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Isaiah 58:1-9a
Matthew 5:13-20
February 5, 2017
Salt and Light To The World
25 years ago,it was my understanding that all salt came in a blue container decorated by a girl in a yellow dressunderneath an umbrella with the Slogan, “When it rains it pours.” Then I found out that some recipes call for Kosher salt. Soon I found recipes naming sea salt. A few years later my brother in law gifted us with a two inch thick slab of salt that was to be used as a cheese board for parties and a plank for cooking. Now I can go to the store and buy Himalayan pink, highly compressed Iranian blue, French gray and Hawaiian red or artesian salts. Heck you can even buy salts from theDead Sea in Israel. Each of us knows what salt can do for food and so when Jesus calls us the Salt of the Earth, we get it.
We are called the salt of the earth - we are named the light of the world and a city on the hill. These lofty commissions come from the lips of Christ and they are probably in some real ways unwelcome. Maybe we can’t take a compliment. Secondly if we are the salt of the earth and we are the light of the world; Uuugh then we are supposed to add zest and shine.
Today I am offering the fourth sermon in a series of six that Pastor Jon and I are preaching on the Six Great Ends of the Church. The Great Ends are a summary of our purpose as church and have been in our church constitution since 1910. The six great ends are the Proclamation of the Gospel for the Salvation of Humankind, the Shelter Nurture and Spiritual Fellowship of the Children of God, the Maintenance of Divine Worship, the Preservation of the Truth, the Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven to the World and the Promotion of Social Righteousness.
This morning we are focusing on the Exhibition of the Kingdom of Heaven. When people come to church or at least look in the windows they are supposed to get some sort of a peek at heaven. A Jesus confident of our discipleship abilities encourages us to reflect the joy of heaven in the way we live as church and the way we lives as disciples. The church, the resurrected body of Christ should live like a community that brings flavor. The church, God’s hands and feet on earth should be a beacon of light.
Salt is rather common and inexpensive today, except if you go for the gourmet blends. In earlier times in history,it was rarer and highly valued. The roman soldiers who occupied Israel for instance were paid, in part, with salt which is in Latin "Sala" - thus we get our English word salary. To be paid in salt today would require trucks to carry the deposit to the bank. In the tower of London you will find a salt tower in which presumably precious medieval era salt was stored to keep it safe. In the western part of our country, the pioneers often settled near salt licks. We cannot live without salt. Salt runs through our language, our history and our veins. Jesus was extending his followers high accolades when he pronounced them "the salt of the earth". We still hear these words today. Someone who is the salt of the earth is a person of integrity, caring and character; simply the best. Salt of the earth is something good, something to be valued, a compliment.
Why say salt of the earth? What about salt? Salt flavors. It makes its presence known. Just a pinch of salt can greatly improve the taste of food. Too much salt can be bad, but let’s face it, chicken soup needs salt. Pretzels are bland without salt. Vegetables are delicious with a little salt. Salt enhances. We are called to enhance.
A King once asked his three children how much they loved him. The older two replied that they loved him more than all the gold and silver in the world. The youngest child said, I love you better than salt." The king was not especially elated with her remark and dismissed it lightly as an indication of her immaturity. But the cook, overhearing the conversation and witnessing the grimace on father king’s face, had a great appreciation for the seemingly faint praise of the youngest child. The next morning the cook prepared the King's breakfast with zero salt. The breakfast was pitiful and suddenly the royal father was confronted with the deep meaning of his child's remark. "I love you so much that nothing is good without you."
Why call us the salt of the earth? Those of you who use styptic pencils on shaving nicks know that salt will make a sore spot sting. If Christians are the salt of the earth then perhaps Christian Ethics stings the conscience of society.
This notion of "salt of the earth" is no hermit theology. Salt gives itself, just as Jesus gave himself to others. Salt does not hide in obscurity and timidity but penetrates and changes its environment. The commission then let’s say, is to share our savior's savor in the way we live our lives. Faith is personal yes, but it is not private. Jesus did not call us the secrets of the earth but the salt and light. The world is blandly selfish and benignly numb without God. Good works of mission, mercy, and justice are to be shared this faith we claim knows how to escape and shine.
Why call us the salt of the earth? Salt also preserves. In addition to providing flavor, salt was used as a preservative in ancient days. Salt prevented the decay of meat and fish for people who had no refrigeration. This was a matter of real importance, perhaps central to survival. It could be that the salt of the earth, the church or the Christian also has a job of preservation. In a time of highly massaged and manipulated truth, it is good to remember that one of the other six great ends of the church is the Preservation of the truth. We Presbyterians believe that truth is in order to goodness - that God's truth must be spoken even if it is hard to hear and difficult to express.
I know you have heard about the protest at Berkley University in California. A peaceful protest against Breitbart Editor Milo Yiannopoulos was joined by about a 150 violent thugs who damaged property and endangered lives. Covered with face masks they attacked by night. They did not shine as beacons, they did not flavor the intellectual menu with anything worth sampling. They played right into the hands of a brilliant yet sinister immature showboat of hate. I spent some time this week watching video interviews of this Milo fellow, a middle school playground bully with a mega ton mega phone. His whole purpose is to infect dialogue and discourse with vitriol and ghost peppers so that voices of reason are discredited. I have heard it a hundred times this month. “They are all liars you can’t trust any of them.” The violent protestors fell for the ploy. There are plenty of media people, government leaders and academics out there offering insightful analysis on the state of the world. You simply need a discerning palate. We have learned from Ghandi and Rev. Dr. King. Peaceful protest shines pure light on injustice. Violence brings darkness.
Jesus humorous points about losing saltiness and hiding a light under a basket may be a serious remark about being washed out or dark with despair. Losing saltiness may be the church allowing the chaotic environment in which we live, to deflate our moral influence and dilute our work for mercy, justice and kindness. This dilution makes us powerless to permeate and change the world with Christian values.
Jesus did not call us the honey of the earth, but "the salt of the earth.' To sweeten the world is not our call. To be conveyors of God's justice and compassion is the work of salt. Notice, also that he did not say that we have the potential to become the salt of the earth, but that we already are. We already are preserving the world with our understanding of God's truth. We are already are stinging the world with the zest of God's radical equity. Jesus also said, "you are the light of the world. As impossible as it is for a city on a hilltop to be hid, for Christians, hiding their faith should be the same way. William Barclay, the well-known Scottish Presbyterian scholar argued that Christianity is something which is meant to be seen. He says, "There can be no such thing as secret discipleship, for either the secrecy destroys the discipleship, or the discipleship destroys the secrecy." Faith is not something that should only be visible in the church.
The common characteristics of salt and light - they penetrate. Salt permeates meat and preserves it. Light invades darkness and dispels it. The love of Christ infiltrates society and transforms it through us. Salt and light depict Christian conduct. Jesus gives us as disciples a distinctive capacity to elicit goodness on earth. We have been gifted to exhibit the kingdom of heaven. These strong metaphors call us to be confident in living and sharing our faith.
O Lord our God who brought light out of darkness, creation out of confusion and life out of death. You alone are God. You alone are the source of our strength and comfort. In the midst of all that calls for our attention, you alone call us by name. In the midst of everything and everyone that demands that we earn our worth and pull our weight and calculate our productivity, you offer to us grace and love unconditional. In the midst of a cynical and suspicious culture you trust us and name us the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
As we go forth to serve in your name, let our days reflect the light that breaks forth like the dawn. Use us to loosen the fetters of injustice upon those oppressed by poverty harassment or abuse. Use us to comfort the lonely and tend the sick. Let us take their yoke upon us that we may share in their burden and lighten their load. Free us from our love comfort so that we may take the risks and endure the rigors of service to a needy world. May we flavor the world with the zestful love of Christ and the servanthood to which he calls his disciples.
Loving God trusting in you love for all people we bring before you our petitions for healing comfort and fairness.
Scott Howe’s father, Rob Yeager’s Mother.