Year A

Matthew 5:13-20

The Very Rev. Denise Vaughn

Called To Be Salt and Light

My mother’s mother and father moved to Port Charlotte, Fl. in 1959 to get out of cold and snowy Syracuse, NY. My grandfather a builder by trade was in his mid-fifties when he moved to Southwest Fl. and was not ready to retire. He loved the 90 plus heat so he decided to start his own lawn business of which he didn’t retire from until in his early 90’s. Every day he was working outside and for most of the year, it was in extreme heat and through experience he came to know that sweating profusely could trigger symptoms like muscle cramps, nausea, vomiting, and dizziness. He learned that this would happen when all the salt or sodium that your body needs is sweated out of your body. The essential minerals in salt act as important electrolytes in the body and help to make your body hold on to water.

The loss of sodium could have even led to shock, coma and death. To prevent these things from happening, I remember he began consuming salt tablets. There was always a bottle sitting in the window of his truck. Salt is essential to life. Yet, we now know that if we eat too much salt, the extra water stored in our body raises our blood pressure. Nothing can take the place of salt; but if you use too much it can be dangerous and if it loses its saltiness, it is considered worthless. Jesus says today, after presenting the Sermon on the Mount and his eight Beatitudes found in the verses preceding today’s gospel, “You are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Let your light shine.

We know that salt is essential to life, as is light. Light enables us to see things. We have no problem understanding what Jesus meant when he said that no one lights a lamp, then puts it under a bushel basket. We turn on the light to see around the room. A dark room can be changed by lighting one candle and light is a kind of energy that helps things to grow and helps to keep us warm. We need light and salt to live and we hear Jesus tell us that we are to be that salt of the earth and light in the world. Jesus always liked to use common images to help us understand a deeper truth. Today, we learn about the call to discipleship. Jesus uses the two metaphors of salt and light to describe who his followers are and what they do for and in the world. Salt and light defines what the church should be in the world.

Salt and light had particular meaning. They weren’t simply two common experiences among many others. For Jesus, salt and light came out of a long tradition of biblical teaching: salt and light were images for the law of God. Just in case we missed the point, Jesus says it clearly, “Think not that I have come to abolish the law and the prophets; I have come not to abolish them but to fulfill them,” Therefore, salt and light must take us back to the fullness of the law and of Jesus’ radical teaching in his Sermon on the Mount; blessed are the poor in spirit, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake. The beatitudes take us back to the fullness of the law and the prophets.

So it is that today we hear a reading from the prophet Isaiah who sees light breaking forth. But it is not just any light; this light shines from the fullness of God’s law. The prophet pleads for: freedom from oppression, bread for the hungry, homes for those who have none, clothing for the naked. This is what it means to be the salt of the earth, to keep Isaiah’s prophetic word and Jesus’ words in the Sermon on the Mount alive in the midst of our world. Isaiah says, “If you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness…the Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places…and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water…you shall be called the restorer of streets to live in.”  If we lose this vision, if we give in to other values, if we forget God’s longing for justice, our salt has lost its taste and our light does not shine before others.

We live in a world shaped through injustice and oppression. Yet, our lives need not be determined by the shape of the world. By grace we may be conformed to the image of Jesus. Paul today grasps this difference of life for those who love God’s ways. Paul tells us that through the Holy Spirit at work in us, “We have the mind of Christ. We share Christ’s own knowledge and love of God through faith. This life of faith rests not on the wisdom of this world and of this age but on the wisdom and power of God. This power discerns the ways of the world and seeks the way of God. To be salt and light, means we strive to be like and in God, who does justice and liberation in the world.

God calls for participation in Christ, for selfless giving and for worship as service in the world.  True worship includes love of neighbor, and without this ingredient we cannot call it worship of God. Walking in God’s light, means we will do and share the love of Jesus, the light of the world in very concrete ways. And if we think Jesus’ call is impossible, we remember the One, who is our bread, is with us and within us, empowering us to be salt and light of this world. Whenever we receive the broken bread, we remember not only the prophet’s vision to share our bread with the hungry, but the face of Christ who said, “I was hungry and you gave me food to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me a drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothes to wear. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me…, when you have done these things for one of the least of my brothers and sisters, you have done it for me”. 

We are invited to be a community which continues to be shaped by the calling to be salt and light in the world. God has chosen us as the salt and the light; to be essential to life. When we are salt and light, we are more likely to fulfill the law as Jesus suggested: To love the Lord our God with all our heart, mind, and soul; and our neighbor as ourselves.  Let us share the good news. Let us offer grace to those who are down and out, the poor in spirit. Let us offer comfort to those who mourn. Let us stand up against injustice and oppression. The epiphany of God leads to acting justly in the world. His light shines as we fulfill our calling, to give God the glory.