The lessons for each Sunday in the church year proclaim God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Also derived from a Sunday’s texts are lessons for the Christ-inspired and Christ-like life of God’s people. The comments here will help you find hunger-related threads – sermon starters – among the themes of this day’s texts. (We're presuming you have already done your exegetical work on the texts.) God bless your proclamation (and teaching) of what is most certainly true!

Complementary Series
2 Samuel 11:26–12:10, 13-15
Nathan’s parable presents a challenge to us today. Though the theme this week throughout the lessons and the Gospel is God’s grace, Nathan’s parable carries an unmistakable tone of judgment. David’s deeds were truly wrong—he committed adultery with another man’s wife, tried to cover up the sin, and when he failed, killed the man. (I still am astonished every time that I read 1 Kings 15:5—“David did what was right in the sight of the LORD, and did not turn aside from anything that he commanded him all the days of his life, except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite.” The bar appears to be set pretty low!) The gist of Nathan’s parable is that a rich man took from a poor man, what then should happen to the greedy rich man? In our context, what privileges do we enjoy at the expense of others? How do we profit off of those who are poor and vulnerable? Does Nathan’s parable have something to say to us today?

In this passage, Paul reminds us that it is by faith alone that we are justified. Although the Christian life is not about fulfilling various “works of the Law,” Paul maintains that certain characteristics will be found in Spirit filled people (see Gal 5:22-23). What does it mean to say that “Christ lives in me” (2:20)? In what way can the story about the woman who washed Jesus’ feet in this week’s Gospel inform how we answer this question?

In this familiar passage Jesus welcomes a woman with a questionable background to the table (a “sinner,” as Simon describes her). This act of inclusive table fellowship was a revolutionary challenge to social systems and structures. Matt Rindge, professor of New Testament at Gonzaga University recently wrote an excellent piece that touches on this idea. Read it at http://www.elca.org/What-We-Believe/Social-Issues/Journal-of-Lutheran-Ethics/Issues/June-2010/Marks-Gospel-Social-Outcasts-and-Modern-Slavery.aspx.) How do we look at those who are poor? What ways do we see them as sinners? How welcoming are we to those different than us at the table—both the Eucharist and our own meal practices?

The second portion of the Gospel this week is likewise relevant to anti-hunger work. The women who travel with Jesus provide for his ministry out of their means. It is a bit of a surprise to see women, typically silent or passive in ancient texts (even in the Bible), so active in support of Jesus’ work. Even those who do not feel like anything to give—who feel powerless, perhaps even silenced—may be surprised at the good work they can do. Many of us in North America are in similar situations to these women—we have means to support the work of the church. Even if sometimes it does not feel like much, it is more than a $1.25 a day—what about 1 billion people must figure out how to survive on each day. How might we be like Mary, Joanna, and Susanna today?

In this radical passage, Paul undercuts many of the divisive labels that keep humans from living in healthy relationships. Classism, sexism, and racism (and the many other “-isms”) often conspire to keep people in poverty, both literal and figurative. The truth of the Gospel challenges anything that limits human flourishing. What –isms do we as a church need to address?

This powerful story recounts how Jesus restored a marginalized man to community. He was homeless, tormented, and isolated. His plight in some ways does not sound too different from the plight of modern homeless people. Jesus heals the man and brings him into fellowship—instructing him to return to his home.

The way in which Jesus performs the healing is full of political overtones as well. When Jesus addresses the man’s affliction he makes a political statement—the demons tormenting the man are named “Legion,” a Roman military unit; the demons are driven into swine, an unclean animal; the pigs then insanely commit suicide by running off a cliff. The anti-Roman sentiment is quite clear. In many ways, working for justice, whether it is for those who are homeless (a very easy connection to this week’s Gospel) or for anyone suffering indignity, can be a political statement (issues around immigration come to mind here). Indeed, politics will be necessary to address some of the deep seated problems in our society and our world.