Render Unto Caesar- Sermon.
Grace be unto you from God our Father, and our Lord and savior Jesus Christ, Amen. To say there is very little the Pharisees have in Common with the Herodians, is an understatement. It would be like if Sarah Palin didn’t like what Jesus was saying, so she went and got together with her good chum Hillary Clinton and approached him. Their main platforms are exactly opposite one another. The Pharisees on one side, don’t like Rome and its constant meddling in their affairs. Meanwhile, the Herodians are committed to keeping Rome in power through the puppet King Herod. About the only thing they have in common is that they don’t like Jesus. So I hope you can feel the tension in the room when they ask their question: “Tell us, is it lawful to pay taxes to the emperor,...
Read MoreSermon for the 16th Sunday after Pentecost
This is my first sermon that I gave as Vicar at Trinity Lutheran Church. The text is Matthew 21:23-32. Not the easiest text for a first sermon, but I’ll let you be the judge of how I did. — Grace and peace be unto you from God our father, and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, Amen. Jesus has done it again! He got into a spat with the chief priests and elders while teaching in the temple. It seems like just about every other week Jesus gets into one of these battles of wits. This time, the chief priests come to Jesus asking a me-me question. Now, you all know what a me-me question is, you just didn’t call it that until I invented the word for it just now. It’s a question that is completely focused in on yourself. No matter what the words of the...
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