(This isn't exactly how the sermon was delivered. I began as normal and when I turned the page of my notes, I realized that my printer had failed to print the right-hand half of the third page. Things really got interesting then as I had to ad lib until I reached the conclusion.)
Matthew 5:13-20
13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt
has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for
anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 "You are the light
of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a
lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light
to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so
that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. 17
"Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have
come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and
earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the
law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of
these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in
the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called
great in the kingdom of heaven. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness
exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of
heaven.
"You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the
world.”
·
Aren’t
these lovely ideas? Wouldn’t they be things we’d all like to hear as
compliments?
·
Salt has so
many uses. It preserves; we are all aware of things like salt cod or corned
beef. It cleans and disinfects; salt in a wound is painful but it does clean a
wound. I’ve also been told that salt is best for cleaning wooden cutting
boards. It enhances flavour, even on simple things like popcorn or pretzels. It
melts snow. Too much of it is not good for us, but too little is just as
deadly. We cannot live without it.
·
Light is
similar. I know people who suffer a type of depression during the winter due to
the lack of light. We need light to allow our bodies to make Vitamin D. Light
can be a guide or a warning, like the light of a lighthouse on the shore. Walking
around without light can be dangerous, even in our own homes.
·
Here’s an
example. A number of years ago, my family and I with a number of others visited
a coal mine. At one point, the guide –a miner – turned off all the lights
except for the one on his helmet; then he turned off that light as well. I had
never experienced such total darkness before or since. It drove home the need
and value of light.
·
In his
Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls his disciples "…the salt of the earth” and “…the light of the world.” It
is we, his present disciples who remain the salt of the earth and the light of
the world. I think of Jesus as the light of the world, but those are the words
of John’s Gospel. In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus applies that term to his
disciples. In our day, that would be all of us.
·
What
follows each of those identifying phrases are warnings. You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how
can its saltiness be restored?... No
one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the
lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.
·
Jesus’
disciples are the salt of the earth for a reason. They are the light of the
world for a purpose. In the same
way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father in heaven.
·
Neither
salt nor light exist simply for themselves in our view. We use salt in so many
ways and we cannot live without it. We need light for direction and for safety.
We also can’t live without some sort of light. Calling Jesus’ disciples the
salt of the earth and the light of the world is not just adding titles or
giving compliments. It is a call to act a certain way. That is why there is a
warning found within the sermon.
·
We can’t be
the salt of the earth unless we act like salt acts in the ways we use it. We
can’t be the light of the world unless we actually serve as light for
the world. These are not simply titles given to disciples; they are practical
directions for them.
·
If we want
to find out what it means to be salt or light, we could take a look at the
reading from Isaiah that was our first reading today.
·
The prophet
voices both the complaint of the people and the response of the Lord. The
people say "Why do we fast,
but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?"
They feel that their religious practices are being ignored by God.
·
The prophet
then speaks the Word of the Lord to those people: Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this
the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of
the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to
share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own
kin? Isaiah carries the Word further in a message that echoes in
the Gospel reading for today: Then
your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up
quickly…
·
This sounds
like a lot and it sounds very much like the Law, but it is Gospel. It is the
way of discipleship. It is the way of the Holy Spirit. It does turn the ideas
of the world on their head, but we should be used to that by now, knowing that
the Gospel upends everything that the society around us holds to be important.
·
So Paul
wrote: So also no one comprehends
what is truly God's except the Spirit of God. Now we have received not the
spirit of the world, but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand
the gifts bestowed on us by God.
·
This, then,
is the Gospel in practice, and none of us need doubt that God’s grace is us can
see it through.
In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they
may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
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