February 9, 2014 – Matthew 5:13-20
Matthew 5:13-20
Salt for the Whole Earth, Light for the Whole World
Fifth Sunday after Epiphany – February 9, 2014
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
Why do we like salt so much? What is it about salt?
When I think about salt, what I think is: salt intensifies the flavour of whatever you are eating.
It makes the chicken soup more chicken-y.
It makes the gravy more gravy-y.
It makes the toasted tomato sandwich more tomato-y.
Salt intensifies the flavour.
If it didn’t intensify the flavour of anything, you wouldn’t use it.
You’d have no need for it.
Salt intensifies the chicken soup’s true purpose.
Salt intensifies the gravy’s true purpose.
Salt intensifies the toasted tomato sandwich’s true purpose.
Just so, says Jesus, as he continues his Sermon on the Mountain.
Just you, you are the salt of the earth.
You as my disciples living life in God’s reign of mercy and justice,
you intensify the world’s true purpose of mercy-giving and manna-sharing.
You season the world with love. And grace. And truth.
By following me, you make the world more as God intends it to be.
You bring out the true flavour of the world,
the flavours that are always there,
the flavours God the great chef included at the beginning,
but that need bringing out.
The flavours of mercy and justice, the flavours of community and generosity,
the flavours of kindness and compassion, the flavours of forgiveness and hope.
You are salt. You add zest.
In his commentary on Matthew, Douglas Hare puts it this way:
You are red hot pepper for the whole earth!
You must add zest to the life of the whole world.
I think Jesus would like that translation: Jesus was a zesty person.
He added nothing if not zest to the people and things around him.
Jesus continues his long Sermon on the Mount here.
He’s gathered his disciples, the ones he’s training to do his work,
on a mountain side to instruct them in what it means to live as if
God’s kingdom or reign of manna-sharing or mercy-giving has come in him.
He’s going to instruct them in what it means to live when God’s will is done.
Last week, before they did any of this work or even before he started telling them about it,
he named them blessed, adored, precious, honourable, beloved.
And this week, before he really gets rolling, he’s going to name them again.
And he names them first by calling them “salt.”
Zesty. Hot peppers. Spicy.
He names them those who intensify the flavours with which God has created the world.
He names them those who make the world more the flavour that God intends it to be.
He names them those who make a difference in the flavour of the world.
He names them those who by the way they live make the world taste better.
He’s talking here about those who live lives that make a difference for others in the world.
He’s saying that what you do as a community is important, it really counts.
When people encounter us as a community, they should feel the possibility of a different world.
And when I say that, there should be an emphasis on the word “world.”
Jesus says you are salt for the whole earth
Jesus says you are light for the whole world.
And this is part of the really radical thing Jesus is saying.
You are salt and light, says Jesus, not just for your family.
Not just for those from whom you stand to gain something.
Not just for the good looking person at the water cooler.
Not just for your workplace.
Not even just for your neighbourhood, or just for your street,
or just for your city, or even just for your county.
You are salt and life for the whole earth, for the whole world: Jesus was not good at boundaries.
Jesus is saying there are no limits to those for whom you should be salt and light.
There are no limits to those for whom you should intensify God’s flavours of
love and grace and justice.
The whole world and every person in it needs your spicy zesty tastiness.
You don’t need to give them a whole new world: just shed a little light on God’s goodness.
You don’t to create a whole new stew: just season it with a little of God’s grace.
Like both salt and light: a little of both make a big difference.
A little salt makes a bland stew into a real gift of God.
A little night-light turns a scary dark room into a place of comfort and rest.
You don’t need to send anyone off packing to a whole different place.
You don’t need to create a whole new neighbourhood at 580 Victor Street.
You just need to be salt and light right here and right now.
You just need to season the relationships you are in right now with salt and light.
Just be what you are: salt and light. For the whole world.
One of the reasons why our partnership with Canadian Lutheran World Relief is
so significant is because by partnering with them we can indeed add zest and
bring light to the whole world.
We must always remember that we are not just called to be salt and light for ourselves,
or even just for this street and this neighbourhood but for the whole world.
It’s part of taking Jesus seriously and really believing that when we live in him we
are participating in the transformation of the whole world.
Typhoon Haiyan devastated the Philippines on November 8th of last year.
In response, CLWR has seasoned the lives of thousands of Philippine people.
Through you, CLWR is helping employ residents of three cities in
short-term work assignments cleaning up debris from city streets,
thereby getting cash into hands that need it.
Through you, CLWR is providing essential household supplies like cooking utensils and
plates to families who lost their belongings.
Through you, CLWR is providing shelter kits to 3000 families that
allow them to start rebuilding their homes.
You are salt for the whole earth that brings out the flavours of God’s love and grace,
that flavour the world with God’s intentions for every single person to
have access to shelter and employment and safe surroundings.
You are light for the whole world.
You are salt, says Jesus. You just are.
I gave you my saltiness in your baptism – and here I am reminded that
among some Christians a little salt is placed on the tongue of the newly baptized.
You are salt: you can choose to jump into that messy looking stew and season it. Or not.
But salt that doesn’t do the work of seasoning is useless, Jesus says.
You are light, says Jesus. You just are. You shine with a sweet light.
I gave you my light in your baptism.
You can choose to shed light on God’s love and grace that is active and working in this world –
or not.
You can put a bushel basket over it if you want.
Nothing can extinguish your light.
Nothing can put it out – no matter how you feel.
You may feel as if you have no light to shine.
You may feel as if illness, and grief, and loneliness, and hopelessness, and
sinfulness, and worry, and struggle have extinguished it.
But it’s still shining under those constricting bushel baskets.
Sometimes we put bushel baskets over top of our own lights,
the baskets of being concerned with things other than God’s loving mission to
love bless and heal this world and every person in it.
But the light is still shining under those constricting bushel baskets too.
Jesus is inviting you – as individuals and as a congregation – to trust him enough to
help you off with those bushel baskets.
Each of us probably knows what our bushel baskets are that prevent our light from shining.
Say a prayer that it might be lifted from you. Right now.
Each of us probably knows what is preventing us from jumping into
the mess of the stew with our little bit of salt.
Say a prayer that that hesitation might be lifted from you. Right now.
Be salty, be zesty, you hot peppers of God. Season the world with grace – you have it in you.
Be light in dark places – you have it in you.
For you have been given salt and light and you have been named salt and light as a free gift from
the zesty, light-filled one himself.
Season the world with love. Light it with grace. And intensify what God intends for the world.
And together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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