Epiphany 5A
February 5, 2023
Matthew 5:13-20
Isaiah 58:1-9a
INTRODUCTION
Before we hear from Isaiah today, here’s some context: Isaiah is speaking to the Israelites as they are returning from being in exile for the past 70 years. After the Jerusalem Temple had been destroyed, they had been sent to live in Babylon, away from the center and all that they knew about faith. Now, they are back, and trying to figure out how to live lives of faith without everything they had known before. They are fasting, which they understand to be a good thing, but even as they fast (and wonder why God isn’t impressed by this), they are oppressing their workers, and doing all kinds of things that are the opposite of what their faith calls them to do. Isaiah calls them back to the essence of their faith: share bread with the hungry, free the oppressed, clothe the naked. Do these things, and your light will shine. Do these things, and you will see God working among you.
That light bit ties us right into the Gospel reading, as Jesus tells us we are the light of the world. Today’s reading continues the Sermon on the Mount – last week we heard the Beatitudes, in which Jesus speaks to a crowd of broken and hurting people and calls them blessed. Today he tells those same people they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt and light: two things essential for life!
As you listen, think about those metaphors, salt and light, and what they might mean for us as we strive to live life as God’s beloved people. Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
My kids’ current favorite movie is the new Netflix movie, Matilda: The Musical, based on the beloved Roald Dahl book. It’s a story of a little girl so brilliant, kind, and clever that by the power of her amazing mind, she takes down “The Trunchbull,” the headmistress of her school and the biggest bully you can imagine. I loved this book as a kid, and I still love much about it. Reading and then watching it as an adult, though, knowing what I know now, the level of abuse that the Trunchbull dishes out is horrifying. Yet this terrible woman claims that this is the only way to get through to such “revolting children.” She claims that, “To teach the child, we must first break the child.”
Yech. Of course, we are meant to cringe at that. Thanks to modern child psychology we know that the opposite is true: in order for a child to learn, they must first feel safe. Even better if they feel loved and valued, and if they also have a full belly.
It isn’t so different for adults, really – we are much more likely to receive information and do our best work if we do not feel threatened, and if we know that we are safe and valued. I have to wonder if, even in the 1st century before psychology was a thing, Jesus knew this – because that is exactly the tactic he takes in his first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount. Here he is, surrounded by all manner of broken people, people not feeling especially blessed at this point in their lives: the meek, the grieving, the persecuted, those striving and longing for peace and righteousness in this world… And rather than launch right in to telling them what they should be doing better or differently, he begins with healing. The sermon begins by blessing them, assuring them that God is near to them, that they are seen, known, and loved. “Blessed are you,” he tells them, not in some undefined future, not once you get your act together, not once you start feeling better, but right now. “Blessed are you.” Knowing the needs and longing that I carry in my own heart, the thought of hearing this directly from Jesus’ mouth is indeed a salve to my wounds, a word of hope and healing.
In the part of the sermon we heard today he goes on with some affirmations, telling them, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.” Like the Beatitudes, it is not, “you will be,” but, “You already are!” Like a parent telling an anxious child, “You can do this. You are brave!” or even what we say to ourselves in the mirror, “You’ve got this! You are strong and smart!” Jesus is telling them a truth that affirms who they are, even as it calls them into who and how they can be. And when we hear those affirmations enough times, and said with enough love and conviction, we do start to believe them and live into them!
Jesus does go on from here to instruction, for another two and a half chapters – instruction on God’s law, on our relationship with God and with neighbor. But before he gets to any instruction at all, Jesus’ focus is on healing, on mending hearts. He doesn’t break his followers further (they are already suffering!), but rather, he makes sure his disciples (and we!) understand this very important point: that we are already beloved by God, that God has already chosen us and promised to us that God is present with us in all that we do. “You are already blessed,” he says. “You are already salt, and light,” already these precious things that make life possible.
So, the question is, what is meant by these two well-loved and well-known metaphors, salt and light? What does that mean? Well, there is a lot going on in each of them. But what I was drawn to this week, as I viewed the start of Jesus’ sermon through the eyes of healing, was that salt and light are important agents of healing and growth. A saltwater swish and gurgle can speed healing of a sore throat. From ancient times, it has been used to disinfect wounds and promote healing. Light, of course, provides food and energy to all living things. It makes growth, vision, and heat possible.
So, if what Jesus says is true, and we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world… then Jesus is telling us that we are to be agents of healing and growth in the world. I think that’s partly why Jesus starts by offering us the healing words of the Beatitudes. Once we have received this gift, we are all that much more able to bring that gift of healing to the world.
It sounds like a big job, in a world as hurting as this! But remember, even just a little bit of salt can do wonders for a dish, and a single candle can be seen on a dark landscape as far as 1.6 miles away! Point is: whatever little bit of salt and light, whatever little bit of healing we can bring to this world matters.
So: how do we do it?
Step one: believe Jesus when he says you are salt and light. It can be hard not to get down on ourselves, recalling all our failures and shortcomings, all the ways we have lost our saltiness or hidden under a bushel. But Jesus knows what he is talking about, and if he says you are salt, then you’re salt. If he says you’re light, then you are light! If you start to doubt, you call me, and I will tell you that you are. Or look at your own reflection and say to it, “Jesus said I’m salt and light, and that is what I am!” Okay?!
Step two: remember that other people are also salt and light. Just as God created you and called you good and promised to love you no matter what, God did the same with all the annoying people in the world, all the politicians you can’t stand, that guy who cut you off on 490, the woman you know is gossiping about you. God loves them, too, and if we went about our day remembering that they are just as beloved and cherished as we are by our irrationally loving God, imagine how that would change our interactions? That doesn’t mean we can’t still criticize someone’s actions, if they are causing harm to others – Isaiah and the prophets certainly do this! So does Jesus! But there is a difference between, “You are a piece of garbage,” vs. “Your actions are harmful.” You hear the difference? One holds the person accountable to righteous behavior, and one undermines the humanity of the person God created in God’s own image. None of us are without sin, and all of us are beloved. If we went about our days remembering this, I think this could go quite a long way toward healing the brokenness of this world.
Step 3: There are lots of other ways we can and probably should bring healing to the world. Isaiah gives some pretty good ideas in our first reading: pay workers fair wages, seek a more just world in which people have what they need, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless. When we do these things, Isaiah tells us, “then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly.” Or there are other ways, too – we could volunteer for worthy causes (like with Eastern Service Workers Association), or join organizations like the Scouts, that focus on service of community and being responsible citizens. We could simply listen to people, without trying to fix, judge, or correct anything – just be a person who is trustworthy and caring and who truly sees people in their suffering and meets them there. There are so many directions our various gifts and interests can take us in being salt and light in the world, in being agents of healing and growth.
But it all starts with remembering Jesus’ promise to us: that we are, already, salt and light. That Jesus believes this about us so thoroughly that he would give his own life so that we could live into our light-filled saltiness. That he would defeat the power of death so that we would know his promises are trustworthy and true, and that he will always come through for us.
We are salt, my friends. We are light. Let’s go forth and heal this world!
Let us pray… Loving God, we thank you for the assurance that we are the the salt of the earth and light of the world. Empower us to mend this world in need, to be your agents of healing and growth. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
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