What do we owe the people in charge, especially the ones we did not vote for? That question ran underneath the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, October 18, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Joplin. It was the first truly cold morning of the fall, a week after our worship service in the park, and we were back inside the church at 8:00 and 10:30. In the Gospel, the Pharisees try to trap Jesus with a coin. Pastor Christopher Ramstad preached on the Old Testament reading instead, where God calls a foreign king by name.
From September through May we worship at 8:00 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings, with Sunday school and Bible classes for all ages at 9:15 between them. In the summer there is one service, at 9:00. We receive the Lord’s Supper on the first and third Sundays, and this was a third Sunday. The order was Divine Service, Setting Three. It is sung almost start to finish from the red Lutheran Service Book in the pew rack, and every word is also on the screens. The full schedule is here.
The readings: a king, a young church and a coin
We opened with God of Grace and God of Glory (LSB 850), a hymn that asks God for wisdom and courage in the hour we live in. The Introit, the psalm verses that open the service, came from Psalm 121, with its refrain, “The Lord is your keeper,” spoken before and after. Then came the readings. In Isaiah 45 the Lord speaks to Cyrus, king of Persia, and calls him his anointed. God promises to take him by the right hand, open the gates in front of him and break down doors of bronze. He does it so that people from the rising of the sun to its setting will know there is no other God.
Isaiah 45
God opens the gates for Cyrus, his anointed
1 Thessalonians 1
A church that turned from idols to the living God
Matthew 22
Render to Caesar, and to God
In 1 Thessalonians 1, Paul thanks God for a young church in Greece. Word of their faith had spread everywhere, because they had turned from idols to serve the living and true God. In Matthew 22, the Pharisees send their followers with a question built to trap Jesus: is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar or not? He asks to see the coin for the tax, and whose face is on it. We confessed the Nicene Creed and sang the Hymn of the Day, Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (LSB 940).
Isaiah 45 on the Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost
It is an odd reading, Pastor Ramstad admitted. Isaiah began preaching around 740 BC, in the year King Uzziah died, and he warned Jerusalem that exile in Babylon was coming. The people had broken their covenant with God and made gods with their own hands. “The ox knows its owner,” the book begins, “but Israel does not know.” Yet here God names a Persian king who would not be born for well over a century. Some scholars account for the name by dividing the book among several authors. Pastor’s answer was simpler. This is what the Lord says.
Cyrus was not who anyone expected. He was a Gentile, an outsider, and the word God uses for him, anointed, is the Hebrew word that gives us Messiah. God has always worked this way, Pastor said. Moses was a baby meant to die in the Nile, and he grew up to be a murderer, a runaway and a self-described stutterer before he led Israel out of Egypt. Saul, the tall and impressive king the people demanded, failed so badly that he set up the contrast with David, the shepherd king we heard about last week.
To God’s people, Cyrus would have looked like the enemy. Pastor reached for a scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where King Arthur introduces himself to a peasant and hears, “Well, I didn’t vote for you.” The rest of the reading is battle language. God grasps the king’s right hand, the sword hand. He loosens the belts of the kings who stand against him, so they are caught unready, and levels the high ground. Then God says why. Cyrus did not know the Lord, but the Lord knew him.
I am the LORD, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip you, though you do not know me, that people may know, from the rising of the sun and from the west, that there is none besides me; I am the LORD, and there is no other.
Isaiah 45:5–6 (ESV)
Cyrus led Pastor straight to the Fourth Commandment. Honor your father and your mother, and, as Luther explains it, every authority God places over us: honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them. Then he confessed what had been bothering him for weeks. It was the political ads. He wants to mute them and send his children out of the room, and some days he is embarrassed by what our leaders say and do. Does “I didn’t vote for you” let us off the hook? It does not. We despise our authorities in how we talk and in what we post, and politics can quietly become a god, the thing we fear, love and trust above everything else.
Our vote is ours, Pastor said, but it is also a responsibility from God, and he asked whether we vote for what we want or for what serves our neighbor. The church practices this every week in the Prayer of the Church. Whoever holds the office, we pray for the president, the governor and those who make our laws, and the week before we had prayed for Joplin’s mayor and chief of police. We ask God to give them justice and peace, care for the outcast and mercy for the oppressed. With the midterm elections close, Pastor admitted he has fallen short here. So have we, and there is forgiveness for that in Christ.
Cyrus did send the exiles home, with no reason of his own to do it, and he points ahead to a greater Anointed One. In Matthew 22 it is Holy Week, and the Pharisees try to corner Jesus the way you could corner anyone at Thanksgiving dinner, with religion and politics. Jesus asks for the coin and answers so well that they walk away marveling. He kept the Fourth Commandment perfectly. Then the Father led his Son by the hand to a Roman cross, ugly and also glorious. We will all pay our taxes this year, Pastor said. Christ has already paid for our sin, and he gives that forgiveness at his table. So honor your leaders, and pray for them. It is the only commandment with a promise attached: that it may go well with you.
The children’s message: whose picture is on you?
DCE Jason Glaskey was away for a family weekend, so Principal Mollie Ramstad of Martin Luther School gave the children’s message. She held up something “really, really valuable.” It was a quarter, which will buy you just about nothing. The children knew whose face was on it: George Washington, the first president. A coin tells everyone what country it belongs to, she said. Then she told them the Gospel. The Pharisees tried to trap Jesus with a coin, so he asked whose picture was on it, and it was Caesar’s.
So whose picture is on you? Genesis 1 says we are made in God’s image, and in Baptism God puts his name on us and makes us his children. You can’t see it, but it is there. Whenever they find a coin this week, she said, they can remember that God has claimed them as his own. At 10:30 one brave child came up alone and got to keep the quarter. Children are invited up front for this part of the service every week, and our children and families page has more.
At the Lord’s table
After the offering we stood to sing “Create in me a clean heart, O God,” and then prayed the Prayer of the Church. We prayed for the church and its witness, for parents teaching their children the faith, for wisdom for our leaders, and for everyone who is sick or grieving. Then came the Lord’s Supper, where Christ gives his true body and blood for the forgiveness of sins. During the distribution we sang Crown Him with Many Crowns (LSB 525), All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (LSB 549) and Take My Life and Let It Be (LSB 783). Afterward we sang the Nunc Dimittis, Simeon’s song from Luke 2, in which he asks God to let his servant depart in peace.
We went out on O Sing to the Lord (LSB 808), a quick, bright hymn that tells us to dance and blow the trumpets for God. Pastor thanked organist Betty Lingenfelter for playing what he called a fun, quirky one. It was a favorite of the students at the school in St. Charles where he once taught, he said, and they sang it in Spanish. He thinks we should sing it more often.
After the service
Several things coming up are open to anyone. Next Sunday, October 25, is Reformation Sunday, when we give thanks for the Reformation. It began in 1517, when Martin Luther posted his Ninety-five Theses. Everyone is asked to wear red. The Altar Guild bake sale fills the church hallway that same morning. On Saturday, October 31, Trunk or Treat takes over our parking lot from 5:00 to 7:00.
Candy buckets are out in the church and the school, and a sign-up sheet is waiting for anyone who wants to decorate a trunk. Trunks don’t have to bring their own candy. On Saturday morning, November 7, we host the LWML Fall Gathering for women from the Lutheran churches in our area. Martin Luther School is closed Wednesday through Friday, October 21–23. Our teachers and pastor will be at their conference.
Coming up at Immanuel
Everything else is on the church calendar.
Altar Guild Bake Sale · Sunday, October 25
Homemade treats in the church hallway, before and after both services.
Trunk or Treat · Saturday, October 31
From 5:00 to 7:00 in our parking lot, for children from all over Joplin. Candy donations are welcome.
LWML Fall Gathering · Saturday, November 7
Immanuel hosts the women of the LWML from Lutheran churches across our area.
Cyrus never knew the God who called him by name. The children heard the other half of that from Principal Ramstad. God knows each of them by name, and in Baptism he has put his own name on them.
Read it again this week
- Isaiah 45:1–7 — God calls Cyrus, a Persian king, his anointed.
- 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10 — a young church turns from idols to the living God.
- Matthew 22:15–22 — render to Caesar what is Caesar’s, and to God what is God’s.
Three questions from the sermon:
- God called Cyrus by name before Cyrus knew him. Where have you seen God work through someone you would not have expected?
- Pastor asked whether “I didn’t vote for you” excuses us from the Fourth Commandment. How do you speak and post about leaders you disagree with?
- Do you vote for what you want, or for what serves your neighbor? What would change if you asked that question first?
Luther’s Small Catechism is free to read online. For this Sunday, read his explanation of the Fourth Commandment in the Ten Commandments, and then his short list of what Scripture says about rulers and citizens in the Table of Duties.
In the service — Twenty-first Sunday after Pentecost, October 18, 2026
| Liturgy | Divine Service, Setting Three, with Holy Communion |
| Introit | Psalm 121, “The Lord is your keeper” |
| First Reading | Isaiah 45:1–7 (the sermon text) |
| Epistle | 1 Thessalonians 1:1–10 |
| Holy Gospel | Matthew 22:15–22 |
| Hymns | LSB 850 God of Grace and God of Glory · LSB 940 Holy God, We Praise Thy Name (Hymn of the Day) · LSB 525 Crown Him with Many Crowns · LSB 549 All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name · LSB 783 Take My Life and Let It Be · LSB 808 O Sing to the Lord |
| Creed | Nicene Creed |
| Preacher | Pastor Christopher Ramstad |
| Children’s message | Principal Mollie Ramstad, Martin Luther School |
| Organist | Betty Lingenfelter |
| Also in the service | Nunc Dimittis (the Song of Simeon) after Communion |
Questions people ask
What is Divine Service, Setting Three?
It is one of the orders for the Lord’s Supper in our hymnal, the red Lutheran Service Book. Its words and music come from the hymnal American Lutherans used for most of the last century, so many of our members learned it first. It is sung almost start to finish. Every word is printed and on the screens. What Is Lutheran Worship? explains how our services fit together.
What is the Fourth Commandment?
“Honor your father and your mother.” Luther taught that it covers every authority God gives us, from parents to teachers to the government. We are to honor them, serve and obey them, love and cherish them, and pray for them. It is the only commandment that comes with a promise. What We Believe says more.
Can visitors receive Communion?
We receive the Lord’s Supper on the first and third Sundays. We believe Christ gives his true body and blood in the bread and wine, for the forgiveness of sins. So we ask visitors to speak with Pastor Ramstad before the service. He is glad to talk.
Where do I park?
There are three lots. One is off 26th Street, north of the sanctuary. The main lot is off Connecticut Avenue. A smaller one sits near the Youth Center off 27th Street. Signs inside each door point the way, and greeters are there to help. See Where We Meet for a map.
What should I wear?
There is no right way to dress here. On a normal Sunday you will see high heels and wingtips sitting next to sneakers and sandals. Dress the way you would for something that matters. Casual is fine. Dressier is fine.
Should I bring my children into the service?
We hope you will. Children are not just allowed in worship here, they are encouraged in it. Wiggling and noise do not bother anyone. A nursery is available for families who need it, though it is only occasionally staffed. Changing tables are in the nursery and in the family restroom in the narthex (the lobby).
Thinking about visiting?
From September through May we worship at 8:00 and 10:30 on Sunday mornings, with the Christian Education Hour between them at 9:15. From June through August there is one service, at 9:00, with classes after it at 10:15. Holy Communion is on the first and third Sundays.
Park in any of the three lots and come in any door. Signs point the way, and someone will be there to help. Dress however you are comfortable. Bring your children with you.
More at Immanuel Lutheran
- What to Expect — a walk through a Sunday morning here
- Where We Meet — campus map, parking, the buildings
- Who Is Jesus? — the shortest answer we know how to give
- Women’s Ministry — the LWML, Altar Guild and Ladies Lunch, with the national LWML
- Youth Ministry — Wednesday nights for grades 5–12
- Contact us — questions, or a prayer request
About Immanuel Lutheran Church
Immanuel Lutheran Church is a congregation of The Lutheran Church—Missouri Synod at 2616 S Connecticut Ave, Joplin, MO 64804. We are the home of Martin Luther School, which serves children from age 3 through 8th grade. Jesus brings life. Meet Him here.
More about us: About Us · Staff and Leaders · past services and sermons, including the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, when Pastor preached on David and Psalm 23, and the Nineteenth Sunday after Pentecost, a tale of two vineyards.