Do Something Useful Matthew 5:13-20 Dr. Christopher C. F. Chapman First Baptist Church, Raleigh February 9, 2014 Every minister receives some sort of reaction when he/she first tells family members about being called to ministry but my family s reaction was a bit more pronounced. My parents eventually came to appreciate the fact that I felt a sense of calling, though they did not understand it. My sisters took it as confirmation of their belief that I had always been a little different, a little off. But a cousin s reaction was the most pronounced. The first time I saw him after telling my immediate family, he shook his head in disgust and said, Cuz, I always thought that you would do something useful with your life In a way, coming from him, it was a kind of affirmation. He thought I could amount to something, do something useful. But it was also a commentary on organized religion. He didn t have much use for it. So, he didn t think I could accomplish much through the church. It is the way many people feel about the church today, people who have never darkened the door of a church and people who have spent a good bit of time in it. Many see the church as a cold institution more concerned with hanging on to arbitrary rules and useless traditions than reaching out to people in need. Many see the church as an outdated relic whose time has come and gone. Many see the church as a group of hypocritical people who waste time with petty issues and esoteric controversies while the world needs a relevant word on critical issues. People are starving in Sudan and Somalia, conflict rages in Syria and Egypt, natural disasters have become more and more frequent, and the disparity between rich and poor, even in our land of opportunity, continues to grow. All the while churches fight over matters of doctrine and worship style, various views of the Bible, their belief as to whether Jesus will return before, during or after the tribulation. What a shame if the church is ever deserving of any of these characterizations, or perhaps I should say - when the church is deserving. 1
There is an element of truth in these critiques. We all know the church sometimes majors on minors. For the Catholic Church, Pope Francis seems to be addressing this very concern. Acknowledging that the church has at times missed the mark and lost sight of the heart of its mission, he is trying to get the church back on track in the way it connects the goodness of God revealed in Christ with people in need. But it is a shame that the church ever deserves this critique, and ironic, given the focus of Jesus life and ministry. Time and again he puts the needs of people before rigid adherence to arbitrary rules. He does not do away with the teaching of the law, but rather seeks to fulfill it by drawing people back to its basic purposes increasing the love of God and neighbor. Then, he calls his followers to continue his work by ministering to people in need. In short, he has in mind something very useful for the church. He wants us to make a difference in the world. This reality is seen throughout the New Testament, but if we are looking for a concise way of framing it, a bumper sticker version of the truth, we might look to today s reading from Matthew 5. I m not generally into bumper sticker theology or what a mentor calls auto exhaust wisdom. I need more words than will fit such limited space. But in this text Jesus uses just a few words to say a great deal. He develops two simple metaphors - salt and light which describe the role of his followers. Do something useful, he says, Be salt and light. You are the salt of the earth; says Jesus, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. It is a metaphor that communicates pretty clearly, though understanding a little bit about the context of Jesus' teaching focuses the message. We think of salt primarily as a seasoning and, as such, know that it needs to be spread out to have the best result. Too much salt bunched up in one place produces a nasty taste while a sprinkling of salt mixed into food evenly enhances the flavor. If we are to season the world with acts of love and kindness, following Jesus' example, we are wise to spread out our witness. Wake Forest University religion professor Carlton Mitchell was asked years ago why he didn't go to the seminary to teach ministry 2
students, given his love for biblical texts and theology and the varying interest of undergraduate students. Carlton said he didn't want to teach at the seminary because it was full of ministers. "Ministers are like manure," he said, "If you spread them out, they may do some good, but if you gather too many in one place, all you have is a bad odor!" That may be an overstatement. I've never detected an odor. I don't know that too much salt of Christian witness works quite this way. But there is an advantage in spreading out our witness, whether we are ministers or normal people, not bunching up everything in one place. And yet, while we think of salt as a seasoning agent, its primary purpose in Jesus' time was to preserve things. Salt played a critical role in the expansion of the Roman Empire as it was a staple for the army and was even reflected in the term used for soldiers' pay - salarium agentium. We might think it was readily available, given the saltiness of the Dead Sea, but there were many salts mixed together there. Pure sodium chloride was more difficult to find and yet needful. Perhaps this function of salt informs Jesus' statement about us being the salt of the earth. We are called to not only season the world with kindness but preserve qualities that are needed. To do this, we have to be as pure as possible, we cannot lose our saltiness, Jesus says, but we also have to come in contact with whatever or whoever in the world we seek to preserve. A salt cannot preserve a meat it never touches. In his commentary on The Sermon on the Mount T. C. Smith put it this way. "As salt of the earth we are not to escape from the world, surrender to it, compromise with it, or conform to its pattern. We are to exert our influence by coming into contact with a sinful society and be used of God to redeem it from corruption." As salt, we cannot simply join the world's problems but nor can we isolate ourselves from struggle. We must follow Jesus' example and rub shoulders with the outcast and impoverished of our day and do so in an effort to redeem and restore. I think of the relationship that developed between an arts dealer named Ron and a homeless man named Denver as described in the book Same Kind of Different as Me. Ron volunteered at the shelter only to please his wife. He wasn't interested in the people, didn't think they could change and thus wasn't about to waste his time getting involved. 3
But his relationship with Denver changed him. He spent more and more time helping out and not only came to view Denver and other homeless people in a different way, he became a different person and found a lifelong friend who helped him when his wife lost her struggle with cancer. Ron became the salt of the earth, someone willing to season the world with kindness and preserve something important, the life of one of God's beloved children. To do that he had to have something to offer and be willing to get to where he was needed and I would add, be willing to change his mind about some things - be less judgmental, more open to God's grace, willing to see the good in the least likely person. But he did all this and made a difference. He did something useful, and so can we, on a mission trip to Honduras or while working in our clothing ministry, teaching a lesson at the Raleigh Rescue Mission or extending a bit of kindness to a coworker. We are the salt of the earth, says Jesus, and God knows the earth still needs some salt. Jesus also says, "You are the light of the world." It is another simple metaphor which communicates pretty clearly but takes on another layer of meaning once we understand the context. Shining light in the dark places of this world is the obvious takeaway. We will talk about that. But it is important to know that the Roman writer Cicero referred to Rome as a light of the world. Jesus says, "No, actually, my followers are the light of the world! It would be somewhat akin to early believers confessing that Jesus is Lord rather than the state required, "Caesar is Lord." It is not just a simple statement, but also a prophetic word that will bring the church into conflict with the Empire. Jesus anticipates this. What does he say at the very end of the beatitudes? Blessed are the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers. All of this seems to flow rather naturally, but then he adds - blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. It seems so out of place, but it is not. Those who follow Jesus' distinctive way will come into conflict with the powers that be. So, 4
when Jesus says his followers are the salt of the earth, better than Rome's salt, and the light of the world, better than Rome's, he is both underscoring this tension and offering a world of encouragement to be bold in our witness no matter what obstacles we face. What this means for our simple metaphor is that the calling to shine light in dark places refers not simply to acts of compassion and a willingness to give witness to our faith, but also to acts of advocacy on behalf of the oppressed. Think Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in our nation. Think Mahatma Gandhi and Aung San Suu Kyi in other parts of the world. Those who stand up for peace and justice, those who are willing to speak truth to power because of their beliefs no matter what the consequences are shining a light in the darkness. And yet, there are also those other, more common ways to serve as the light of the world, and the world needs every way at our disposal, because there is a great deal of darkness. I think of the Kibera community in Nairobi, a slum unlike any in this nation with people living in cardboard boxes, nearly a million now living in this one slum. Many of you have been to other parts of the world with similar needs. Many have served in military capacities and seen horrible things. Others have lost loved ones to war. There is incredible darkness in this world. But it is not all over there. Some of it is right here. I think of a family I visited in another setting. They were members of our mostly well-to-do urban church, but they had four generations living in a tiny house. I went to visit the 20-year-old who was dying of cancer. He had been diagnosed years earlier and the treatments had held off the disease for awhile, but it was back even stronger. Amazingly he was at peace about where he was. He was tired and he had tremendous faith. His concern was for his mother, her grief and her addictions, her struggles since her divorce. When I visited, listened to him share his concerns and prayed with him, there was shouting in the house, the chaos of people who were so wounded they were oblivious to the young member of their family who was dying with added burdens because of them. There is darkness in this land of so many riches of so many kinds. And there is other darkness, some of it we have known or seen in our families - the darkness of addiction and abuse, the darkness of 5
dementia and mental illness, the darkness that leads to depression and suicide, the darkness of incarceration, the darkness of living without any awareness that there are people who love us and a God who cares about us. There is much darkness. We have all experienced or witnessed it. Jesus calls us to shed light wherever we can. We may not be able to eliminate the darkness, heal every wound, solve every problem. But we can shed some light, or as Robert Louis Stevenson once said, we can make holes in the darkness - sometimes just by showing up, visiting the elderly person who has dementia whether she will remember we were there or not; sometimes by offering some sort of help, like building a house in Honduras or here in Raleigh through Habitat for Humanity; sometimes by pointing a person in the direction of someone who can help more than us, a professional counselor, a caseworker, or dare we say it, even God. There are many ways to serve as the light of the world. The key is to remember what light does. It helps others see. It does not draw attention to itself. Jesus says, "You are the light of the world. So, let your light shine, don't cover it up, let it shine before others, that they may see your good works and give glory not to you, but to God." When we let our light shine, that is the goal. This week Dana and I went down to Johnston Community College to hear a lecture a cousin of mine presented and view a gallery of her art. Most of her work has centered around Himalayan images and building bridges between cultures and religions. Jane has spent a great deal of time in Tibet and Nepal, knows the Dalai Lama and has done a lineage portrait for a lama. But she has also spent a good bit of time in Africa and this gallery displays her African series. The images are beautiful and haunting as the joys and struggles of Africa come to life. In one joyful painting there is a boy in the center. A dark-skinned man with a crown of thorns is above him. Looking at the painting, you wonder if there is a story behind this image and there is. Jane showed a short film which documents the boy's story. He is from Zambia. He was born with a medical condition where his feet grew to such a massive size and in such a distorted way that he could not wear shoes or walk normally. He was socially outcast and unable to do schoolwork until he met a friend of Jane's at a clinic/school in Zambia. 6
It's a longer story than I have time to tell, but they were able to bring the young man, Anderson is his name, to Virginia for 9 months of medical treatment - surgery, rehab, etc. - and now he has returned to Zambia, able to walk normally, wear shoes and finish his education. On the film, he thanks all the people who have helped him, those who have shined light into his darkness, but he also thanks God and he insists on being baptized before his surgery. Something about the way Jane's friend and all involved cared for Anderson let him know a light greater than theirs was at work and thus, when he saw their light, he gave glory to God. The last time Jane's friend was at the clinic/school, Anderson was there serving as a translator. The path of light and love has come full circle. He is now letting his light shine in the darkness. That's what Jesus calls us to do and how Jesus calls us to do it, and when we do, we do something useful in this world of much need. The church does miss the mark, but far more often the church shines light in the darkness. We just don't get as much press when we do. I think of that Saturday in December several years ago when the members of Westboro Baptist Church from Topeka, Kansas came to protest Elizabeth Edwards' funeral. There weren't many of them. It is a tiny family church fueled by hatred. But they get a lot of press and they were put in front of our church. Across Edenton Street was a much larger counter protest crowd. And next to the Westboro folks was the long line of families coming to experience Toy Joy at our church. It was a powerful image and this time The Raleigh News and Observer ran a very nice story simply presenting the contrast - a tiny group of people claiming to be Baptist shouting angry and hateful words at a family in their time of loss right next to a massive number of people claiming to be Baptist providing toys for 1,200 children. What is the correct takeaway? What does the church offer the world? Do we sometimes miss the mark? Absolutely! Are there some outright kooks claiming the name of Christ? Yes But there is so much more good. We are the salt of the earth! We are the light of the world! May we continue to spread our salt around and let our light shine, that others might see our good works and give glory to God! 7