On my heart imprint Your image, Blessèd Jesus, King of grace, That life’s riches, cares, and pleasures Never may Your work erase; Let the clear inscription be: Jesus, crucified for me, Is my life, my hope’s foundation, And my glory and salvation!
Well, it is everyone’s favorite time of the year again: Tax Season! Okay, maybe this is not our favorite part of the year. However, when thinking of taxes, we are often reminded of the question posed to Jesus: “Is it lawful to pay taxes to Caesar?” Jesus asked for a denarius and said: “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” They replied, “Caesar’s.” Then He said: “Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s” (Mt. 22:15ff). Too often we assume He is just talking about paying taxes, but there is a lot more going on here.
Sure, pay your taxes. But, more importantly, render to God the things that have His image imprinted on them. Namely, render to God your body and soul, because He has marked you as His own and you belong to Him. “You are not your own, for you were bought with a price” (1 Cor. 6:19-20). Not with “silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ” (1 Peter 1:18-19). In holy baptism you were sealed with the sign of the holy cross upon your forehead and your heart to “mark you as one redeemed by Christ the crucified” (LSB 268). In those blessed waters God’s name was imprinted upon you as God declared: “I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the holy Spirit.”
In our hymn this month, Thomas Kingo, a Danish Lutheran pastor of the 17th century, brings to our lips a prayer that God would continue to imprint His image upon us. Most especially, we pray that Jesus’ crucifixion for us would be imprinted upon our heart. Our sins, our frailties, our own crimes are atoned for by Jesus’ sacrificial death in our place. This is the foundation of our lives! Instead of the riches, cares, and pleasures of life as seen in the Parable of the Sower (Mt 13) choking out our faith, we pray that Christ’s crucifixion would overshadow all these things and lead us into Christ’s eternal glory.
When Satan accuses us, condemning us for our sins, or leads us to despair of God’s mercy, or assaults us with various evils and temptations, we place our hope in Christ. The cross of Jesus and the Triune name has been imprinted upon us, and therefore we belong to Jesus, and He will guard us against all of Satan’s devious attacks. When we Christians make the sign of the cross, we are reminding ourselves that God has imprinted His image of our crucified Lord upon us, and we flee to Christ for our hope and salvation.
Let us do as this hymn commends and as Luther admonishes in the Large Catechism: “It is also useful that we form the habit of daily commending ourselves to God… Likewise, children should continue to cross themselves when anything monstrous or terrible is seen or heard. They can shout, “Lord God, protect us!” “Help, dear Lord Jesus!” and such. Also, if anyone meets with unexpected good fortune, however trivial, he says, “God be praised and thanked!” or “God has bestowed this on me!”
Indeed, may the image of Jesus crucified for me be ever imprinted upon our hearts!
In the name of Jesus,
Pastor Koopman