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!

Due this text’s close verbal echoes of Isaiah 53:7, it came to be read through the lens of the Christ event. It is natural to interpret it this way, especially when read alongside this week’s Gospel lesson, wherein Jesus predicts for a second time his betrayal and death.

But there is something else going on here. This passage is the first of six personal laments in Jeremiah. In the text, Jeremiah looks to God as his friends and kinspeople turn on him and plot against him. In despair, Jeremiah pleads his case before God, knowing that God judges “righteously.” Today, many are in similar situations of despair—now more than 1 billion people in the world do not have enough to eat. They turn to God, looking to God’s saving activity. How will we, God’s people, respond?

James, as we have seen over the last few weeks, is frequently concerned how the Christian ought to live. He can sometimes push too hard, making it difficult for us to see God’s grace. Here I think it is helpful to remember Dietrich Boenhoeffer’s notion of a transformative grace. God gives grace to us that changes us, that empowers us to be the church. In this way, we can show our good life by “works done with gentleness and wisdom.” What good works might God be calling us to today? How are we to be the church?

In this passage, James warns against the perils of jealousy (zelos) and selfish ambition (eritheia). Here in the U.S., we have more than need to get by, yet how often do we want more than we have? How much of our time is spent trying to better our own lives, with little view to those who are poorest and most vulnerable? How can we more fully live into “the wisdom from above”? Where do we need more of God’s grace to help us live fully into our high calling?

This passage is the second of three passion predictions (the other two predictions are in 8:31-33 and 10:32-34) in the middle section of Mark’s Gospel (8:22-10:52). In this section, Jesus is at pains to explain to the disciples what it means to be a follower. He has much to say about power and money and wholeness. In today’s text, Jesus shows how his followers are to accept those who are weakest and most vulnerable. In so doing, they accept Jesus himself. In our day, who are those who are weakest and most vulnerable? How can we receive them?

If you are so inclined, you can bring in a discussion of child trafficking (for more stats and info on this issue, visit www.childtrafficking.org). What might receiving children who are victims of trafficking look like?

How often are we like the Israelites? Even though we might have everything we need to get by, we still want more. In the case of the Israelites, God had provided food in the form of manna, but they wanted meat and other delicacies. What good things has God provided for us that we take for granted? In what ways to we strive for more and more things, and what is the cost to our relationships both near and far? What is the cost to our planet?

If you take this angle, this text invites reflection on simple living. Two resources available to you and your congregation are the Simplicity Calendar (available at www.elca.org/hunger/simplicitycalendar) and the book Sustaining Simplicity by Anne Basye (available at http://www.elca.org/Our-Faith-In-Action/Responding-to-the-World/ELCA-World-Hunger/Resources/Simple-Living/Journal.aspx). You may want to reference these in your sermon, or perhaps even have them available for those in your congregation who are interested.

For ideas on how overconsumption contributes to global poverty and hunger, you may want to watch the 20 minute presentation, “The Story of Stuff” (warning: it’s a bit lefty, but still has much to commend to it). The piece is available at www.storyofstuff.com.

James 5:13-20
This is our last Sunday in James (and you may be breathing a sigh of relief!). This passage is both inspiring and disconcerting. The idea that God would cause a drought or famine on the prayer of a “righteous” person is troubling. The vision of a healing community in vv.13-16, however, is suggestive of what the church should be. How can we be God’s healing presence in the world?

This passage offers a stark contrast—one is either with or against Jesus (v. 40). As such, if a hand or a foot should make one stumble, it would be better to cut it off. If an eye causes one to sin, gauge it out. This is most likely hyperbole, but the severity of it all is clear enough.

The passage about causing the children to stumble is most likely a reference to sexual abuse—“hand” and “foot” are common euphemisms for the genitals and the reference to the eye could infer the “erotic gaze” (see, e.g., Matt 5:28-29). In this way, this text (like the previous week’s) opens the door to a discussion of human trafficking and the church’s response. Again, visit www.childtrafficking.org for more information on the prevalence and horror of this practice (and yes, it is a hunger issue!).

A second angle you could take would be to think about how our hands and feet and eyes perpetuate hunger. What are the things we do that exacerbate or contribute to global hunger and poverty? What can we do with our hands and feet to alleviate hunger? The hermeneutical fulcrum for this interpretation would be the Jewish tradition’s understanding of the eye as a reflection of one’s generosity. To have healthy eyes is to be a generous person (see, e.g., Matt 6:19-24, esp. vv. 22-23; Sir 14:8-10). Our hands and feet can do the work of God, and our eyes, through generosity, will not be a cause for stumbling.