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 act that lands Paul and Silas in prison is not preaching the Good News of Christ, but disrupting the economic life of some presumably influential people. The events in this story offer a powerful commentary on how the gospel intersects with our lives. One of the more vivid images is of Paul and Silas not just imprisoned, but in the innermost cell with their feet in stocks. Ironically, it is the jailer, the one who guards the prison and can enter and exit at will, who finds himself trapped in fear and comes to them for help. This scene illustrates how Christ has overcome whatever forms of bondage we may experience in the world and offers us a freedom the world cannot. This is particularly powerful for those who may find themselves trapped in an economic system in which they are exploited (like the slave girl), or for those who benefit from an economic system that is at odds with God’s kingdom (the owners, the crowd, the jailer). This freedom in Christ shakes the very foundations of our prisons, even those that we may not realize.

The inclusivity of those who are able to rejoice in the Lord should not be overlooked. The vision of the psalmist is that the glory and reign of God would be recognized in the coastlands (97:1), in towns and the city (97:8) and every place in between. In an age of economic disparity this psalm calls us to witness to God’s action on behalf of those who find themselves trapped in the hands of the wicked or find their life in faith threatened (97:10).

The book of Revelation ends with the vision of the reigning Christ that works in some liturgical language which testifies to this hope. Despite the reference to repayment in verse 12, the lectionary instead highlights the restoration that God promises. If repayment comes according to everyone’s work, the restoration is offered as gift (22:17). Are we seeking some type of restoration in our communities? Or how do we bear witness to the restoration that is found in God?

Twice in this passage Jesus prays “that they may be one.” He recognized that the disciples would face the possibility of division upon losing their shepherd, and the prayer for their unity is a reflection of the unity he has with the Father. Wouldn’t unity make action easier? If we could all get on the same page couldn’t we accomplish so much more for the poor, hungry, and hurting among us? But Jesus is not asking for foundational, cognitive unity as much as he is asking for a relational one. He prays that his disciples would be with him where he is. Perhaps Jesus calls us into a unity that draws us into relationship with Christ and one another rather than getting everyone to agree with us.