Epiphany 5A
February 5, 2017
Matthew 5:13-20
Let me start
off with a question: When you think of God, do you think of God more as a
divine law-maker and -enforcer, who has certain expectations of His followers? Or,
do you think of God more as a gift-giver?
I think a
common understanding of God is as the former: someone who is up there is heaven
telling us how we ought to act, “or else.” And we might be tempted to read today’s
Gospel lesson that way. Today Jesus continues from last week his famous Sermon
on the Mount, offering us two of his most well-known metaphors: “you are the
salt of the earth” and “you are the light of the world.” With the common
understanding of God as law-maker, we might be tempted to read this as, “You
should be the light of the world,” and, “You ought to be the salt of the
earth.” Is that how you heard it?
Ah, but
Lutherans tend to think of God more as the gift-giver, who bestows on us more
grace and goodness than we could ever comprehend, and these words from Jesus
are yet one more gift: you already are
the light of the world. You already are
the salt of the earth. That is, it is not so much command as it is promise, an
identity we already possess as baptized and beloved children of God. You are the light of the world and the salt
of the earth.
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| Stuffing stockings! |
I’ll prove
it to you. At the end of last year, Bethlehem and St. Martin jointly filled
over 500 stockings with both needed and wanted items for needy children in the
greater Rochester area. Knitters, sew-ers, and crocheters are already hard at
work to fill next year’s stockings. You are the light of the world.
Both congregations use their land to
grow fresh vegetables, providing this treat to local food cupboards. You are
the salt of the earth.
Both congregations look year-round
for worthy causes to donate goods and money to, whether standing ministries
like Community Lutheran Ministries on Joseph Ave., or occasional ones like
Souper Bowl of Caring, or incidental ones, like a local family who lost their
home in a fire.
You use your artistic gifts to make
quilts for Lutheran World Relief, or beautiful hangings for our worship space,
and your maintenance gifts for keeping our building and grounds looking and working
great.
As you care for people outside our
walls, you also care for one another, giving rides to members who can’t drive,
sending cards and making meals, checking in on each other, going grocery
shopping, or simply spending the time to go visit one another. You sing in the
choir, or sit on the council, or make the coffee and treats, or help lead
worship, or plan fellowship events of service opportunities. You pray for one another.
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| Worshipping together (Christmas Eve) |
With a diversity of people and gifts
in this place, you manage to serve a diversity of needs in the world. You are already the salt of the earth and the
light of the world.
Of course,
how it looks to be salt and light in the world is always changing as the world around
us changes, and as different needs arise. And sometimes our diversity of gifts
also extends to a diversity of opinions, and thus different ideas of how being
salt and light should look. And while our diversity of gifts and opinions can
certainly be an advantage, sometimes our differences can be a hindrance to
being the salt and light that Jesus assures us we are. It can be difficult,
when someone you love holds a different opinion than yours, not to dismiss that
person’s opinion as wrong or unimportant – or worse, to dismiss that person
entirely!
I saw a beautiful video this week. It begins in an empty room with squares painted on
the floor. Gradually, different “types” of people walk into the room and stand
in different boxes as the narrator explains, “It’s easy to put people in boxes.
There’s us, and there’s them. The high earners, and those just getting by.
Those we trust, and those we try to avoid. There’s the new [guys], and those
who’ve always been there. The people from the countryside and those who’ve
never seen a cow. The religious, and the self-confident. There are those we
share something with, and those we don’t share anything with.” Finally all the
boxes have people in them, and they stand there and look skeptically at each
other. Then someone says he’s going to ask some questions, and hopes they will
answer the questions honestly. “How many of you,” he asks, “were the class
clown?” Several people smile and chuckle, and from each box, a few people step
forward. They look around at each other, all different people from different
walks of life, holding different opinions – smiling knowingly at each other.
Then he asks, “How many of you are stepparents?” Again, a handful of people
step forward, more seriously this time as they know and share the particular
joys and challenges that come with that role. The narrator picks up again, “And
then suddenly, there’s us. We who believe in life after death. We who have seen
UFOs. And all of us who love to dance.” He goes on, describing all the
different things this disparate group of people have found in common, some
trivial, some deeply important. By the end, everyone in the room, once
skeptical of one another, are hugging and shaking hands.
In this
congregation, we have so many things in common… and just as many things on
which we differ. Possibly, dramatically. But there is, of course, one very
important thing that holds us all together, and that is a belief that our
loving God made each of us so beautifully unique, and understands our
brokenness; that this God loves us so much as to send us Jesus, to first
proclaim to us our belovedness, to promise us we are salt and light, to teach
us to love our neighbors as ourselves, and finally to take all of our
brokenness with him to the cross, bury it deep in a tomb, and rise again to bring
us new life. We are all held together by a love that could do that for this
here bunch of sinners, and by a love that then motivates and empowers us to be
the salt and the light, to share that message with the world in word and in
deed.
How we do
that… well, once again, we have different ideas. For some, it might be joining
an organization like Scouts or another community group that strives to do good
in the community. For some, it might be becoming an activist, choosing an issue
that is immensely important to you (like the environment, or rights for those
with disabilities, or racism, or xenophobia), and dedicating your time and
energy to educating people on that issue and fighting for what you believe to
be right. Maybe the best you can do is to give money to an organization that
helps people, or maybe you can volunteer for that organization. Perhaps you let
your light shine when your service is more direct: working at a soup kitchen,
housing a refugee, making friends with someone who is bullied, marginalized,
afraid, or feared. Maybe you’ll take your cues from the text we heard today
from Isaiah: “Share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor
into your house; when you see the naked, to clothe them, and don’t hide
yourself from your own family.” And there’s plenty more where that came from.
Thanks be to
God that we are all different, for our difference lets us spread God’s love
further than we could if we were all the same. Let us be thankful for one
another in those differences. Let us pray for each other in those differences.
Let us commit to listening to and learning from one another in our differences,
so that we will not stop growing into God’s vision for us. And may our differences make the lighting and seasonings of
life all that much brighter and richer and reflective of God’s own love and
glory.
Let
us pray… Giving God, we thank you for the
assurance that we are the light of the world and the salt of the earth. Make us
humble enough to love each other in the different ways we live out that
promise, and courageous enough to faithfully live it out the particular way you
call each of us to. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit.
Amen.
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