February 9, 2020 – Matthew 5:13-20
Matthew 5:13-20
You are Salt!
5th Sunday after Epiphany – February 9, 2020
First Lutheran Church – Winnipeg, MB
I was told this week that when you make a nice curry, the amount of salt is crucial.
You can have everything else just right – the cumin, turmeric, paprika, ginger,
garam masala, and cayenne – you can have all of that perfect, and still ruin it with salt.
Too little salt, and the curry remains bland and lifeless, with no zest, depth, or complexity.
Too much salt, and it just becomes a sharp, bitter mess.
You need just the right amount.
Salt brings out the best in all the other seasonings and flavours. Salt brings things to life.
Salt has been very very important in world history.
Up until a hundred years ago or so, it was exceedingly valuable.
Salt was not easy to produce but it had many many uses.
It was invaluable in cooking, where it is the magic ingredient that brings out the best in others.
It was used for medicinal purposes: to disinfect wounds, stop bleeding, stimulate thirst,
and treat skin diseases.
It was so valuable that our word for “salary” is related to the word salt:
Roman soldiers were sometimes paid in salt!
Even our word for “salad” is related to the word for salt, because the Romans salted their
vegetables in order to make them more delicious, as we do with our “salads.”
And of course, up until the advent of electrical refrigeration, salt was essential for
preserving foods.
Salt: such an everyday item, so essential for life.
Indeed: we cannot live without salt: our bodies need salt.
Like with the curry: too little salt, and we die. Too much salt and we die.
We need salt, but not too little, and not too much.
Jesus is instructing the disciples in his Sermon on the Mount.
And he is still warming up: last week he named them blessed, blessed in order to be blessing.
Today, he continues naming them: he names them “salt,” the salt of the earth,
salt for the world.
The world, apparently needs the blessing they have in order to live, to be its best.
God’s work through the disciples is essential:
the blessing they are given is essential for the life of the world.
Remember, the disciples Jesus has gathered are not particularly important,
they are not particularly valuable in the eyes of the world.
So far, they are a small group of labourers: they are fishermen.
Yet, Jesus names them one of the most precious commodities in the ancient world:
you are salt, he says to them, the salt of the earth, salt for the whole world.
You are that essential ingredient that will bring out the best in people.
You yourselves are not called to do everything, to be everything:
but you are called to bring out the best in everything and in everyone,
so that the world can be the best it can be, so that the world can live.
The disciples will heal, so others can be the best they can be.
They will feed, so others can be the best they can be.
They will forgive, so others can be the best they can be.
They will be called to love enemies, to give generously, and to pray –
all so that others can become the best they can be.
And they will most certainly be called to not judge others:
judging is a way of bringing others down –
but not judging sets others free to be themselves and to live.
Do not judge. Rather, encourage others to become the best they can be.
Be salt: bring out the best in those around you.
Salt is meant to be used.
Salt that sits on a kitchen shelf is totally useless –
like salt that has lost its flavour, it has lost its power.
It is meant to be used, to be poured out, for the sake of the curry, for the sake of the earth,
for the sake of the neighbourhood at Sargent and Victor.
Jesus is naming us salt, just like he named us blessed last week.
There is nothing you can do about it: you are blessed, you are salt.
God has seen to it! You have been blessed. You can bring out the best in those around you.
You can encourage! It is what you are for as Jesus’ disciples!
You can deny that you are salt – but that is a betrayal of what Jesus names you.
You can put yourself on a shelf, you can hide your light under a bushel basket.
But that is to deny who you are, and who you have been fashioned to be.
You are useful and you are life-giving.
You have infinite worth and value – like salt.
So use the salt: use it for good:
Bring out the best in each here in our assembly:
encourage one another, thank one another, just be delighted to see one another.
Bring out the best in this neighbourhood: feed the hungry poor, listen to people’s stories,
be present.
Bring out the best in our children: model what it means to be of service,
model what it means to be generous, model what it means to be faithful,
be on the lookout for the particular gifts of every single child among us,
and encourage them in the use of that gift.
And finally: let the best be brought out of you.
The curry, we might say, allows itself to be flavoured and enhanced.
The curry is open to seasoning, so that it might be at its very best.
Be open to having the best brought out of you here.
Be open to being blessed, and encouraged, and renewed.
Become the salt you were meant to be.
In the film It’s a Wonderful Life, George Bailey – played by Jimmy Stewart – is given the gift of being able to see what the world would be like if he was not present in it.
He thinks he is useless – but when he sees how much worse off everyone around him would be
had he never been born, he realizes just how much of an impact one person can have.
He realizes, I think, that he is salt – and just how important that is.
Like how a person on a low sodium diet suddenly realizes just how important salt is
when it’s not there!
So if you’re ever tempted to think that what we do at First Lutheran is not crucially important,
take a moment to think about how much would be missing in your life and in
the life of this neighbourhood were we not here.
Think of how many refugees would not have been sponsored.
Think of how many newcomers would not have been helped.
Think of how many would go unfed and hungry.
Think of how many would not know that
they are making this day special by just being themselves.
Think of how much less community there would be in this neighbourhood.
Think of how many prayers would not be offered up.
Think of how much less hope, and encouragement – and love there would be.
Think of how much less life there would be.
You are salt.
You give life and zest to the world –
at your best, you bring out the best in one another, and you bring out the best in others.
You do not need to do everything, and you do not need to be everything.
All you need to do is be the thing that allows the very best in others to come out.
So together, let us be salt for the whole world, and together let us say, “Amen.”
Pastor Michael Kurtz
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