Sermon – Render to SOMEONE
Genesis 22:9-14; Matthew 22:15-22
10/18/2026
Two women approach the king, both of whom have recently given birth. Most tragically, one of the newborn babies has died, leaving one baby and two new mothers. They are both claiming to be the mother of the living baby and have come to the king to resolve their dilemma which is not really a dilemma – more like just a tragedy that no one seems to be able to accept. The king makes the overly, even impossibly, rational decision and decides to literally divide the one baby between two mothers. You have most likely before heard where this is going. The one mother accepts the king’s judgment and agrees to half a baby which is really no baby for either of them, but the other mother would rather the baby live, even if in another woman’s home, and asks that her baby be given away to save its life. Then, the king knows who the real mother is and the controversy is resolved.
A common understanding is that the wonder of that story is the wisdom of the king, the amazing insight and understanding that he demonstrated here. That king was, of course, King Solomon, son of King David, and he was known as the wisest of the wise. If you have heard me speak to any length on King Solomon before, you have heard me take umbrage with the description of his wisdom. I do not find him especially wise but rather tragically foolish, ego driven, and a poor king. The glory of his rule does lead to the height of Isreal’s power, but the nation also crumbles and abandon’s God with Solomon’s reign and upon his death. Thankfully, the hero of the story I shared is less Solomon but the mother who was willing to give her baby away to save its life. I might even suggest that she was in fact wiser than Solomon because she understood something greater than Solomon’s wisdom: life belongs to God – not us; we belong to God, each of us, and not to ourselves. That mother’s responsibility was to guard the dignity of that newborn life, even if it meant she lost sharing in that life herself. That baby ultimately did not belong to her but to God. Her job was to care for it.
Those are big words, and I am gratefully aware that I have never given birth, so you are welcome to hear me with a measure of skepticism. I have never conceived a child, carried a child, nor birthed a child. No, I admit I do not know what it is like to have that kind of bond to another life, and I am happy to agree that it is unlike any other human bond. BUT, in spite of my lack, I am even more happy to truly believe that everything, everything, everything in this world, including each and every baby, belongs to the God who created everything, everything, everything, including each and every baby. Nothing in this world is really mine – not even my own life. The sooner that we recognize the gift that God has given us, the gift that is everything and everyone, including our very self, the gift that we have received from the moment of our first heartbeat to its last, the better off we will all be. You are a gift; I am a gift; the stranger walking down the street is a gift; even that person sitting on death row is a gift. No, it is not easy. We cannot undo what God has done, however. Of course, you might try and see how well it works for you. Being a gift does not mean that all things are equally helpful. Being a gift does not mean that all things are equally nice. Being a gift does not mean all things are equally loved or loving. Being a gift means that God has given us this world and everything in it. Our job is to take care of what God has given.
This is where human arrogance and selfishness are quick to jump in. Pride, ego, and idolatry are all right at the door the moment we want to take charge. The moment when we make God’s will suit our will is a sad moment. This is sin. The moment we decide what God wants rather than simply listening is a misguided moment. The moment we push God aside for our own advancement and gain is a terrifying moment. We are not on this earth to be our own star. We are not here to be the center of the universe. We are not here to be worshipped but to give our hearts away.
That is what Abraham was really about on that terrible, terrible day in Genesis 22. God’s request and Abraham’s response in our first reading have nothing to do with child sacrifice. This story is not even about Abraham’s obedience. God has no need to play games with life. Child sacrifice is ALWAYS abhorrent to God. What God wanted from Abraham was the most basic, simple truth that Abraham understood that God was God and everything belongs to God. But the gift is even more because God is also love. Love invites trust or, in other words, faith. While everything is God’s, God loves us and cares for us, and we can trust God. We will never be abandoned nor forgotten. God’s promises count forever. Friends, we have been entrusted with this world and everything and everyone for our good and for the good of others. All of this from the largest star to the smallest particle invites us to take care of what God has given so that we might know God’s love together. This is God’s blessing for you and me. It is such a big blessing!
It is a good thing this is so simple and easy and straightforward, right?
By the time we get to Jesus’ day, the world was different in dramatic ways, even from the time of Solomon. The Romans had conquered that entire area of the world and ran it by their values. They controlled Israel, and it was up to the Jews to decide whether they shared those values. Roman coins had the face of their emperor on it: such is the vanity of tyrants. The emperors even declared themselves to be gods. It is hard to appreciate just how detestable it was to a Jewish heart to walk around with a coin in your pouch with a false god on it. Some of those people with pouches of Roman coins, however, tried to trap Jesus with this situation that I read from Matthew’s Gospel, but he turned the trap on them with his question. It was not hard to find someone holding that deeply offensive symbol. It was embarrassingly easy. They had no problem buying into Roman power and values as long as it profited them. Much of the world still runs this way today. People accept injustice, selfishness, even cruelty as long as it profits them. People accept idols just to keep things going. Who are we? That’s why Jesus never really answers their question. He does not say whether they should pay taxes to Caesar or not. He carefully instructs those listening to give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s. His answer is somewhat like Solomon’s wisdom in that it forces people to think about it and to decide what is important to them. It is not the answer that matters but what we DO WITH that answer that matters.
You see, everything is God’s. As children of God, we have received a gift of everything and everyone to care for on God’s behalf. This is all God’s gift, even those Roman occupiers long ago, to care for as God would want. When Jesus died on the cross, he asked for their forgiveness, too. He died for those who turned on him, for those who struck him, for those who betrayed him, and for those who killed him. They were all God’s children.
We have received a gift here today. This day itself is a gift, the life we share as a church is a gift, and the opportunities we have to serve are a gift. Those who share this worship space and time are a gift as are each of us. This community and town, our nation, and the world with all nations are also a gift. Today is a day to consider how we will best use the gift we know in our life together. Today, we need to consider how we will love God with what we have today, but we also need to consider over the next couple of weeks how we will support and care for God’s gift as a church. It is stewardship season. Commitment Sunday is next week. We have been given this church family among so many other gifts. This is an invitation to care for it with our time, energy, resources, and love.
What we have is precious because it belongs to God. We return what has been entrusted to us. We will render all of this life to someone. It is up to us whether we will hand it over to Caesar or to God. Either everything belongs to this world and the way the world thinks and works, or it belongs to God and how Jesus desires for us to live. The gift has been given. It is in our hands to love and to handle with care. Where it goes from here is our decision. To God be the glory. Amen.