What is God's?

 Matthew 22: 15-22  October 18, 2026

 

This scripture has been misused a lot.

Sometimes its used as a stewardship sermon.

Which isn’t the worst use of it.

This logic is that Jesus says you have to pay your taxes –

but don’t forget to give some to God, which is the church.

Like I said, not the worst use, but

I don’t think that’s what Jesus is talking about.

 

I think it has been used in the past mostly,

to justify the separating of the work of God

from the work of politics or government.

 

People have used this to say that Jesus was telling the church

not to get involved in any part of politics.

Give to the Emperor what belongs to the Emperor – earthly things.

and give to God what belongs to God – spiritual things.

 

This theory says that Jesus was saying that these things are separate – 

the realm of Caesar is money, finances, your business, 

and work life, your voting, your stance on issues.

And the world of God is praying, worship, hymns, spiritual stuff.

 

The belief was that God doesn’t get involved in those other places,
and neither should you.

Church people should worry about spiritual and eternal stuff.

Politics are worldly, always evil, and temporary –

as people of faith, we shouldn’t bother with it.

 

Throughout history, especially American history,

that has left many thoughtful, faithful people out of the

conversations that affect many people’s lives so much.

 

The fact is, how we use our money is a spiritual and moral question.

And how the government uses the money we give them is

a spiritual and moral question.

And how we engage with that question is politics.

Now I completely believe in separation of church and state.

The government should not mandate any religion,

even ones I agree with and love.

And religions should not mandate that its followers to

follow any political ideal or that it vote for one person or another.

 

We’ve all seen over the last 50 or so years,

how the radical right wing of the Christian church

has demanded that they get special treatment under the law,

and they want the law to protect their faith alone.

Or how they want their Christian teachings in public schools,

or they want to impose their specific, peculiar spiritual

practices and interpretations on the general public.

And I am here to say that is NOT how we should be

involved in politics as people of faith.

 

But should people of faith completely stay out of politics?

Should we remove themselves from any kind of politics?

That’s kind of the question that’s being posed by the pharisees, even if,

as the narration said, it was posed as a trap.

It wasn’t like the Pharisee’s invented this dilemma

when they asked it of Jesus.

It was already a debate.

 

At the time of Jesus, the Israelites were under Roman rule.

They had gone from being under one rule to another for many years.

The Romans were good in some ways, they developed conveniences, roads, 

methods of commerce,  And Romans allowed people to worship how they wanted, 

even the Jewish people.

 

And the Romans invaded and took control and then

required a ‘Tribute’ be paid to it – a tax.

Romans required two things, that you pay the tribute

and that you keep the peace. 

No protesting, no gathering in the street, no organizing,

definitely no telling people not to pay their taxes.

The Romans government required submission.

On top of that, the Roman government elevated their emperor to the

level of a deity. The Caesar was actually worshipped along with other gods. 

After years of wrangling and negotiation,

Jewish people were exempt from this part of life.

 

But one of the ways that they elevated or venerated the Emperor 

or Caesar was to put his face on money. Of which there were only coins.

It was a constant reminder of the Emperor’s deity.

 

Now Jewish people were exempt from worshipping,

but the money was a sticking issue.

Roman Coin

The money with the picture of the was a graven image, 

an idol to the Jewish people and they weren’t supposed to use Roman money,

especially for religious purposes for paying the Temple tax or fees, 

or for buying animals for sacrifice. 

That’s what the money changers were there for. 

They would exchange Roman money, with the graven image

on it, for Jewish money.

(Which was basically worthless outside of Jewish circles.)

 

So the Jewish people removed themselves from the surrounding culture 

in that way, but the question was still there.

Was it faithful to even pay taxes to this government?

Of course there were severe penalties if you didn’t pay taxes.

But the question was there for them.

 

And that question has been there for Christians and for other

religious people forever. The world is sinful, bad things happen.

Society does bad things. Governments do bad things.

So should we, as people of faith, retract from society?

 

John the Baptist withdrew from public life by living in the wilderness. 

The Essenes a Jewish group (which some people believe that 

John The Baptist was a leader in) that lived completely separate from society.

The Amish and some Mennonites maintain physical and cultural

separation from regular society.

Jehovah’s Witnesses don’t vote in elections.

 

 

Mostly, though religions in the US,

seem so want to be involved in the culture in most ways,

but we want to remain quiet on things when taking a stand

would cause controversy. It’s called “Political quietism.”

Being kind of neutral about everything

 

And I get it, with the culture so divided on certain topics,

it feels like avoiding all topics that could be seen as political

might seem like the best approach.

Don’t take a stand on anything controversial.

Just focus on the Spiritual side of things, so we

don’t offend or divide our parishioners over things.

 

And a lot of times, people are fine with churches speaking

up on politics when it’s a stance they agree with.

But when they disagree, then the church is being “too political”.

 

So that means that the radical wing of the church doesn’t have 

a problem making demands that their doctrine be heard and adopted 

by every facet of government and society, 

but the more thoughtful even-tempered portion of the church ends up keeping quiet,

just trying to keep the peace. Not speaking out at all.

 

That means that the church has been quiet on matters that would be

very important to God.  I mean in the 1800’s.

 the Lutheran Church, didn’t have much of anything to say about the issue of Slavery  until the Southern half of the Lutheran church left the

General Lutheran church in 1863.

By then, the Civil War had already been going on for two years.

 

In the 1960’s, Martin Luther King wrote his “Letter From a Birmingham Jail” was written in response to eight white clergy members,

who wrote a public letter to him printed in the newspaper calling for unity. Which basically meant that yes, they agreed with him about civil rights, but they would rather he stayed quiet and stop being so controversial stop protesting. They didn’t like the tensions and discomfort that the protests and sit ins created. They wanted him to leave it to the courts.

Then in the Letter Martin Luther King wrote in response, he

said that the contemporary church often acts merely as a thermometer that records, reflects, and passively measures popular opinion, cultural norms, and the status quo of society when we should be acting like a thermostat that actively regulates, sets, and transforms the moral climate.

 

William Barber contemporary pastor that led Moral Mondays

and the Poor People’s campaign said: 

“Preachers don’t get to opt out of politics; 

we can be chaplains of Empire or prophets of God.”

 

And large swaths of the church have remained silent on poverty,

on immigrants, on violence, on gun violence, on war,

on housing, on cuts to medical and food assistance

which hasn’t served our churches or our country well at all.

 

The reality was, it was a very political world that Jesus came into

The time that Jesus was in was deeply steeped in politics.

People couldn’t get away from it even if they wanted to.

And Jesus did not shy away from it.

He was not a politician, he did not advocate for any politician,

He didn’t want to rule in any kind of political leadership.

He didn’t want his way to be the law of the land.

But he was political.

 

He was political in how he advocated for people.

How he talked to them, and  how he talked about them,

He was political in the way that he kept the company

of certain people in public.  He was political in the way

that he talked about God’s forgiveness when God’s wrath 

and anger was a way of controlling people. 

He was political in the way that brought light to  oppression and human suffering.

He was political in the way he empowered the poor and oppressed.

Even feeding people was a political statement.

  

Jesus was killed by the authorities for being too political,

for not staying in, what some people thought, was his lane.

If he had just commented on strictly spiritual stuff,

no one would have cared enough to arrest him and kill him.

 

It says that the Pharisees were trying to catch Jesus- to entrap him—

With the question that they were asking in today’s gospel.

If he said that the Jewish people should not pay the tax to the Romans, 

then Jesus could be arrested by the Romans for sedition.

If Jesus said that they should pay taxes to Rome, then

he would have looked like he was kowtowing to the government,

and lost his appeal to his Jewish followers.

 

But Jesus doesn’t answer yes or no (of course)

Rather, he catches the Pharisees in their own trap:

First thing he does is ask the pharisees for a coin used for the tax.

the he asked them for a Roman Coin. And they give it to him.

 

Why would THEY have a Roman coin on them?

Even those that fancied themselves the closest to God

could not escape becoming a part of the Roman world.

 

Maybe Jesus could have stopped right there,

and he would have had one up on the people

who were trying to catch him in a trap.

But Jesus goes on.

 

He looks at the coin. It had picture of Cesar on it,

so give it back to him. Give him his taxes.

But remember always give to God what belongs to God.

It was a complex and subtle answer for a complex issue.

 

I think that Jesus was saying with this

is that being in the world doesn’t make us bad disciples.

Pay your taxes. Be part of the world.

Even if that world is corrupt and broken.

Give to Ceasar what  Cesar wants.

Maybe even get involved in politics.

But, as a disciple, don’t ever forget what belongs to God.

And that is everything.

God reigns over and cares for all things.

The poorest person, the immigrant, you and me,

the frogs and the plants and trees.

And even that egotistical Caesar who puts his

own face on a coin. The one true God reigns over it all.

 

So give to God what belongs to God

That doesn’t mean forcibly make all people Christian,

or put the ten commandments in the classroom or any of that silliness.

But that means work to make the world more reflective of God’s will.

Make sure that everyone has a place at the table,

everyone is fed, everyone is healthy, everyone is safe,

and well paid for their work, that everyone has a voice.

And if making sure of that makes us political, so be it.

 

We are created in the image of God.

All of us.  Not just the spiritual side.  We are not just half a coin.

We are not just souls hanging around the earth

waiting for heaven one day.

 

And God just doesn’t hover around in the ether and

let the rest of the material world go to seed.

God is interested in the whole package the spirit and the body.

 

God loves us all, and God every part of us.

The neat and tidy parts and the messy complicated parts.

And God wants that love to transform every part of our lives.

Not just one hour on a Sunday morning.

Not just our prayer life and our spiritual life and our home life.

But every part of our life: Including our budgets, our communities,

our commerce, our government, and our politics.

 

Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s.

Give to God what is God’s.

And that is everything.

 

Come to the Party

 October 11, 2026

Matthew 22: 1-14

Banquet
Hyatt Moore

 

We love this parable! Yay.

And it makes us uncomfortable.

 

There’s a banquet! It’s great! Yay.

And there’s destroying cities.

 

It’s a party for everyone, good and bad,

everyone that usually isn’t invited to parties! Yay.

 

But then there’s that poor guy who didn’t

wear a wedding coat, thrown into the outer darkness.

Dark Jesus is back again with another parable.

But don’t despair.

Remember, he’s still talking to the religious leaders.

And Matthew wants us to know that Jesus was very upset

with them and he told them directly and publicly.

And Matthew has a flair for the dramatic.

 

And remember, we don’t have to throw everything out

that we know and believe about grace.

We just have to remember that when Jesus talks like this,

it’s important to him and he wants them to know it.

 

Let me tell you, Luke’s version of this parable

is more palatable. It’s very nice and there’s no

city-wide destruction and no outer darkness

or wailing and gnashing of teeth, you can read that one Luke 14.

 

But still, we’re not in Luke this year, we’re in Matthew

And Matthew tries to grab us in with exciting 

descriptions and consequences. 

And this is the parable we’ve been given today

so we have to deal with it.

And maybe it’s not all bad news.

 

So let’s start with the basics:

Jesus says the Kingdom is like this:

It’s like a King who has wedding banquet.

The kingdom of God is like a party!   Yay!

 

I mean it’s nice to think of God as throwing parties.

For a couple thousand years, the church and God

and everything involved with it has been

depicted as a drag, a bunch of sad, serious, wet blankets.

The Church has been the ones telling  

couples on the dance floor to separate and turn down the loud music.

 

I remember one member in my last congregation saying that when

she was young she was told that she needed

to stop smiling when she was going up for communion.

People have confused spirituality with stoicism.

And joy with disrespect.

But that’s not God’s way, that’s our interpretation.

And that, I think that is part of the understanding of this story

I’m sure the religious leaders didn’t see God as throwing parties.

 

They were doing their own thing, and not God’s thing.

They forgot all the lessons their fore-fathers and mothers had

taught about God’s love, forgiveness, inclusion, abundance,

and all the rest of it, and they decided to take the easy way out.

The way of the world. The way of scarcity and fear,

threats and judgement,

in order to control people and get what they want.

 

But God’s way, God’s kingdom is like a celebration,

 

So the Kingdom of God is like a celebration.

With great food, and drink, and decoration.

And he invites the usual suspects, other important people:

politicians, business execs, doctors, lawyers, art gallery curators, 

celebrities, and of course, religious leaders.

But they’re not interested in the king’s party.

They want to keep doing their own thing.

As I said, Jesus is talking to the religious leaders.

They’ve been entrusted with God’s people,

and they’ve forgotten about God’s invitations.

They’ve used and threatened the poor and

hungry and sick instead of helping them.

They’re living in comfort, assured of their

own place in God’s favor, and the people they’re supposed

to be serving are starving for food and grace.

And since they presented themselves as the only way to God,

they’re blocking everyone’s way.

 

They’ve been invited to the party that the King

is throwing, and they’re not showing up to it.

Not only that, they’ve killed the people who

have invited them to the party.

 

This is foreshadowing Jesus eventual crucifixion

and Jesus is also referring to the many prophets,

like John the Baptist, who have been killed for criticizing 

the religious leaders and the government they’ve been colluding with.

 

This is one of Jesus biggest beefs with the religious leaders.

They are colluding with the Roman government to elevate

their position and control and intimidate the people.

Jesus is saying that God does not like that.

God does not like it when religious leaders collude 

with governments in order to control and intimidate.

God doesn’t like it when religious leaders do that NOW,

and he didn’t like it then. They traded in the way of life

and joy for the way of death and fear.

 

I must digress now to talk about something so

distressing in our own government.

I mean it’s like a firehose of distressing things lately,

but this one really takes the cake.

The pentagon has announced that the first military execution 

to take a place since 1961 will be livestreamed.

Made available on TV for anyone to watch.

Putting aside the debate about whether the United States

should still be persisting with the death penalty in the first place—

Using the death penalty for entertainment is actually frightening.

dictatorships do that.

 

The Secretary of State has claimed his Christian identity

publicly many times, and he’s forced service people to attend

Christian prayer services and sermons with his Christian

spiritual advisor, who has some very nutty ideas himself.

 

I’m not going to mince words here.

Putting a death on display like this is a dangerous path.

And putting death on display like this and using Christianity 

as a mantle at the same time does more serious damage to Christianity.

It’s barbaric. The Roman government did that with Christian martyrs.

And it’s what the Roman Government did with Jesus.

 

I’m horrified as a citizen and as a Christian.

As I was saying God does not like it when religious leaders

collude with governments in order to control and intimidate.

I think Jesus would have a lot of serious stuff to say to this,

so I feel I have to say something now.

 

End of digression.

 

So this King is mad at the people who rejected his invite,

and also murdered the ones bringing the invitation.

So the King has them killed and their city destroyed.

 

Now it may be difficult to believe that the way of

life is what Jesus is offering here when the

parable is so violent and threatening itself.

(Did I tell you that Luke’s is a lot better?

No cities burned in that one.)

But when these parables get crazy like this

we have to remember that Jesus is angry.

He’s taking this business very seriously

and he’s using the language of violence, which maybe the language

these religious leaders seem to understand best.

Do I believe that God is destroying people and cities

like the King in this parable? No I don’t.

But do I share a little of Matthew’s desire for a little earthly justice 

and retribution for the forces that defy God so blatantly?

Yes, a little if I’m honest.

 

But I like to interpret parables and stories like this

more hopeful for the future instead:

The places built on hatred and fear and violence,

and rejection of God’s way of love and grace are just not sustainable. 

They will not survive.

They either destroy themselves, or find their way back to God.

So that was the first distressing part of this parable.

 

So the party’s ready and the food is there but no one

that the King has invited wants to come.

So the King asks his people to invite everyone else

everyone else who might actually do things God’s way.

Everyone that no one would have thought to invite before.

 

And they do, they don’t care who they ask: “Good and bad” it says.

Luke’s gospel describes the poor, the crippled, the blind, the lame.

 

This is how Jesus was operating when he came to town.

The religious leaders weren’t celebrating with God, so Jesus 

had to get other people, tax collectors and prostitutes to join him at his table.

He got the disciples fishermen and other regular joes

to join him.

 

We know who they would be today.

We know who our own normally uninvited are in our day.

In God’s way, the table – real and metaphorically,

is opened up to everyone.

 

And that’s the another great thing about this parable,

At God’s party everyone is invited. Yay!

  

The earliest church knew this, and it was known

for having rich and poor together, Jew and Greek, slave and free,

male and female, no one else did that at the time

and that was the earliest Christian calling card,

they were all one in Christ.

 

Rachel Held Evans, the popular millennial

theologian who sadly died in 2019 wrote:

“The apostles remembered what many modern 

Christians tend to forget—that what makes the gospel offensive

isn’t who it keeps out, but who it lets in.”

 

Still, today, the thought of inviting everyone

to the table and to the party is a scandal to many.

Excluding people with threats of hell are powerful.

And people like to hold onto that power.

 

So the Kingdom of God is like a party,

and the party is happening whether we want to participate or not,

and everyone who normally isn’t invited to parties is invited,

(and those who ARE normally invited can come too.)

So Yay! For radical banquets that can’t be stopped!

 

But  that brings us to the other really concerning part of this parable,

the King and that guest and his wedding garment, or lack of it.

 

To us it might look like the king is just mad because someone

was not wearing the right clothes or didn’t have the right look.

I know some of those joyless preachers in the past

have used this bit of the parable as an excuse to tell people

they had to dress right in church.

But that’s kind of a ridiculous take.

  

So at the time, weddings at that time were kind of surprises,

the date wasn’t set a long time in advance.

When the time was right, the wedding started,

and someone would go out into the neighborhood,

and let them all know that the wedding was about to start,

and everyone was supposed to stop what they were in the middle of,

they would take their wedding robe out of the closet and go.

And if they didn’t have one,

the host would provide a wedding robe at the door.

 

The wedding robe was a garment that was simple

and non-descript, and everyone’s robe was similar,

meaning that everyone looked the same:

the king looked the same as the ditch-digger,

the farm hand looked the same as the business owner.

 

To wear the robe was a sign of solidarity, unity, humbleness

and honor for the host and for the rest of the guests.

As I said, if they were too poor to have one on hand,

they would have been given one at the door.

 

So the man who came in wasn’t just flighty

and forgot, or too poor to afford one,

he would have had to reject it.

To not wear it, was a snub, it was arrogance even.

 

With Matthew’s own flair for the dramatic,

he’s saying that everyone is invited to the party. Yay.

But it’s not just a free-for-all, anarchy party.

Yay still.

Those kind of parties make me nervous.

 

God’s party is open to all people, it’s true.

And when we come to God’s party,

we’re asked to behave differently than before.

We’re not asked to change our identity, or our gifts,

or our uniqueness,

we’re not asked to conform in those ways.

 

But we are asked to wear

The garments that cover our status and,

our superiority, our self-righteousness

and our judgmental nature that we left the house with,

and we are asked to be imitators of Christ:

and we are asked to put on Christ’s garments of

abundance, love, forgiveness, joy, inclusion,

service, self-sacrifice, and care for everyone around us.

Welcome everyone at the table. Yay again.

 

Putting on that robe, and following Christ’s way

is how we keep this party going for everyone.

 

So don’t dwell in the outer darkness,

don’t worry about the wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Don’t worry about those things.

Just know that Jesus is really serious about God’s party.

Jesus really wants us to believe in God’s abundance.

 

Just put on Christ’s garments,

and come to the banquet that God

has prepared for everyone.