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 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.

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.

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.

Among the traits of the capable wife in this passage we find wisdom, independence, intelligence, a strong work-ethic, and generosity to the poor. This holistic view aims to depict the fulfillment of a capable wife. Sadly, the fulfillment expressed in this passage remains elusive for many women and is inaccessible to the majority of women who face poverty and hunger. Since women and children suffer most from hunger and poverty and are most at risk, how might the vision of the capable wife influence our action in the world?

This chapter begins with the word of the Lord coming to the prophet Jeremiah and accusing Judah of breaking the covenant God made with them. Disaster is imminent. The tone shifts in verses 18-20 where the suffering of the innocent (in this case, Jeremiah) is juxtaposed against the message of destruction. The prophet identifies with the lamb led to the slaughter, and thus as one who has remained faithful to God and innocent of Judah’s transgression.

This imagery certainly is associated with Christ, though it has some limitations when it comes to the traditional Lutheran understanding of Christians being simultaneously saint and sinner. Yet, this text brings up the issue of innocence or at least faithfulness in the midst of a people living unfaithfully. Innocence has more of a judicial than theological connotation. But oftentimes when we have in mind “the least of these,” are they not in some way thought to be in a similar position? It would be worth exploring whether or not we make similar assumptions when it comes to our engagement in issues of hunger and poverty. The prophet’s reflection in verse 20 offers a potentially helpful question, “To whom or what have we committed our cause?”

James contrasts wisdom from below and wisdom from above not emphasizing a spiritual- physical division in particular, but in a way that draws a distinction between selfishness and generosity. James urges his audience to submit to God as a way of turning away from selfishness.

Through rhetorical questioning, James concludes that disputes and conflicts among the body of believers are from our own selfishness. His mention of the cravings “that are at war within you” provides for some potentially valuable reflection on behavior. In James’ argument, this selfishness gets in the way of submitting to God and living together faithfully. Similarly, what gets in the way of how we live in God’s mission in the world, and how can these obstacles be overcome?

After Jesus rebukes Peter (8:31) for protesting the way of the Messiah, no wonder the disciples were afraid to ask when Jesus reminds them again where this road will lead (9:31-32). Maybe their failure to understand contributed to their fear or maybe they knew things weren’t headed in the direction they were hoping. No matter what, Jesus was messing the order up and now he tells them the one who wants to be first needs to be last. In his commentary Mark for Everyone, N.T Wright observes the danger in understanding half the message—that if Jesus is the Messiah, those who follow him must be royalty as well. Jesus is not into half-messages.

It may seem strange that Jesus chooses the illustration of welcoming a child as the example of what it means to welcome him. We may wonder what is so difficult about welcoming a child, but in the pursuit of status, children in the ancient world were not thought to be the way to prestige. His disciples express this thinking and reveal their failure to get the message in the next chapter (10:13-16). By welcoming the child Jesus reinterprets what it means to receive him. Not through upward positioning, but by welcoming those of little regard.

The U.S. Census data released September 12, 2012 reported that of the 46.2 million Americans living in poverty in 2011, 16.1 million are children. It is likely that some of these children are part of our congregations, and they are definitely in our neighborhoods and communities. What would it look like to welcome them as Jesus welcomes them?