LISTSERV 16.0 - HUNGERSERMONSTARTERS Archives

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!

In this week’s lesson from Isaiah, the prophet offers a familiar critique. He (like others in the following the lead of the prophet Amos) argues that acts of piety and worship are meaningless. In the words of Isaiah, they are hated and a burden (v. 14). What God is seeking is a people who do good, seek justice, and rescue the oppressed (v. 17). One wonders whether the same would be said to us today in our assemblies. Does our worship lead us to live more just lives? Where do we need to continue to grow?

There are two key hunger themes in this week’s Gospel. The first is Zacchaeus’ commitment to give half of his possessions to those who are poor. It is after Zacchaeus makes the declaration that Jesus affirms that salvation indeed came to his house.

The second is the reminder of Jesus mission to welcome those who are marginalized. Zacchaeus is a rich (there is hope for us who live in the Global North!) tax collector who is clearly an outsider. When Jesus goes to his house, those who see it grumble because Zacchaeus is a “sinner” (v. 7). Jesus, as was his practice, welcomed those who were marginalized. All had a place at the table. How can we continue to grow in our hospitality as a community? Who is not welcome around our table?

This passage follows on the heels of Jesus’ long journey to Jerusalem. In 19:47 we are told that Jesus was teaching daily in the temple and chapters 20 and 21 describe the content of the teaching. Jesus has gone to the religious center and will be challenged by the religious leaders. Jesus, in the tradition of the prophets, challenges the conventional ideas of what it means to be God’s people and offers an alternative vision of the reign of God.

In this week’s Gospel, the Sadducees argue that the logic of the levirate law precludes the possibility of resurrection. As can happen with us in our own theological disagreements, The Sadducees are focusing on the idea rather than the people for whom the idea is intended to benefit. Whatever its flaws, Levirate law is about honoring the lives of brothers and serves the function of providing a social safety net for widowed women in patriarchal societies. How often do we engage in passionate discussions about ideas without thinking about how those ideas may impact people? How might thinking about the impact of our ideas on people change how we reach our conclusions?