Sermon-5 Epiphany Year A-Feb. 9, 2014 The Cloud of Unknowing, "O God, our great companion, lead us ever more deeply into the mystery of your life and ours, that we may be faithful interpreters of that Life to each other, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. Matthew 5:13-20 [Jesus said:] "You are the salt of the earth; 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. "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfil. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." \ I was having dinner with some friends this week and one of them said that they thought my sermons were scholarly. I almost swallowed my fork. In 35 years my sermons have been called many things-but never scholarly. Here s the point of today s message-we have to do better than just be good, we have to do more than just obey the rules, we are called to be more than just law abiding citizens. ok? Here s a shorthand way of remembering this message: unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." What s the most famous sermon Jesus ever gave (it has a name). That s right, the Sermon on the Mount. If we hadn t had Candlemas last week we would have heard the beginning of the Sermon on the Mount, the most famous section-the Beatitudes. So this week it continues. There are 111 verses in the Sermon on the Mount, and we re only going to hear about 48 of them this February, a little less than half. The point each week is going to be this-how we, the followers of Jesus are supposed to be better than good-how we are called to be live not just the letter of the law, but also the spirit.
But first let me explain today s gospel a little. Do I have a story to tell you. Jesus uses two very ordinary images in today s teaching-salt and light. The phrases are very emphatic-you are the salt of the earth; "You are the light of the world. Let me do them in reverse order. When a lamp was extinguished a basket was put over it so that the fumes and smoke wouldn t fill the room. But you wouldn t cover the lamp until you no longer needed it. The light shone as long as it was dark, but then it was covered up. No real surprise here. Very obvious, right? But listen to the first example-salt. What was salt used for? (this is from Larry Broding in word-sunday.com) It was used for seasoning, preservation, and purifying (2 Kg. 2:19-22). It was used to ratify covenants (Num. 18:29; 2 Chr. 13:5) and in worship services (Ex. 30:35; Lev. 2:13; Ezek. 43:24; Ezra 6:9). To eat salt with someone signified a bond of friendship and loyalty (Ezra 4:14; Acts 1:4). Salt scattered on a conquered city reinforced its devastation (Jg. 9:45) (Reid, 35).In rabbinic metaphorical language, salt connoted wisdom (Hill, 115). Today, salt adds flavor to food, cures food, creates traction on icy roads, and can serve as an antiseptic in wounds. It also used to be rubbed on newborn children, it was sometimes used as currency. In fact, the word "salary" comes from the practice of paying a worker with salt. I learned last night that it is to be put in the mouths of newly baptized to be understood as a metaphor for wisdom. When I am blessing water for holy water I add a pinch of salt because it is believed that salt was necessary to cast out evil. You probably have heard of most if not all of these, right? But there is something else, another use for salt that Jesus was referring to in his teaching-one I ll bet anything you have never heard of before-and it changes the way you listen to this gospel. Listen to what salt was primarily used for in 1 st century Israel (again from Larry Broding): In ch.5:v.13, the salt referred to was the leveling agent for paddies made from animal manure, the fuel for outdoor ovens used in the time of Jesus. Young family members would form paddies with animal dung, mix in salt from a salt block into the paddies,
and let the paddies dry in the sun. When the fuel paddies were put in an oven, the mixed-in salt would help the paddies burn longer, with a more even heat. When the family had used up the salt block, they would throw it out onto the road to harden a muddy surface. This is why the verse reads: "You are the salt of the earth; 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. Jesus saw his followers as leveling agents in an impure world. Their example would keep the fire of faith alive even under stress. Their example would spread faith to those mired in the cultural "dung." But if their example rang empty, they were worthless; they would be dug into the mud under the heels of critics. (from word-sunday.com). And trampled underfoot In other words Jesus is telling his listeners-be the salt that makes the fire hotter, the ingredient that keeps the fire alive. You are the salt of the earth, a very ordinary, common occurrence. We are not a preservative, not something to make food taste good, we are not a deicer, we are not a sign of friendship, we are not any of those things-we are to be salt-be the element in life that is supposed to make the fire burn brighter, to make the fire last longer, be the element that keeps going. Thomas Long writes; the challenge is formidable for Christians in the 1 st century "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[them] nor understands them.the hardest part is not in being Christian for a day, but being faithful day after day, maintaining confidence in what, for all the world, appears to be a losing cause." Continuing to burn brighter, longer-that s the hard part. "Jesus is saying that what the people of God do in the world really counts" (Matthew, Westminster Bible Companion). Charles Cousar writes, Indeed, when people encounter us as individuals and as communities of faith they should see and sense more: they should feel hope, they
should feel the possibility of a "different world," "marked by unheard-of reconciliation, simple truth-telling, outrageous generosity, and love of one's enemies" I like that. I like the idea that what we believe, and what we do impacts the world. I like the idea that we are called to be salt and light to a world that is desperately in need of a long burning fire and vision. We have to do better than just be good, we have to do more than just obey the rules, we are called to be more than just law abiding citizens. Here s Matthew s shorthand way of remembering this message: unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." In the 28 chapters of Matthew there are 31 references to Pharisees. That should tell us something. 31 times Pharisees are referred to, and not once in Matthew is it positive. Pharisees were good guys, moral, ethical, religious. Anthony Clavier writes: The Pharisees, or Pious Ones, began their history as a reforming group, intent on bringing the Jewish people back to faith in their God. They believed that the best way to do that was to stress the Law of God, as given by Moses and elaborated on in the religious books developed over the centuries. In Jesus time, some of these Pharisees opposed the teachings of Jesus because they thought he was undermining God s Law. They saw him as a threat to religious purity. I m not sure I can be a better person than the Pharisees, as good at keeping the law, as obedient, as faithful. But I know that I am called to. Jesus asked us to exceed the Pharisees, be better, be better than good. What if when people talked about us (meaning Christians) they said : These are : reconciliers,.. truth-tellers, outrageously generous, great lovers of their enemies. What if people said that about us? Jesus is barely into his Sermon on the Mount and already he is telling the people to be better than the religious people that lead them. Don t just obey the law, fulfill the law. Don t just keep the law, go way beyond the law. Be better, fill the world with hope, reunite with those we are separated from, tell the truth especially when it doesn t help us, give more than people expect, overwhelm those who hate us with love. The
Beatitudes began with Jesus talking to people in the third person, but this week he talks directly to us. Be light to the world, be the salt that keeps the fire going, be the ones that change the world. Amen.