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 begins with the prophet’s lament about the lack of justice—destruction and violence, strife and contention abound in the midst of perverted judgment. Sounds a lot like today! We see violence and perversion of justice all around. And we wonder when (or even if) God will act. O God, how long shall we cry for help?

The answer offered in 2:4 is familiar to us. Paul quotes this text in his letters to the Romans and to the Galatians: “The just shall live by faith.” As Lutherans we often focus on the word faith, using it as an antidote to “works righteousness.” In the context of the prophet demanding God to act, however, the emphasis may actually be on the call to live. Though the world may be unjust and systems may perpetuate hunger and poverty and violence and oppression, God calls us nonetheless to live by faith. To live out what we know to be true—to be faithful to our baptismal commitment to renounce the powers that defy and rebel against God and to work for justice and peace. In an unjust world may we have the courage to live by our faith.

Yet another difficult Gospel text from Luke! The passage in some ways demands public interpretation because it can sound so offensive. The United States’ history of abusive slavery and continuing struggles with racial equality make this text particularly problematic. The text provides an opportunity to speak to that history and to commit to not repeating it. In this way it also opens a door to hard conversations about race. According to the most recent poverty statistics, about one in seven people in the United States lives in poverty (a frightening number, indeed). However, in Black and Latino communities, that number jumps to one in four. While we have made some strides in making our country more just, much work remains to be done. What might God be calling us to do today?

In this episode the prominent role of poor and disenfranchised people is a bit surprising. Naaman, who is a mighty military leader, is informed by a slave girl of a possibility for healing. The commander must travel with his mighty horses and chariots to the occupied lands of Israel (another sign of weakness). The demands of the prophet Elisha are off-putting, for the waters of the Jordan are dirtier than his homeland’s. It is only after he is urged by his servants that Naaman obliges and is healed. This text thus presents a unique opportunity to explore how we may stereotype those who are poor and vulnerable. Too often those who are poor are envisioned as weak or dependent. We fail to see their power and resolve and wisdom. We think we come with all the answers. We need to struggle against that type of attitude.

This text, like the Gospel, also shows God wishes that all people be whole. Naaman is not of Israel, yet God works through Elisha to bring healing. Who might God be calling us to minster to? Where does God want to bring healing but we have been resistant?

In today’s Gospel Jesus heals ten lepers. The mere fact of healing fits well with a theme of hunger – so often disease and hunger are intertwined. Those who are hungry are often more susceptible to disease and those who are sick often need more nutrients. As in the story from 2 Kings, God is about bringing healing. ELCA World Hunger’s health initiatives, such as the HIV and AIDS strategy and the Lutheran Malaria Initiative are excellent ways to be involved in God’s work of healing (this point was made well by Jennifer Barger in the September 26 Sermon Starter).

This passage also challenges our penchant for discrimination. The one who is despised returns and is made truly whole. It is curious to note, however, that the other nine, who did not return, were nonetheless healed as well. God is in the business of healing, even those who are different than us, and who may not even wish to join us on the way.