Loving God, you call us to bring light and life to the world, just as Jesus has brought light and life to us.  Continue to empower us by your Holy Spirit, granting us the vision to see both our gifts and the world’s need; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.

    You would think Jesus would have been a little more careful about what he said.  You would think he would define things a little better before referring to people as the salt of the earth or the light of the world.  Like, maybe he could have said something like, You will be the salt of the earth when you believe in me and obey my commands and receive the Holy Spirit.  He could have said that.  Or, he could have said something like, You are the light of the world as long as your church is a certain size and you take lots of mission trips.

    However, instead, Jesus just comes right out and says, “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world” (Mt. 5:13, 14).  Not, you will be later, or you will be when you’re faithful enough, but you are.  According to Matthew, Jesus was speaking to his disciples, and presumably there were others listening in from “the crowds” (Mt. 5:1).  Lest you think that you might not be included among his disciples, the term “disciple” basically means “learner.”  These were people who wanted to learn from Jesus.  And so, Jesus says not only to them, but to us, “You are the salt of the earth....You are the light of the world.”

    There is so much that is implied in those simple statements.  In fact, there are a number of things that we could say about both salt and light.  To begin with, both are extremely precious commodities that come to us as gifts of creation.  Both salt and light are valuable.  At the same time, both are needed in order to sustain life.  Just try to grow things without any light, and you will discover how much it is needed!  As well, neither salt nor light exist only for their own benefit.  Salt and light are part of creation because we need them.  They are present in order to give life to the inhabitants of this earth.

    And so, when Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth,” and “You are the light of the world,” he is saying so much more.  Jesus is saying, “You are valuable.  You have the ability to give life.  You are one of the precious gifts of God’s creation.  You have been created by God for the benefit of others.”

    However, at the same time, there are two rather odd things that are mentioned in this passage from Matthew.  The first is salt that has lost its taste, and the second is lighting a lamp and then putting it under a bushel basket.  The bit about the salt becoming good for nothing seems to be the more difficult of the two to understand.  It almost seems to imply that we could become worthless, which doesn’t match at all what the Scriptures teach us about the depth of God’s love for us.

    From what I have been able to ascertain, pure sodium chloride (which is what we use for table salt) does not deteriorate.  After all, how many of you have ever had salt go bad on you?... While some have suggested that mixing salt with common earth would make it go bad, it seems more likely that Jesus intended this as a ridiculous statement.  In other words, it is a statement that seeks to get people’s attention by leading them to say, “What?  That’s never going to happen!”

    In fact, it is just as ridiculous as lighting a lamp and then hiding it under a bushel basket.  There quite simply would be no reason to do this.  Normally you would light a lamp because you need some light.  Putting a bushel over it would only prevent the lamp from doing what it was intended to do.

    Notice, too, that the light does not get extinguished.  Jesus doesn’t say, “You are the light of the world, but woe to you if your light gets put out!”  Instead, the image is of using a bushel basket to hide the light.  At the same time, this is not something that somebody else does to us, but something that we do to ourselves.  When we are hiding our light, we are preventing ourselves from fulfilling our purpose.  This, I believe, does actually happen!

    Sometimes the bushel that covers our light takes the form of an inferiority complex – both for individuals and for congregations.  In fact, I have heard people say that they don’t have any gifts – or that they don’t know what their gifts are.  I’ve also heard people say things like, “What can we do?  We don’t have enough people!”  Statements like these can act just like a bushel that we are placing over the light of Christ.

    The thing is that we are the light of the world because that’s what God has made us.  There is not one person here today who has not received any gifts from God.  There is not one person here today who has not had the light of Christ passed on to them.  God has made us what we are and has sent us out to act as salt and light in the world – tasty and lit up! (Workingpreacher.org)

    The question for us to ask ourselves as individuals goes something like this: What are my gifts and passions, and how could those gifts and passions connect with the needs of the congregation and the community?  For example, those with a passion for teaching children might consider using that gift in the Sunday school, or volunteering as a tutor at a local school.  Those with some skill in construction or a passion for building things might consider working on a Habitat for Humanity project.  Those with some web design skills might consider helping a church or a community organization with their website.  Those who have compassion for others and the ability to listen might consider offering some Christian care to those in the congregation and in the community.  What are your gifts and passions, and where do they connect with the needs of the congregation and the community?

    Actually, as a congregation, we need to be asking the same thing.  What are our gifts and passions as a congregation, and where do those gifts connect with the needs in the surrounding community?  This one, in particular, is not always an easy question to answer.  Do we know what our gifts are?  Do we know what the needs are in the world around us?  Whether as a congregation or as individuals, God has given us gifts to share – and if we don’t know what they are, perhaps it would be good to pray that God would show us what our gifts are and where they meet the world’s need.

    “You are the light of the world.  A city built on a hill cannot be hid” (Mt. 5:14).  In other words, people will see you.  They will know that you believe in Jesus, and they will notice when the light of Christ shines in you and through you.  They will also notice when you show no signs of light or life.  So “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Mt. 5:16).  Or, as Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message, “Keep open house; be generous with your lives.  By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.”

    You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.  You are God’s precious creation, valuable and chosen, and gifted for the life of the world. Thanks be to God!  Amen.

Epiphany 5(A)                                Matthew 5:13-16
February 9, 2014
St. Luke’s Zion Lutheran Church
Pastor Lynne Hutchison

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