Divine. Would you offer the image of a “divine” being to God.

Jesus Christ is the only Son of God. The Father is God. The Son is God. The Holy Spirit is God. There are not three gods but one God. This God does not want you to worship anything else along side of him nor above him. There is only one true God and you should not have graven images of any god.

Don’t worship your money! Don’t worship the faces on your Money! Defend the name of the LORD your God. Give to God what is God’s and to man what is man’s. Oh, and God gives to you what is his, namely his Son. He dies for you and forgiveness of all your sins.