You are the salt of the earth

Again, another messy manuscript.  But I've learned in my short time in the ministry that messy manuscripts don't always mean messy sermons.  My mentor once told me that when it comes to the proclamation of the Word through preaching, the preacher can only do 50% of the work...the other 50% is the work of the Holy Spirit, and to think otherwise is arrogance.  

Epiphany 5

February 9, 2014

Matthew 5:13-20

You are the salt of the earth, Jesus said. 

One of the things that I have noticed when visiting with folks who suffer from high blood pressure is that there is a common complaint about the difficulty in finding a seasoning combination that brings a similar flavor profile to food as salt.  Just ask judges in cooking competitions. In the competitions we can see on television, the number one complaint is a lack of salt in dishes.  Food without salt tends to be bland, no matter what else we add to it.  Even sweets taste better with a bit of a salty element to them.

You are the light of the world. Jesus said. 

I learned some very important information this fall.  What I learned is that a deficiency in Vitamin D levels is linked to the occurrence and worsening of depression. Although vitamin D has been added to milk products and naturally occurs in a small number of foods, such as mushrooms, it is the human body’s ability to produce vitamin D from sun exposure that provides a good chunk of the vitamin D that our bodies need.  This is why seasonal affect disorder, a depressive disorder, occurs in the winter in colder climates, when the amount of sunlight we are exposed to is at its lowest because of the cold and dreary days.  Getting out into the sun is good for our health and wellbeing.  Certainly after a winter like this, getting a little sunbathing in can only be good for our mental health after all of this time being cooped up indoors because of all the cold and the snow that we have had this summer.   

The Rev. Anne Howard, the executive director of the Beatitudes Society, tells us a bit about what Jesus’ first hearers would have experienced when they heard that they were salt and light. She writes:

“Jesus’ first listeners knew that salt was necessary for life, a notion reinforced by the many references in the Hebrew Scriptures to salt’s essential nature. Thus the prophet Elisha sprinkled salt into the spring at Jericho to purify the water (2 Kings 2:21.)  To eat salt with another person was a sign of loyalty, sort of a passing of the peace pipe, a breaking of bread, a sign of commonality (Numbers 18:19.)  Priests strew salt on sacrifices, and seasoned incense with salt. Parents rubbed salt all over their newborn baby’s body as protection against all kinds of ills (Ezekiel 16:4.)”

Salt is a basic element, it is something that sits on tables in fast food restaurants and fancy restaurants, on home kitchen counters and on soup kitchen counters.  If we are able to, salt is something that we use every day…it isn’t something reserve for special guests.  But in and of itself, it is not a useful element.  Before it is mined and refined, salt just sits in deposits doing nothing and affecting nothing positively or negatively.  But when it is used, it adds flavor, it preserves, it changes the soil, and affects how our bodies function. 

So if we are going to be salt of the earth, we can’t be content to just sit on the sidelines and let life pass us by.  We have to get mixed in to recipe that makes up life around us, adding flavor and seasoning.

And just like salt is necessary for life and is one of the basic things necessary for us to thrive, so is light. Light illumines the world and helps us so that we can see.  But more important than that, light gives life.  Light makes it possible for plants to grow and produce the food that they need to grow.  Light can be converted into usable energy.  Light is beneficial for our bodies.  And light brings hidden things into view, allowing us to see them in a different way. 

So if we are going to be the light of the world, we can’t be content to let the darkness in this world.  We must spread the light so that every corner of the earth can be illuminated. 

You are the salt of the earth, Jesus said.  You are the light of the world. 

It can be easy to look at this portion of the sermon of the mount as an urging to be salt and to be light.  But when we do that, it can easily become burdensome because so often the world tells us that we are not good enough, loveable enough, worthy enough to be the people that Jesus wants us to be. 

Instead, we should look at these words from Jesus as blessing.  He didn’t say “you will be salt if…” “before you become light you need to…”  There were no conditions put on being salt and light…we already are salt and light.  You ARE the salt of the earth.  You ARE the light of the world.  Salt does not lose is saltiness…and we know this. As it dissolves, it lends its saltiness to whatever it is dissolved in.  And if you hide a candle under a bushel…it’s either going to put the candle out or start a fire.  But maybe this is Jesus’ point.  You are salt, you are light…that is the way it is and that is the way it’s going to be, and nothing is going to change it. 

God love us and made us as part of his good creation.  When darkness was starting to show itself, he sent Jesus into the world to be the light of the world.  But the great thing about light is that when it is divided and shared, the original light isn’t diminished, and so as light is spread – it only gets brighter. 

We are the light of the world.  We gained Christ’s light in our baptism when we were joined to Christ in his death and resurrection.  It’s a light that can never be taken away from us, just as our saltiness can never be taken away.  It can only be spread. 

Let us go and be light, let us go and be salt. Let us add flavor and zest to the lives of others, let us change the world and, through our words and our deeds, continue to spread the light of Christ.

Jesus is the light of the world who came into the world to break the darkness

Jesus gives us his light so that we can bring light to the dark places of the world

We are the light, we bring the vitamin d that the world needs

Think of the times when your life has been seasoned

Think of the people who are the salt in your life

Think of when you have been salt to others