Render unto God the things that are God's

Jesus' words against the Pharisees in St. Matthew 22 are not a discourse on the importance of paying taxes. After all, everyone already knows the importance of paying taxes. Rather, they are a warning against hypocrisy. How can you challenge with words him who is the Word? He that teacheth man knowledge, shall not he know? And so it is also hypocritical to challenge God at all, or to blame him for your troubles, or to cast aspersions on him as though he were not God. He is so good that he gives to us in spite of our miserable sinfulness. Moreover, we are to render unto him  the  things that are his. As Caesar's inscription is on his coins, so God's image is stamped on mankind. But how can we give him ourselves, seeing that we are so sinful? How can we give an acceptable sacrifice? See how good he is, that he sends his Son, his other Self, to bear his image on earth perfectly, and so to offer a perfect sacrifice in our stead. So we, receiving him by faith, now are confident that our living sacrificial lives are acceptable, only through him who loved us. Sermon for All Saints I (Trinity XXIII).