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!

The feeding of the 5,000 (men) is one of the few miracles recorded in all four Gospels. This alone suggests the importance of the daily Christian life. The Jesus’ ministry is punctuated by meeting the concrete needs of those who were hungry. We are called to faithfully follow Christ's example.

In today's Gospel, we see several unique features (as often happens in John's Gospel, the evangelist has his own story to tell). Two of the features have bearing on how we understand the church's role in addressing hunger and poverty. First, the detail about the boy with two fish and five barley loaves is unique to John. His account is likely influenced by the OT reading assigned today wherein Elisha fed 100 men with 20 barley loaves (in spite of the protest from the servant). The point for us today is that the boy gave faithfully what he had (and it was not much!) and Jesus used it far beyond what was imaginable. The question for us is what do we have? How might God multiply it to feed those who are hungry?

Second, John ties this miraculous feeding to later Eucharistic practices, bringing in language of thanksgiving and later explaining that Jesus is the "bread of life" and that everyone must eat (literally "munch") his flesh and drink his blood. This is an important reminder that our Eucharistic practices are much more that ritual. The sacramental feeding at the table spurs us to real feeding in the world. How might our ritual practices obscure this? What changes do we need to make at the table (perhaps even just for this week) to reflect this larger call?

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!

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15
After the complaints that Moses had brought them out of Egypt only to die (14:11-12) and that they have nothing to drink (15:24), this complaint of no food (16:3) comes as no surprise. In the exodus narrative these complaints function as a reflection of the people’s faith in God. Ironically, the complaints are born in the midst of God’s redeeming work. It may seem convenient to conclude that such complaints (those in scripture and today’s iterations) signify a lack of (or at least immature) faith, but we should not forget that the narrative points to a more powerful reality— a responsive God. We may anticipate the question, “So why doesn’t God act in such a way today by providing for all who are hungry?”

Let’s admit that we cannot answer it directly. But the narrative does inform our faith and our Eucharistic celebration witnesses to the reality that God has responded and is responding to the needs of the hungry and calling us to respond as well. The verses following this passage (specifically 16-21) offer a cautionary message about collecting more than is needed and stand as an indictment on over-consumption. When taking in account present day food distribution, the reality is that God provides, but we still manage to corrupt the distribution.

Nathan’s story illustrates an abuse of power that draws David’s ire (irony strikes again). The pivotal line delivered in Nathan’s “You are the man!” reveals that abuses of power distort reality in such a way that the perpetrators do not fully realize their actions. We are expected to respond to Nathan’s story with anger similar to David’s, yet if the rich man’s actions were placed in the contemporary setting of food justice, we probably share David’s blame as well. It is well documented that there is enough food so that everyone can be fed, yet people still go hungry. So if I have more than enough to eat, then do I have someone else’s share?

True, the food distribution system is more complicated than Nathan’s story, but this passage can be helpful for how we talk about confession and repentance. The realization of our complicity in the unjust power system can be overwhelming, but it may also be the necessary step in our repentance. What will we do when we hear Nathan’s “You are…” line for us?

This psalm offers a poetic, theological reflection on the exodus account. For the psalmist the complaints are explicitly connected to the people’s lack of trust in God. Food, according to the psalmist does not inform a trust in God (or at least it didn’t in this case). The psalm illustrates that the people’s unwillingness to trust God is present before the feeding event (v.19-20) and implicitly, during it (v.30). And yet the reality conveyed in this passage, and the church’s witness, is that God feeds (independently of faith).

With lines like “opened the doors of heaven” and “led out the south wind” the psalmist does not spare details on how far God is willing to extend generosity. When it comes to responding to those who are hungry and in need among us, how might we better witness to God’s profligate grace?

The image of one body permeates through this passage, and is indeed central for the Christian church. Such imagery is important to keep in mind in the midst of theological differences, but is also a powerful reminder as we think about our actions and maintenance of “the bond of peace” in regards to economic differences. As much as we emphasize the “one body in Christ” we are confronted with the reality that it is a hungry body.

The different gifts which Paul reminds us we have been given are important for the work and ministry of the church. But these gifts should not recuse us from living into the vision of one body in Christ. That is, working for food justice should not be relegated to those who are on the justice team or volunteer at the food pantry. As we live into the reality of being one body in Christ we will inevitably be confronted by the injustices of the world. Paul’s challenge to “grow up in every way” in Christ (v.15) means caring for the rest of the body as well, especially the most vulnerable.

It would be easy to spiritualize the bread language in this passage. Jesus seems to demote the material (“do not work for the food that perishes”) in favor of the everlasting (“but for the food that endures for eternal life”). But his purpose in doing so is so that we don’t get so fixed on the sign (this comes right after the feeding of the multitude) that we forget who Jesus is and what he brings. The disciples’ request in verse 34 “give us this bread always” echoes the request of water from the woman at the well (4:15). In both cases Jesus does not turn down a “material” request, but he directs the conversation in such a way that we realize there is more at stake here.

This is a good reminder for us if we are ever tempted to think that canned food drives are all we need to do to justify caring for the hungry. Ignoring the structural causes of hunger is akin to settling for the “material” alleviation of a can of food. The words of Jesus remind us of a deeper reality, and part of our work is witnessing to the ways in which Jesus is the very real bread of life among us and for the world. As far as making connections to The Meal, in this context perhaps “Lord’s Supper” is a more appropriate connection to make than “Eucharist” or “Communion” given that Jesus is host and gives of himself.