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!

The dramatic return envisioned in this passage is predicated on an action only God could provide. God redeems the people of Jacob from hands that are too strong for them to overcome on their own (verse 11). But this doesn’t directly address the troubling aspect of God’s action found in the prophetic announcement that the one who scattered Israel is now gathering Israel back (verse 10). For those who identify with exile or try to seek meaning in suffering, the prospect of God restoring what God scattered in the first place may not foster a sense of trust. But there is a danger interpreting prophetic imagery as established doctrine, realized when existential questions take priority over relational dynamics. More importantly, the language used evokes the idea of a relational God, a God who delights in us but who is hurt by unfaithfulness. The return of Judah unfolds as a restoration of the relationship between God and God’s people.

Systems that create conditions of exile may seem convoluted. But seeking restored relationships is well within the capacity of our communities of faith, and allows us to anticipate the return and restoration that God promises.

In this introduction, God’s action in Christ is cosmic in scope. The inclusive way words like “inheritance” and “riches” are used here show a God who is not stingy with blessing. The audience does not have to be economically fortunate to benefit from this new destiny God has bestowed; undoubtedly good news for the marginalized and overlooked. The announcement that we are adopted as God’s children carries with it an implicit proposal that we reimagine what family looks like.

If the Ephesians reading seems cosmic, John’s introduction places Christ at the heart of creation. Even though the book of John is often considered a highly theological gospel, its theology does not come across as being detached or removed from experience. Even though Jesus is the light and life of all people (verse 4), he enters a world that does not know him and a people who do not accept him. John revisits the Jesus’ relationship with the Father often in the gospel, juxtaposing that very close relationship with the misunderstanding and confrontation he experiences among the people and authorities of his time.

In verse 16 we read, “From his fullness we have all received, grace upon grace.” How we receive this grace upon grace can surely be a way for communicating and sharing this gospel message.