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!

This text from Matthew can be upsetting to our sense of fairness. In the context of Matthew’s Gospel, it explains why the Gentiles are welcomed into God’s family without question. Though the Jews labored faithfully from the start, non-Jewish followers of Christ now too were welcomed into the people of God and received God’s gracious gift. The first hunger theme present in this passage relates to how we treat those who are different than ourselves. The many “isms” of our day—racism, sexism, classism, to name a few—exacerbate hunger and poverty: those who are in the position of power suffer less than those who are not.

The second hunger lesson relates to our sense of fairness. We have all heard the well-worn (and often enough baseless) justifications for apathy towards poverty—people are hungry or poor because they are lazy, don’t manage money well, or somehow deficient. Their hunger and poverty is their fault. Aside from the fact that claims such as these are woefully imprecise, this parable invites us to rethink notions of justice. God gives freely to all, as God wishes. Might the people of God have the same call when it comes to hunger? Even if the above-mentioned biases prove true, are we still called to share? Does this parable speak somehow to the widespread poverty and hunger we face in our day?

This interaction takes place in the middle of a chapter wherein Matthew recounts several of Jesus’ confrontations with the religious establishment. Jesus has just arrived in Jerusalem and assaulted the temple. The religious leaders want to know on what authority he challenges one of their foundational identity markers and center of worship. Jesus answers by referring to John the Baptist, who likewise challenged the religious leaders and their structures (see Matt 3:1-12). What does this have to do with hunger today?

First, Jesus is thoroughly assaulting the basic religious structures of the day. In the so-called “cleansing of the Temple,” Jesus in dramatic fashion accuses the sellers in the temple of turning God’s dwelling place into a den of thieves. Temple religion had become a money ploy (all in the interest of maintaining a certain piety—images could not be found in the Temple). Are there ways in which our religious practices today similarly exploit? What structures would Jesus challenge were he to explore the outer courts of our churches?

Second, Jesus (like his predecessor, John) is calling God’s people to action. Empowered by God’s grace, God commissions us to live out kingdom values. Confession of faith is important, acting upon that faith (perhaps) even more so. It is easy to affirm the baptismal covenant to seek justice and to proclaim the gospel in word and deed. Sometimes putting the covenant into action is another story. In what ways are we like the first son, saying we believe but failing to live fully into that belief?

As Lutherans we are committed to trusting in God’s grace and power. May we have the courage to accept God’s grace and to live our lives as boldly as we confess with our mouths.