Matthew 5:13-20 Blessed People When I read the phrase from our scripture, light of the world, I thought about those who work under the lights, or live in the limelight, like actors and athletes, who have the same focused drive, and like some ministers, specifically TV evangelists, who preach under the bright lights of studio sanctuaries. In my previous occupation I have lit up stages and auditoriums for a few of them, been around them for short periods, and often they try to impress with what they ve done and where they have been, or maybe with a big diamond ring- they all have big diamonds rings. I shouldn t judge them too harshly; to survive in that type of life- life on a stage or in a studio is a false life, and one has to build a front that is itself false, and must put up a wall to protect against nay-sayers who denigrate or critique or just remain unconvinced; so it requires ego strength to continue, though not necessarily strength of character or even a real and powerful trust in the Lord. Like I said, I do not want to judge too harshly. There are people I know who have been helped by evangelists they hear or see on TV, or whose books they have read. But it seems to me they are showing off- for us, maybe, or for God. But them, we all have flaws, and I shouldn t judge simply because I may disagree with them, and certainly not because I may be jealous that someone else may have a
better manner of self-expression than I do, or has more ambition. And I can promise you, ambition is definitely what these folks do possess, beyond any other talent or trait. Jesus says here in the Sermon on the Mount, you are the salt of the earth. But I can t imagine that we think of these televangelists as salt, who are so driven to show off for us, preaching and teaching on TV. Don t we generally consider that metaphor to apply to the rest of us, who are not on TV, we the common clay, unknown, simply slogging ahead, following the Lord the best we can, with our limited talents and resources and understanding? I imagine countless times we have heard someone described as the salt of the earth, and we take it to mean a person who is kind, unpretentious, just good people. Yet salt of the earth people are the same ones as light of the world people, and we don t think of light of the world people as just regular folks, anonymous and low maintenance, but rather people who shine, who have something about them that brightens up the room. There are some people, you just feel better when they are around. So, we have these steady, perhaps dull, nice people, and these brilliant and sparkly people, and somehow in our scripture, they are the same person, a disciple of Jesus and one who attracts others to Jesus.
The people who are salt and light are the people of the beatitudes, those blessed ones, from the verses immediately preceding our passage, who are called into relationship with Jesus, and called into fellowship with one another as each takes up the cross of mourning and peacemaking and purity and giving mercy, and hungering and thirsting for righteousness and justice. And they are the ones given the great rewards of the beatitudes, comfort and mercy, seeing God, being called God s children, receiving the earth as inheritance, and abiding within the Kingdom of God. It is these who are salt and light, not for any ability of their own, not for any characteristic they possess, save only the steadfast relationship to their Lord. They are light because the light of the love of God lives in them; they are salt because they are seasoned with the compassion that the forgiving God has put within them. Salt and light are the blessings which the disciples of Jesus receive from their Master; salt and light are what the people of God s kingdom exhibit to the world on his behalf; they reveal the love of God. And yet, it isn t always a happy story. We think that living well- showing the world kindness and hospitality and truth and good works- and the world would come running. But it rarely works that way. The gospel of John tells us that the world loves darkness rather than the light; and instead of the simple savor of the
salt of God, people want to add their own seasonings, to show off their uniqueness or intelligence or abilities. But we all die without salt, and our cosmos dies without the light of the sun. And the societies on our planet die without the presence of God s people among them. It isn t just a better world with the people of God s Kingdom living as salt and light, it is a dead world without them. People of salt and light bless the world by their presence in it, an yet they are the ones hated by the world, reviled, persecuted, and slandered, the previous verses tell us. But still they rejoice, for they are blessed; they have received the promises of God, and they abide in God s constant presence. The world will understand only later what they are, just as people now praise and venerate the prophets of God, whom once they persecuted and killed. Just as once they persecuted and rejected and killed the Master of the disciples. Now, I know that troubles and persecutions sound difficult and grim. But God has not made the world just to make people suffer arbitrarily, has not set up a life-long final exam in order to give heaven only to the few who pass the test; rather we need to think about what God s presence in our lives means, and need to think about what light means. God s presence means that we have all the blessings of light: warmth and hope and a clear well-lit vision of God. All things are ours,
Paul wrote, and God gives us these things. But the sinful world doesn t want the things of God, doesn t want to live in communion with God, but wants to be its own god. That is really the definition of sin. Not doing wrong things, but trying to live as our own god. Let your light so shine that people may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Jesus doesn t say we are to become salt or to make the light, but that you are. Being salt and light is simply belonging to God, living gratefully and with the confidence that God is with us always, so that unselfish good works come naturally from us. No longer must we work hard to prove to our insecure selves that we are good enough, do not need to show off to God our purity and worth. No, it is all founded upon the grace and call of Jesus, the grace that bids us to be his, to be the community of the Kingdom, the saved ones who gather together at the cross; who hear his gracious call and receive his blessing and so take up our cross and follow him into the world where our light shines, and where the world may see our humble and hopeful lives. I heard a preacher once describe how he was teaching a group of children from this passage, and he asked them what salt did. And a little girl replied, Well, salt makes you thirsty. Completely unaware she had said something profound. It
makes you thirsty, yes. When you meet a salt of the earth person of Jesus, you realize your own thirst, and want to come to the One who is the fountain of living water; and when you meet a light of the world person of Jesus, you may see the dark places in yourself, and want to know the One who is the light of life. We are not meant to be fragmented, alienated, lost, and living in the dark, uncertain about what we are, with the feeling we need to show off to receive, or earn, the approval of God, but we are meant to belong to God, to be made whole and complete by him, and to be sure that God will care for us just like he watches over the flowers of the meadow, and the birds of the air; that God will fill us with light and love, and will remain with us forever. Our scripture comes with two warnings, if the salt has lost its taste, it is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out, which seems to mean that salt people must remain close to the Maker of the salt, and stay away from whatever might destroy our saltness. And the second warning, men do not light a lamp and hide it under a bushel, which means, I think, that sometimes we ourselves want to choose how we will utilize the light, and where we want to let it shine, or where we want to deny it; and we do not let the light shine naturally and freely and joyfully.
There may be places in our lives where we are not salt of the earth people, and the good news of Jesus is not heard because of it; or places in the world where we would rather cover up the light that lives in us, and people and nations we would rather hate and curse; and thus, they do not come to see and know the love and mercy of God. Our Savior tells us rather, love your enemies, and so, let your light shine that they may see your good works- so that even your enemies may see your good works- and give glory to the Father in heaven. The call to discipleship is that we be salt and light in every place and to every person.