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!

Jesus is the bread of life. Is Jesus saying that hungry people don’t really need food? Surely not! This is the same Jesus who taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.” It’s the same Jesus who taught that the two greatest commandments are to love God and to love one another. From a world where hunger exists alongside plenty, Jesus promises to lead us into a different reality. On our way to that reality, we can end hunger. We can stop the spread of deadly diseases and senseless deaths from lack of health care or clean water. We can give every child the opportunity to go to school. We can care for creation and stop climate change. Jesus teaches us that God cares about the very real needs of people… people who are hungry, thirsty, sick, in prison. Jesus teaches us how to live. Jesus is the bread of life!

· Jesus’ “bread of life” teachings follow the feeding of the 5,000. In Jesus’ time, it was common for local authorities to try to buy the support of the population by supplying them with bread.

· God isn’t like the earthly kings and rulers. How often do you hear people refer to their wealth as a “blessing from God?” What does that imply about God’s relationship with people who are impoverished? All of creation is a gift from God, but is it right to claim that God has chosen some to be rich and some to be poor? In the scriptures, who does Jesus name as “blessed?”

· Jesus says that the bread of God gives life to the world. Jesus is the bread of God, the bread of life. Following Jesus is very different from following an earthly ruler. Following Jesus is countercultural, sometimes counterintuitive—depending on your perspective. But the bread that we receive as a follower of Jesus never runs out—it will strengthen us forever.

· “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” In 1 Kings 19:4-8, an angel urged Elijah to take care of himself, to nourish himself for his journey to meet God at Mount Horeb. Today, Jesus the bread of life gives us nourishment for our journey. We won’t survive without the bread of life. With the bread of life we will not die. Jesus shows us how to live—to love God and to love one another. Jesus gives us bread for the journey.

· Scholars and theologians disagree about whether Jesus is talking about Holy Communion in this passage, though most can agree Jesus is speaking metaphorically in this passage! The symbolism is intense. Choosing the way of Jesus is a matter of life and death. Flesh and blood. Body and soul. Core beliefs. Taking a stand. It’s not just about hymns and creeds and getting up early on Sundays. It’s about loving God with all your heart, your mind, your soul. Loving your neighbor as yourself. Seeing that your neighbor is just like you. Knowing your neighbor’s suffering as your own.

· At the communion table we eat bread that nourishes every fiber of our being. We drink deeply of the wine binds us to suffering even as it frees us from death. We find unity that strengthens us for the journey of discipleship more than any meal.