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!

My congregation has been purchasing Eco-Palms through Lutheran World Relief for the past several years. These palms are fairly traded so that growers and harvesters can earn a sustainable living. Eco palms are harvested in environmentally sustainable ways, too. In this way, we begin our celebration of Holy Week by contributing to the God’s promise of economic justice for the global poor.

“He said to them, I have eagerly desired to eat this Passover meal with you before I suffer; for I tell you, I will not eat it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God. Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he said, take this and divide it among yourselves; for I tell you from now on I will not drink of the fruit of the vine until the kingdom of God comes.” The passion according to St. Luke begins with the Passover meal. At the meal, Jesus establishes the new covenant. Eating and drinking become the primary actions of covenant-keepers. We remember the promise God makes through Jesus Christ to forgive sins, reconcile with all humanity, and grant eternal life. As partakers in the Lord’s Supper, we participate in his sufferings and in the sufferings of those around the world who experience indignity, injustice, and physical violence. Luke’s Jesus empowers the church to accompany people who face the inhumanities of hunger, thirst, disease, and physical violence. Beyond accompaniment, Luke’s Jesus promises liberation and redemption for all who are captive to the powers of sin and evil. Eating and drinking are the means through which Jesus’ liberating salvation enters our bodies, our hearts, and our minds. By dining with the savior in the bread and cup, we are saved.