Proper 18
14th Sunday after Pentecost
Ordinary Time 23 Kingdomtide 5
Year C
September 5, 2004
FEED THE HUNGRY
INTRO
This morning we begin a new sermons series I am entitling
“Blessed Are the Merciful.”
1.
Matthew 5 7Blessed are the
merciful, for they will be shown mercy.
Luke 6 36Be merciful, just as your Father is
merciful.
2.
Definitions of Mercy:
Theological: The lovingkindness,
compassion, or forbearance shown to one who offends.
Dictionary:
- Compassionate
treatment, especially of those under one's power; clemency.
- A disposition to be
kind and forgiving: a heart full of mercy.
- Something for which to
be thankful; a blessing: It was a mercy that no one was hurt.
- Alleviation of
distress; relief: Taking in the refugees was an act of mercy.
3.
There are two kinds of mercy God has demonstrated to
us throughout history: corporal and spiritual.
4.
From the Latin “corpus” meaning body, we have bodily
or physical acts of mercy --feed the hungry, give drink to the
thirsty, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, shelter the
homeless, visit the sick, bury the dead..
5.
And we have spiritual acts of mercy—being merciful in
ways that impact the human soul—admonish the sinner, instruct the
ignorant, counsel the doubtful, comfort the sorrowful, bear wrongs
patiently, forgive all injuries, pray for others.
6.
The human person, created in the image of God is a
profound unity of body and soul so we cannot really talk about one
without the other.
7.
The first and foremost of the corporal works of mercy
exemplified by Jesus in the Bible is FEEDING THE HUNGRY.
·
Some stats:
·
People who starve to death each year: 11 million
·
Overweight
U.S.
adults: 34 million
·
Money Americans spent eating out, 1980: $52 billion;
1990: $236 billion.
U.S.
expenditures for overseas food aid, 1980: $1.4 billion; 1990: $1.6
billion.
·
Average calories consumed daily, North Americans:
3500; Africans: 2100
·
People who are continually hungry;
Ethiopia
: 20%,
Sudan
: 20%,
Mozambique
: 30-40%, American adults currently on diets: 19%
·
In
America
, God has given much, yet even here, the hungry are present among
us.
·
To feed the hungry is the simplest, most basic, and
most essential work of corporal mercy the Church has done always and
everywhere.
·
Every time we pray the Our Father, we pray for the
hungry when we say, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
·
The urgency of hunger in the world calls Christians to
pray sincerely not only for themselves, but in solidarity with our
human family we are willing to take responsibility.
·
The call of our prayers is also a call to our
activity. St. Patrick’s called to evangelize by showing mercy.
I.
HOW DO I BECOME MERCIFUL FOR THE HUNGRY?
Mark 6
35By this time it was late in the day, so his disciples
came to him. "This is a remote place," they said, "and it's already
very late. 36Send the people away so they can go to the
surrounding countryside and villages and buy themselves something to
eat."
John 6
5When Jesus looked up and saw a great crowd coming toward
him, he said to Philip, "Where shall we buy bread for these people
to eat?"
Romans 12
20On the contrary: "If your enemy is hungry, feed him;
if he is thirsty, give him something to drink. In doing this, you
will heap burning coals on his head."[1]
1. We Must
Develop The Same Attitude That was in Christ Jesus Toward the Hungry
·
From the days of the Garden of Eden when God gave man
and woman food, to the supernatural appearance of manna to God’s
people in the desert every day, to a prophet feeding a widow, and
then having food flown in by raven—God cares about the hungry.
·
In each Gospel and in Paul’s writings, we have the
accounts of Jesus feeding multitudes of the hungry.
Jesus raises the question of where will they get the bread to
feed the people.
·
We often wonder where we will get the bread to feed
our families, but think about having no means to go and buy
groceries. Jesus says, we need to buy the hungry
food to eat.
·
He never questions whether people deserve to live
because to not help someone eat is to let them starve.
·
To Jesus, when people are hungry we feed them.
Nothing else matters; no questions asked—we do what we can.
·
This even applies to those who are against us as we
heard in Romans 12.
2. We Must Look at Our Own
Personal Habits of Consumption
·
Through the centuries, the Christian posture toward
the hungry is this: Do what you can to help, when you can help.
·
No need for guilt trips on yourself or on those in
need. No asking whether people deserve it or
not. No accusing the hungry of being lazy, or
irresponsible for getting themselves into a bad situation where they
need help. WE JUST HELP.
In the saying of the desert fathers, Egyptian monk and
St. Serapion once sold his copy of the Gospels and gave the money to
those who were hungry. When asked why, he said:
“I have sold the book that told me to sell all that I have to give
to the poor.”
·
So today, God asks us to be willing to see the hungry,
limit our own consumption, and do what we can when we can to help.
II.
WHAT ARE WAYS CHRISTIANS SHOW MERCY TO THE HUNGRY
TODAY?
1. The first way we help to
alleviate hunger in the world is by feeding our own families.
·
Many times, when we talk about the corporal works of
mercy in the world, there is a tendency to distance these works from
the real world where we live where super saint Christians like
Mother Theresa win their trophies.
·
The problem of hunger is somewhere else—in
Africa , in
Asia ,
India
, etc.
·
In reality, those who feed the hungry are found in the
most ordinary places—like our own homes and churches.
·
Parents who work to earn the money to buy groceries,
pack lunches, and prepare meals are feeding the hungry just as much
as someone working in a food bank or soup kitchen.
·
Most Mom’s do not think of it, but they are feeding
the hungry when kids say, “I’m hungry.”
2. Food Producers, Regulators, and
Governments Can Feed the Hungry
·
The family farm struggling to stay in business is part
of feeding the hungry.
·
The Food and Drug Administration is part of providing
safety and quality in feeding the hungry. Thank God for those who
are looking out for the chemicals srpayed on food and what the long
term effect of that is in the food chain.
·
Economists and legislators who work to correct
economic abuses which cause unnecessary unemployment and poverty are
working to feed the hungry.
·
Clearly, there is always need to minister to the
immediate needs for relief of hunger in the traditional mercy
ministries we will mention in a moment.
·
However, There is a need for social and political
efforts by Christians to bring about social and economic change that
are just as much feeding the hungry as those who staff soup
kitchens, food banks, and hot meal programs.
3. Creative Ways
to Feed the Hungry
·
A National program called Plant a Row for the Hungry
is a public service campaign of the Garden Writers Ass. Of
America
with an idea to get backyard gardeners to plant a row for the poor
every year and donate it to local food banks.
·
Some Christian schools have pioneered farmer donation
programs and develop networks of distribution to send food all over
the world.
·
Church and communities put together community food
closets, soup kitchens, hot meal programs, and food banks.
·
I read about St. Benedicts Church in Milwaukee that
serves hot meals six nights a week with the help of a vast
interdenominational volunteer ministry force who have included the
poor, homeless, and street people in serving with people from the
community as once they go through the line and eat, they then help
serve others.
·
Some churches, like the mission where I served in
Sarasota
, reach out to the homeless with a breakfast before church and a bag
lunch for them to take out on the streets as they make their way out
the doors of the church to go back to the streets.
CONCLUSION
1.
The issue of hunger and the work of mercy to feed the
hungry brings us face to face with one of the most basic principles
of the Christian life--Love of God and love of neighbor.
2.
The most natural way for the Church to touch people
with love is to meet their needs in Jesus’ name.
3.
God is leading us to evangelize by mercy as our
mission in the world. This series is our call to mobilize after a
year of being broken and receiving God’s mercy.
4.
May we help all those whom God brings into our lives.
May we pray and ask God if there is some way we can feed the
hungry.
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