Epiphany V - A

February 9, 2020

Be Who You Are!

Saint Matthew 5:13-20

“You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.”  Saint Matthew 5:13a, 14a

Salt has been in health news lately.  Those of us over 51 are to take in less salt.  The food industry is being chastised for over use of salt.  For centuries salt has been known as a preservative and essential for life.  We are being told to moderate our use of this essential element and not eliminate it.

Light – “Seasonal Affective Disorder” [SAD] refers to episodes of depression that occur every year during the fall or winter.  Symptoms improve during the spring and summer.  Light is not only essential to life but even our emotional state is affected by light.

This morning Jesus tells us:  “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world.”  Notice he does not say become salt or strive to be light but he tells us that we are salt and we are light.

I am going to ask you to think a little bit differently about Jesus this morning.  We have to get beyond a piety that only hears these expressions of Jesus as a very somber and serious teacher.  Jesus uses humor.  Christ uses exaggeration and sarcasm and images in his teachings.  Here Jesus is speaking in images and metaphors and is actually being rather sarcastic:

“Hey, folks – if you are salt then be salt – don’t be a tasteless bland spice in the world.  You are light – how silly it would be to put a light under a basket – that is nonsense.  No, if you are light than be like a city on a hill – light up the world!”

The images of salt and light are dripping with meaning.  When Jesus used the image of ‘salt’ in the first century the people listening knew the multiple uses for salt in their day:

·         To strengthen flavor and preserve food

·         Rub on newborn infants to protect them

·         Used to seal covenants

·         Sprinkled on sacrifices

·         Used to heal and purify

·         Was a metaphor for ‘wisdom.’

In our day we’ve come to know that salt is an essential ingredient for life.  It preserves as well as gives flavor and zest to life.  It melts snow, keeps our bodies balanced, our oceans clean and alive.  Too much salt can be harmful and can make a fertile field barren.  Salt has both life giving properties and properties that can destroy life, too!

The prophets were sometimes called salty prophets – people who were outspoken for justice and peace

So Christ is saying – “You don’t have to become salt – but be what I’ve made you – the salt of the earth.”

Light, too is life giving!  Without light we die. But too much light can also bring cancer and unprotected eyes dare not stare into the sun.  Light has the property of giving life and destroying life.  During the Season of Epiphany we talk about light and the darkness being overcome.  But God has also balanced our lives and given us the darkness for rest.

Light is a symbol of hope.  Several weeks ago Matthew (4:6) quoted Isaiah:  “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light” (Isaiah 9:2a).  Those who feel lost, or in despair, or confused, those who have no idea which way to turn – on them light has dawned.  The ministry of Christ brought hope.  His teachings brought wisdom.  His miracles brought healing. 

The words of Christ also brought judgment – his light exposed hypocrisy and injustice.  Christ rubbed salt in the wounds of those who brought oppression.  The light of Christ exposed the lies and the powers that cause people pain.  Christ taught and lived a radical love that both preserves and perseveres. 

God has named us and claimed us and told us that we are ‘salt’ and ‘light.’ As a community of faith are we still salty or have we lost our saltiness?  Have we let apathy set in, despair, and fear?

Are we at Gloria Dei claiming who we are – light to the world?  Or have we dismissed God’s claim upon us and put our light under a bushel?

You are beloved of God.  You are named and claimed by God.  That is a gift.  That is a given in our lives as God’s people.  We don’t have to spend time earning our salvation or fretting over whether we are saved or not.  God loves you!  God loves me!    Until we receive that love which comes by sheer grace we will spend the rest of our lives in futile efforts of trying to please God!

We will be enslaved to all sorts of things that we think will make us pleasing to God.  That game is over.  God does not play those kinds of games.  You are free – set free in Christ – set free to be salt and light – to be what God made you to be!!!

Are we salty Christians – spicing things up and stirring up our world or have we turned bland and indifferent?

Are we shedding light or just giving off heat? 

The church is way too shy, way too bashful.  God has made us to be much spicier.  God has made us to be light in a dark and gloomy world.  

We are salt! We are light!  How does that play out in our everyday lives?

Audacity in prayer is certainly what it means to be salt and light.  Maybe we are just too shy in our prayer life and don’t ask God for what we need!

One of our parishioners gave me this story from a pamphlet put out by the Brethren Revival Fellowship of the Church of the Brethren.  A story that speaks of audacity in our prayer life:

Shortly after the Dallas Theological Seminary began in 1924, they found themselves in financial straits.  Facing bankruptcy, the creditors threatened to close the school.  On the morning of the foreclosure, Dr. Lewis Sperry Chafer, President of the seminary, assembled the founder in his office and there fervently asked God to deliver the school from its financial distress.

One of the men in attendance that morning was Dr. Harry Ironside.  He had a reputation for salty and direct prayers.  He did not mince words with God.  So Dr. Ironside prayed:

“Lord, we know you own the cattle on a thousand hills.  Please sell some of them and send us the money.  Amen.”

In a short time a man entered the business office.

“I just sold two carloads of cattle and have spent the whole morning trying to make a business deal go through,” he said.  It is just not working out, and I feel the Lord is compelling me to give this money I was going to spend on the business deal to the seminary instead.  I don’t know if you need it or not, but here is the check.”

The man left as abruptly as he had come.

The secretary took the check to the board room and knocked gently on the door for she knew that the board members were praying for the future of the seminary.  When Dr. Chafer opened the door she told him, “I think you should see this, sir!” 

Dr. Chafer held up the check and couldn’t believe his eyes.  Ironically it was the exact amount the seminary needed.  He exclaimed to Dr. Ironside who had prayed:  “Harry, God sold the cattle!”

Prayer is not magic – nor is it meant to get us off the hook of our own generosity.  But the point is that as salt and light we just might want to be more audacious in our prayers – asking God to give us generous hearts and the will to be faithful to our mission!

Being the Church – God’s people – being ‘salt’ and ‘light’ is not glamorous work.  It is the hard work of details, sweat, persistence and vision.  Presbyterian preacher and writer, Lisa Nichols Hickman, tell a brief story that help make the point:

There is an old story of three guys laying bricks.  When asked why they are doing it, the first says, “I’m doing it for the wages.”  The second brick layer replies, “I’m doing it for my family.”  The third says, “I’m building a cathedral.”

Our fortifying, our bearing out, is about building up that cathedral in the world so the sanctuary itself is not the only sanctuary.  God has a vision bigger than the walls of our churches, a vision that means laying bricks through the world.  It is hard work, often unnoticed and unappreciated, but a beautiful cathedral will be the result.”

We face a major challenge as a church and rearranging our assets is not going to meet the challenge. Even before the economy turn toward a near collapse, the church – especially mainline churches - have been challenged for some time.  Thomas Long – preacher and writer shares this insight:

“The church, for all its vision, is overpowered, outnumbered, and often overlooked.  The challenge is indeed formidable for a small group trying with mixed results to live out an alternative life, set down in the midst of a teeming, fast-changing culture that neither appreciates nor understands them…The hardest part is not being a Christian for a day, but being faithful day after day, maintaining confidence in what, for all the world, appears to be a losing cause.”

No matter what – God has claimed us.  God has re-created us in Christ as salt and light.  No matter what the culture says or the obstacles that face us -- God is faithful.  God empowers us to be what God made us to be.

God’s call to us is not to be about institutional survival, but is something of much greater significance.  What we do in the world really counts.

As a community of faith – as a city on a hill the people around us will see and sense more – more hope and the possibility of a different world.  That different world is marked by simple truth-telling, unheard of forgiveness, and outrageous generosity.

We are called to be out there – not shy pew bound parishioners intimidated by the challenges before us.  The message of the Gospel is not some secret we whisper in low tones.  Jesus tells us who we are right from the beginning, or as Eugene Peterson translates: 

“We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill…Now that I have put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand –shine!  Keep open house; be generous with your lives.” (The Message)

As we strive to live faithfully in the world, we may be small, but we are mighty, not because of our own strength but because of God’s own grace, which will never leave us on our own.

Amen