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 Hebrew Scripture text this week begins a theme that pervades the readings of God’s glory breaking into the ordinary through human agency. Here the prophet Isaiah sees the Lord in a glorious vision in the temple. The famous phrase “Holy Holy Holy” describes God here. A preacher could introduce the meaning in Scripture of thrice repeated things indicating wholeness and totality. Another example is of the Apostle Paul as he speaks of his ‘thorn in the flesh,’ “Three times I appealed to the Lord about this…”

The intrusion of glory into the ordinary happens when this ineffable glory of the Lord, witnessed by Isaiah finds a human voice to carry the message. God relieves the prophet of his feelings of guilt and inadequacy, cleansing him through the “live coal” and the prophet offers his once unclean lips to prophecy.

The psalm for the day picks up some of the imagery introduced in the first reading. The temple is once again the focus of attention. Once again the glory of God is juxtaposed with ordinary human life in the phrase, “Though the Lord is high, he regards the lowly” (v. 6). There is a powerful image of God’s favor for the poor and humble here for the psalm continues, “but the haughty he perceives from far away.”

Though God is incorporeal, there are many idioms of body used for God: “mouth,” “hand,” and “right hand” are all mentioned here of God, reinforcing an image of God’s familiarity and closeness to us.

Some commentators describe verses 3 and 4 of this passage as drawing from a formal creed that predated Paul and probably modeled the later Apostles’ Creed. The message of the whole passage is carried in the words, “I handed on to you as of first importance what I in turn had received” (v. 3); that is, the gospel is shared through human words and actions, even though handed down from on high. Paul underlines that he is an unworthy human vessel, “unfit to be called an apostle.” Nevertheless God’s grace works in him to result in others’ hearing and believing.

The theme begun in the first reading is brought to fullness in the Gospel lesson. God’s word needs human beings, such as they are, to carry it forth. The passage describes the calling of the first disciples. They are called from among ordinary people and tasked with spreading God’s word. Peter’s words mirror Isaiah’s when he says, “Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man!” Interestingly, Jesus doesn’t cleanse Peter as the angel cleansed Isaiah with the hot coal. This means that God works through and calls people while still sinful. Real human beings, in all their frailty and failings are God’s instruments to bring help to the hungry and consolation to those in suffering.

Jesus commands Peter in the reading to “put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” A preacher could develop this idea by asking the congregation “Where is your deep water?” Is it a friend with whom you wish to share how the Good News has affected you? Is it a person in your family or neighborhood that others shun but who may need someone to listen to? Is it an injustice that you see but ignore because it seems too dangerous to confront? The preacher should remember as well that the craft of preaching itself is to push off into very deep water for Scripture reminds us that “the human heart and mind are deep.” (Ps. 64:6)

Most holy God, the earth is filled with your glory, and before you angels and saints stand in awe. Enlarge our vision to see your power at work in the world, and by your grace make us heralds of your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

The Hebrew Bible’s account of Moses’ face shining after glimpsing the presence of God foreshadows the Gospel description of Jesus’ transfiguration. It is interesting that the text describes Moses’ shining face. Elsewhere in the Bible, Isaiah, Ezekiel, Elijah, and possibly Elisha all witness the direct glory of God in some way, yet these accounts are not accompanied with a change in the appearance of these prophets. Nevertheless, this curious side effect is described for Moses. A preacher could use this observation to explore not only how Jesus is transfigured, but also how transfiguration can happen to us as well.

The psalm draws on imagery from the Exodus, which will be lifted up again in the Gospel reading. Moses and Aaron are mentioned, as is the “pillar of cloud.” Of delightful mention is the phrase, “Mighty King, lover of justice,” for it shows what kind of King God is, one who cares for those who are oppressed and disadvantaged.

An interesting facet of this reading is its undeveloped implication that Moses’ face’s shining somehow eventually diminished or wore off. “Moses, who put a veil over his face to keep the people of Israel from gazing at the end of the glory that was being set aside.” A preacher could explore a number of directions from this, such as the ebbs and flows of faith and ardor for God.

The Gospel passage describing Jesus’ transfiguration is well known, but the curious appearance of Moses and Elijah in the story provides a clue to another aspect of meaning for the event that a preacher could share. In the Hebrew Bible, Moses and Elijah principally share the fact that they each had an experience of God atop Mt. Horeb. In the transfiguration story, God once again inhabits the top of a mountain, but this time it is not Mt. Horeb, but it is a mountain in Galilee. Tradition identifies the mountain as Mt. Tabor, but what is important is that it is not Mt. Horeb. This means that God can be found in any place.

For this reason, Peter’s wish to memorialize the place with booths is missing the point. God is everywhere, in every mountain, in every valley, in every person. It is now not only hero prophets like Moses and Elijah who meet God, but ordinary people like Peter and James and John.

Holy God, mighty and immortal, you are beyond our knowing, yet we see your glory in the face of Jesus Christ. Transform us into the likeness of your Son, who renewed our humanity so that we may share in his divinity, Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.