Matthew 5:13-16 (The Message)
“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? Without flavor you’ve lost your usefulness.
“Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father-God in heaven.”
Today’s reading, like last week’s Beatitudes, is one of the more commonly known parables in the New Testament – salt and light, flavor and clarity. We’ve got to be salty to keep things flavorful – OK, but what does that actually mean?
From the very earliest human times salt has been used as both a flavoring agent and a food preservative. It’s a popular (and addictive) flavor on its own but in small amounts it also enhances both sweet and spicy flavors. Besides being tasty it is necessary to keep the human body in chemical balance, something especially important in dry semi-desert areas, like Israel/Judah. Because Israel/Judah had its own salt source in the lake we today call the Dead Sea, it was also a major trading commodity with regions without their own sources. Salt was and is a big deal.
Jesus’s stories tend to use examples taken from the everyday lives of those he spoke with – vines, sheep, leaven ... and salt.
The other example from today’s reading is light – an everyday necessity just as salt is. We today love our lights, but even we are starting to complain about light pollution and the loss to our vision of many celestial events, weakened or sometimes lost entirely to our sight because of too much light reflecting up from our town and cities.
But our world is not the one Jesus and his followers lived in. It was dark in that world at nighttime with only smoky oil lamps to hold the darkness at bay.
One thing to add here before we go any further – this story comes immediately after the Beatitudes we discussed last week. Jesus is still talking to the same people – ones who are likely seen by the world as on the bottom of the pile, the ones with little to claim as their own – the ones Jesus has just informed that God loves and blesses them every moment, indeed, God loves them best.
So – we, like they, are called to be both salt and light – flavor and visibility. It’s interesting that these two commodities each only require a small amount to do their thing. A pinch of salt can change the flavor of an entire dish, changing it from something bland to something tasty and desirable. In a world of darkness, a single flame can be seen over vast distances.
What this suggests to us is that we are none of us expected to do tremendous deeds and turn the world upside down singlehandedly. We may think that our light is very faint against the world’s darkness, but there are many, many of us, and if each one contributes his or her own light, together we can light up the world. Together we can make light enough to show the world the earthly realm that Jesus came to proclaim – a realm, not of greed and selfishness, but one of caring and sharing. A realm illuminated by God’s love for all humankind.
Author Anne Lamott has a beautiful line about light that I have always loved: "The thing about light is that it really isn't yours; it's what you gather and shine back. And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself." We do not provide the light, we merely reflect the light that is God.
Jesus here is telling us who we are – not who we could become but who we were created to be – who we are. We are salt and we are light and every small bit we do adds to the brightness and the savor. One voice speaking truth can change the world because that one voice will soon find other voices speaking the same truth. One hand reaching out to care for a stranger will find other hands also reaching out.
We are a very small church and to the world it probably looks as if we have little to offer – and yet we support Christ’s realm here in this community in ways both large and small. We just need to be a little better at letting the world know it. We need to shine a little brighter – as individuals and as a church.
What is it you value about being a part of this church community? Can you name it? Have you ever said it out loud? Do your friends and family know you value being a part of what we do here?
What if one day all of us who trust in God’s love – not just us here but people everywhere – said so out loud – in words or actions or both? What a message to the world that could be.
We were reminded last week that we are blessed – even when we feel our weakest, our most lost, our most helpless – blessed – God says so. What if we each took our blessing every day and shared it with others in God’s world? With the poor and the exhausted, the frightened and the confused, the angry and the hopeless, the rich and the friendless?
How do we do that? I don’t know. We can only know when the need presents itself. The world is full of people who need other people. Children being bullied in their schools; the unemployed who have come to the end of their rope; those who have been disappointed one too many times and have given up; people lost in drugs and mental illness; people running from violence and just seeking a place of safety; those who feel abandoned by everyone – including God.
The needs of God’s children are endless. I’m somehow convinced that if we make ourselves willing and available, God will provide the opportunities – and then make sure we recognize them as such.
I just know there is so much need. There is too much darkness so I need to shine a little brighter. There is too much that is flavorless and blah in this world so I need to be a little saltier. What’s that going to look like? Darned if I know. I have a lovely little faith that I mostly keep to myself except for sharing with you here. I think it’s time I go public. I just know I am called to show up and report for duty.
Thanks be to God.
From the very earliest human times salt has been used as both a flavoring agent and a food preservative. It’s a popular (and addictive) flavor on its own but in small amounts it also enhances both sweet and spicy flavors. Besides being tasty it is necessary to keep the human body in chemical balance, something especially important in dry semi-desert areas, like Israel/Judah. Because Israel/Judah had its own salt source in the lake we today call the Dead Sea, it was also a major trading commodity with regions without their own sources. Salt was and is a big deal.
Jesus’s stories tend to use examples taken from the everyday lives of those he spoke with – vines, sheep, leaven ... and salt.
The other example from today’s reading is light – an everyday necessity just as salt is. We today love our lights, but even we are starting to complain about light pollution and the loss to our vision of many celestial events, weakened or sometimes lost entirely to our sight because of too much light reflecting up from our town and cities.
But our world is not the one Jesus and his followers lived in. It was dark in that world at nighttime with only smoky oil lamps to hold the darkness at bay.
One thing to add here before we go any further – this story comes immediately after the Beatitudes we discussed last week. Jesus is still talking to the same people – ones who are likely seen by the world as on the bottom of the pile, the ones with little to claim as their own – the ones Jesus has just informed that God loves and blesses them every moment, indeed, God loves them best.
So – we, like they, are called to be both salt and light – flavor and visibility. It’s interesting that these two commodities each only require a small amount to do their thing. A pinch of salt can change the flavor of an entire dish, changing it from something bland to something tasty and desirable. In a world of darkness, a single flame can be seen over vast distances.
What this suggests to us is that we are none of us expected to do tremendous deeds and turn the world upside down singlehandedly. We may think that our light is very faint against the world’s darkness, but there are many, many of us, and if each one contributes his or her own light, together we can light up the world. Together we can make light enough to show the world the earthly realm that Jesus came to proclaim – a realm, not of greed and selfishness, but one of caring and sharing. A realm illuminated by God’s love for all humankind.
Author Anne Lamott has a beautiful line about light that I have always loved: "The thing about light is that it really isn't yours; it's what you gather and shine back. And it gets more power from reflectiveness; if you sit still and take it in, it fills your cup, and then you can give it off yourself." We do not provide the light, we merely reflect the light that is God.
Jesus here is telling us who we are – not who we could become but who we were created to be – who we are. We are salt and we are light and every small bit we do adds to the brightness and the savor. One voice speaking truth can change the world because that one voice will soon find other voices speaking the same truth. One hand reaching out to care for a stranger will find other hands also reaching out.
We are a very small church and to the world it probably looks as if we have little to offer – and yet we support Christ’s realm here in this community in ways both large and small. We just need to be a little better at letting the world know it. We need to shine a little brighter – as individuals and as a church.
What is it you value about being a part of this church community? Can you name it? Have you ever said it out loud? Do your friends and family know you value being a part of what we do here?
What if one day all of us who trust in God’s love – not just us here but people everywhere – said so out loud – in words or actions or both? What a message to the world that could be.
We were reminded last week that we are blessed – even when we feel our weakest, our most lost, our most helpless – blessed – God says so. What if we each took our blessing every day and shared it with others in God’s world? With the poor and the exhausted, the frightened and the confused, the angry and the hopeless, the rich and the friendless?
How do we do that? I don’t know. We can only know when the need presents itself. The world is full of people who need other people. Children being bullied in their schools; the unemployed who have come to the end of their rope; those who have been disappointed one too many times and have given up; people lost in drugs and mental illness; people running from violence and just seeking a place of safety; those who feel abandoned by everyone – including God.
The needs of God’s children are endless. I’m somehow convinced that if we make ourselves willing and available, God will provide the opportunities – and then make sure we recognize them as such.
I just know there is so much need. There is too much darkness so I need to shine a little brighter. There is too much that is flavorless and blah in this world so I need to be a little saltier. What’s that going to look like? Darned if I know. I have a lovely little faith that I mostly keep to myself except for sharing with you here. I think it’s time I go public. I just know I am called to show up and report for duty.
Thanks be to God.
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