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!

Many would probably consider verses 1-7, if they thought of them at all, as an introduction to verse 8; verse 8 of course one of the oft-quoted scripture verses about justice. But there is a bit of dialogue here that has traces of different literary genres: from the legal, “Rise, plead your case…” to a petition as though from a psalm “with what shall I come before the Lord…” The author uses these elements to call the people of Israel to account and to provide some context for the following command. Of the three commands in verse 8, “walk humbly” seems to best summarize the content of verses 1-7. The three probably aren’t meant to be mutually exclusive. Too often being humble has non-assertive connotations. But the humility suggested here comes as a response to God’s action, something that we are to be quite confident about. What sort of humility can we practice in justice work?

Paul puts the divisions of the Corinthian community in context with this reflection on foolishness and wisdom. The short of it is that if Christ is identified as the source of communal life, uniting Jew and Gentile, partisanship becomes a stumbling block for all in this new family. Seeing what God chooses in the world (the foolish, the weak, what is low and despised), should impact how we recognize status. Forsaking power is not just a theological lesson, but a practice for communal life as well.

If we needed the reminder, a lifetime of living with the fear of death is a type of slavery. To relegate the language used here to questions of existence runs the risk of minimizing current conditions that leave people with the fear of death. The author uses the family language, flesh and blood, brother and sister, to describe Christ’s relationship with us. Similarly, we are called to consider those trapped in the fear of death, whether from poverty, hunger, malaria or other disease, as brothers and sisters.

The blessings that Jesus articulates could almost pass for sound bites from a sermon. But this isn’t just information or a news release. There is a creative quality to these words as well. These blessings reveal the work of God in the world that continues even today among us. But how do we usually envision a blessed life? How does this list compare or contrast by those we typically consider “blessed”?

Using hypocrisy as an attention-grabber is an interesting strategy. It seems difficult to pull this off without sounding insulting or smug, but if everyone assumes the words are directed at someone else perhaps the message can function in a more subversive way. In bringing this word, the prophet does a bit of mirror-holding, which attacks any displays of righteousness and reveals hidden intentions. If the audience hadn’t developed distaste for the worship practices of the self-righteous, the prophet offers some instruction by means of invitation that is oriented toward looking out and caring for the poor and oppressed in the land. The rhetorical style by which this is done seems to communicate, “Of course you know this…” but does so in a way that if you don’t know you don’t feel condescended.

Along with the description of what a proper fast entails, the prophet spends some time focusing on how God is involved: bringing healing, protection, presence and nourishment. Tending to the needs of the hungry and afflicted brings light not only into their lives, but to the lives of those who heed these words. This reorientation of what fasting looks like is meant to draw attention to God’s constant provision and abundance. It is a trumpet sound that shifts our focus from our own interests so that we can be moved by God’s promise and opened to our neighbor.

This psalm is devoted to describing the character of the righteous. Among the relational and economic behaviors of the righteous we see that they conduct their affairs with justice (v.5) and give to the poor (v.9). It is notable that their righteousness and piety is not restricted to their own well-being, but leads them to respond to the neighbor.

Paul makes the case for how the wisdom of God subverts the wisdom of the world by contrasting the spiritual with the unspiritual. His intention isn’t to promote the heavenly realm at the expense of neglecting life here and now. Rather, he seeks to draw a distinction between the gospel of Christ and the prevailing philosophies of the time. What are the dominant philosophies of our day that compete with the self-giving love that we see in the Crucified Christ? What are the spiritual things (v.13) that the wisdom of God helps us to understand?

By addressing the crowd as salt and light, Jesus is calling them into mission. He is both the source and pioneer of the mission. That mission is a journey realized in our communities as well. The call is not one to take lightly, but it is perhaps less daunting when put in the context of Jesus’ final words in the gospel, “I am with you always.” What actions do we engage in that would be an example of how our light shines before others? And how do we consider “good works”? One way to look at it would be a fulfillment of what the law requires. Another way of thinking about good works is how God is showing up in the relationships that call us to recognize the blessing of others.