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!

This narrative does well in getting the point across that serving the Lord is a serious (if not dangerous) undertaking, not that it should guilt us into serving the needy and caring for the hungry (though it may have that effect). The narrative gets to a deeper message— serving God as lord changes us. As the story of the people of Israel illustrates, this is a God who frees from bondage, cares for the hungry in the wilderness, protects and leads people. As a people serving God, these actions become important ones for us too, marking us and orienting our mission in the world.

The language in this passage draws us to remember our work in advocacy as a people of faith. The authorities and rulers of this world we battle against may well be found in the fight for food justice and equal distribution. While a call for action in the political sphere may not appeal to some in our congregations, this epistle draws us focus on the importance of very communal activity.

At the end of a long speech from Jesus, it should not be surprising that it caused offense (or at least confusion). One of the striking lines from this passage comes from Peter who asks, “Lord, to whom can we go?” As a people of faith we witness to God’s prior action as the source for our strength and abilities. Peter’s question reminds us of the futility of orienting our mission in anything else. It is interesting to note that this question may well be asked by both those who are hungry and those who are working to end hunger.

Obedience to God is a reoccurring theme throughout the scriptures, but it is not merely a flat demand. The principle is based in the conviction that God is faithful to God’s people and wishes to provide for them. The lectionary passages this week draw us not only to this faithful God, but how we are shaped by God and led into mission in the world.

The question posed in the first verse of this short psalm guides the rest of the passage. The responses that follow are not concerned with internal beliefs as much they are with actions and the public life of the person who must walk blamelessly, do right, and speak truth. If our congregations are tuned into this question, then we turn our attention to the public life and witness of the church.

The verbs “look” and “hear” have prominence in the passage in James. Much has been said about the emphasis James places on action as something we can look at to find evidence of the faith. With the exhortation to be doers of the word, James does not have in mind a faith that is merely a show of works for others. The last verse of this passage illustrates a couple dimensions of an acted faith—as James identifies the care of orphans and widows as a neighborly or social dimension, and keeping oneself unstained by the world as a more personal (or communally introspective) reflection. The latter could almost be interpreted as guarding our motives, and proves vital lest active faith merely be consigned to works.

With the emphasis on both practice and reflective aspects of faith, these words speak to the various outreach endeavors in our congregations as well as to our work as we strive to care for the orphans and widows in distress and those live in fear of hunger. If our work is done without reflection, or our reflections do not lead to further action, then we are fall into the trap James is warning against—an incomplete faith.

In the Gospel text, intentions are under examination by Jesus. This of course caused discomfort among the religious leaders, and surely with those who followed Jesus to this point as well. Tradition is often not a good enough reason for actions taken in faith; a point Jesus makes sure the Pharisees hear.

As we continue to respond to hunger and poverty in our neighborhoods and in the world, let us have our traditional responses and our intentions checked by the words of Jesus. And may we draw ever closer to him as the one who is able to feed all with what we need to see God’s work done here on earth.