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!

This passage invites (even begs for!) reflection on hunger and poverty issues. This passage, which offers some of the most hopeful messages found in Amos, explains to wayward Israel why God has allowed the nation to fall—they have trampled the poor and pushed aside the needy at the gate. If Israel will seek good and establish justice at the gate, God will be gracious to the “remnant of Joseph.” God is serious about the plight of those who are poor and calls God’s people to do something about it.

On April 3, 1968, the day before he was assassinated, Martin Luther King Jr. found inspiration in this passage. In his sermon, “I’ve Been to the Mountain Top,” King encouraged his listeners to live out Amos’ vision. “We need all of you. And you know what's beautiful to me, is to see all of these ministers of the Gospel. It's a marvelous picture. Who is it that is supposed to articulate the longings and aspirations of the people more than the preacher? Somehow the preacher must be an Amos, and say, ‘Let justice roll down like waters and righteousness like a mighty stream.’ Somehow, the preacher must say with Jesus, ‘The spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to deal with the problems of the poor.’

King later continues, “It's all right to talk about ‘long white robes over yonder,’ in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It's all right to talk about ‘streets flowing with milk and honey,’ but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can't eat three square meals a day. It's all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God's preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do.” (For a transcript of the entire sermon, see http://www.afscme.org/about/1549.cfm.)

In this week’s passage from Mark Jesus makes a demanding call that is for many of us today uncomfortable. When a “rich young ruler” respectfully approaches Jesus he is given a rough reception. The man apparently is open to Jesus’ teaching, and is genuinely seeking Jesus’ insight. Jesus tells him that if he wishes to “inherit eternal life” he must sell all his possessions and give the money to those who are poor. The call is too demanding, and the rich man leaves “shocked” and “grieving.” Jesus goes on to explain that it will be easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle (and yes, he is referring to a sewing needle) than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God. The obvious hyperbole draws our attention to the fact that, for Jesus, it is very difficult for a rich person to inherit eternal life.

Several points are worth noting. First, the man is told to sell everything to help those who are poor. The voluntary poverty is not simply for poverty’s sake but for the good of others. Second, although some may argue that this command was situational, for this man only (because he was too attached to his possessions), given Jesus’ teaching following the episode, the more natural reading is that for anyone wealth can (indeed will?) be a major stumbling block. It is not just this man’s problem, it is everyone’s. Third, and related, as people who live in the United States, by the rest of the world’s standards we are wealthy. What would Jesus say to us today? Would he call us to rid ourselves of possessions for the good of those who are poor? What do we do with a text like this?

This passage has long been interpreted in the Christian tradition through a Christological lens—Jesus is the “suffering servant” whose wounds bring healing. In the original context of second Isaiah, however, the suffering servant is the prophet himself. In today’s Gospel, we see that Jesus calls his disciples to emulate his self-sacrificing way, to become the “slave of all.” In both of these instances, that of second Isaiah and Jesus’ teaching in Mark show how Isaiah 53 can be read as a call to us and a mandate on our discipleship. What might this look like in our current context?

In this week’s passage, Jesus continues teaching on the meaning of discipleship and the disciples continue to miss the message. Earlier in Mark 8:22-26, Jesus showed that even if the first attempt to restore sight was ineffective, he would continue to work at it. Even though the disciples simply don’t get it (witness James and John asking for seats of honor in Jesus’ “glory”), Jesus, as he has throughout this section of Mark’s Gospel, explains again the meaning of discipleship, which is defined by becoming a “slave to all.” What might this look like in the face of widespread hunger and poverty? How might we become “slaves” to those who are poor and vulnerable?