SCROLL DOWN FOR SEPTEMBER 9 AND SEPTEMBER 16, 2012
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!
September 9, 2012 Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 22:1-2,8-9,22-23
Oftentimes it is precisely the differences between the rich and poor that receive attention, and any attempt to draw out a commonality seems to ignore the disparity. But when identifying the LORD as “the maker of them all,” (v. 2) the author makes the connection between obedience to God and economic life (not to say that these aspects of life would have been different for the original audience; the distinction may be more apparent in a contemporary context). The other lectionary verses in this proverb are paired with warning against injustice and descriptions of what justice looks like.
Notice in verse 9 the generous are not identified as such because they give bread to the poor, but they give of their bread (first person singular in Hebrew) to the poor. There is some responsibility that comes with ownership. And ownership becomes a big deal if it is first recognized that God is the maker of them all, because that means all belongs to God.
And then we hear that God pleads the cause of the poor and it takes us beyond the imagery of just putting together a community meal or serving food for the homeless and hungry; not to relegate these, but only to point out the distinction between verse 9 and 23. There is a retributive element in verse 23 as well, that probably gets ignored in a lot of sermons because it is not usually pleasant to think of justice having an aspect of retribution, especially when we talk about our loving God. Perhaps the severity of the language reflects the seriousness of God’s preference for pleading the case of the poor rather than God’s desire to dole out punishment.
James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17
Despite writing commentaries on most of the books of the Bible, Luther neglected to write a commentary on the book of James. He made passing remarks where he agreed with the epistle, and was even more vocal in when he felt James had erred. Verses 14-17 may very well have made Luther cringe. Luther could not endorse the connection between faith and works that he thought James was making. This conclusion does not imply that personal action and faith are left to inhabit their own spheres (a common interpretation); just that they not be mingled when it comes to salvation.
James warns against a faith which is expressed only in prayer, and Luther warned against a faith that was primarily expressed in works. They may have been arguing past each other at this point. But the contemporary challenge is addressing James, particularly his insistence on a faith with works as it pertains to responding to the poor and hungry, and interpreting any distinctions between traditional and contemporary Lutheran theology.
Mark 7:24-37
This exchange between Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman has yielded far more than just theological crumbs for commentators. This unnamed woman comes to Jesus in need, and with some witty word play and persistence talks Jesus into responding to her with mercy. For once it looked as though he may not have done so, and we can only speculate as to why he responded the way he did.
Similarly, the hungry and poor of the world confront the church. As people of faith we bear witness to a God who gives out of abundance. This good news should be proclaimed in word and deed to those who receive only crumbs from the table of this world.
Henry Martinez
SCROLL DOWN FOR SEPTEMBER 16, 2012
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!
September 16, 2012 Sixteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Proverbs 1:20-33
The personification of wisdom has a definite literary function, given the contrast in the next chapter, but the imagery has a theological function as well. The language of wisdom’s invitation (vv. 23-24) communicates an entrance into a life of wisdom where we no longer follow the simple (foolish) ways. As we hear these words, we have the reminder that God calls us to a life of faith. This is a call to action within the world, leading us to respond as a people led by God and not just victims of waywardness and complacency.
In the last verse of this passage the author states that those who listen to the wisdom of God “will be secure and will live at ease,” but that should not be confused with the “complacency of fools” in the verse just before it. In this case, living at ease is living in the security that God provides for God’s people (cf. Jer. 30:10). But given Wisdom’s invitation, attaining it is not just something that we fall into, but means a way of being guided in life. In today’s gospel reading when Jesus makes it clear where this way of wisdom leads “security” doesn’t seem like an adequate word.
Psalm 19
James 3:1-12
Since James has been clear that actions (works) matter, his assertion that words matter is taken in the context that there needs to be some agreement between action and words. But the illustrations point to the power of words and then we have the reminder: “From the same mouth come blessing and cursing.” The passage calls us to sincerity and consistency.
How appropriate that this passage should be followed by one reminding us of how those who claim wisdom from above should act in the world. This gives us good reason to look critically at how we articulate the gospel, God’s mission in the world, and our involvement in it. We learn in the gospel reading that those who spent the most time with Jesus on this earth have misconceptions about what God is doing in the world, so we should not be so quick to assume that we are getting it right in our living witness.
Mark 8:27-38
The setting is not accidental. Caesarea Philippi was an important Roman city, with both a cultic and administrative history. In this place the identity of Jesus could slip into insignificance but he asks anyway and Peter, put on the spot, gets it right (well, part of it). What Peter did not expect was that the same word, Messiah, would lead to an entirely different action than what he had in mind.
Jesus revisits what it means to follow him. With actions like losing life, denying self, and taking up the cross, the way that God’s wisdom is being lived out in the world does not seem anything like a life of security or ease. But this is work that God is doing, and we are reminded that following Jesus means being led into a life of selflessness and care for the neighbor, especially the poor and disadvantaged, those who would be deemed insignificant in the world. This is where wisdom leads.