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Last week we started our month-long focus on Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. We talked about how Jesus started with Blessing—with good news, especially for those who might not think there was much good news for them. But Jesus doesn’t give the disciples (or us) time to wallow in these Blessings. For Blessing leads (as it usually does in the Bible) right to responsibility.
We have barely patted ourselves on the back for receiving God’s blessing when Jesus moves onto what that means for us—how we live with others and with God. Blessing is never a private affair. It is not like winning the lottery where you get to keep all the proceeds for yourself. This Blessing is meant to be shared, to be shouted from the rooftops, to be sprinkled over everything that we do.
Jesus makes the message simple for us using two common, everyday things—salt and light. Everyone knows that salt can enhance and preserve and heal and be an irritant. And Jesus says “You are the salt of the earth!” Another blessing! But if the salt has lost its taste, if the salt has stopped being salt, what good is it? You throw it out into the street to be walked on as just dust of the earth.
Everyone knows that light keeps the darkness at bay. And Jesus says, “You are the light of the world!” Another blessing! But Jesus chides us to remember what you do with light. You don’t light a lamp to hide it under a bushel. You lift it up, you use the lamp to spread light everywhere.
Remember, this Jesus’ first TED talk—this is the inaugural address of his ministry. And so far he has spoken about blessings for characteristics that are not on the approved “top ten” leadership list. And now, Jesus is saying that following him is not for those faint of heart. This is not going to be a private affair. This is not something you hear and contemplate in your quiet moments alone with God. Or that can’t be all of what you do.
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. This is no small potatoes. Jesus didn’t say “go flavor your nuclear family.” Jesus didn’t say “shine some good will on your village or your synagogue or even your country.” This is cosmic. Salt of the earth. Light of the world. In other words, this touches everything—and it calls us to a bigger stage.
Now in case we think that Jesus is acting outside the religious box—I would remind us of the last two weeks of Scripture Readings from the prophets. Micah hears us asking “What does the Lord require of us?” And he distills it down into the famous words “Do justice, love mercy, walk humbly with your God.” Notice that walking with God is not separate from how we walk in the world and how we treat others.
And in case we missed Micah, or forgot, this week we hear the prophet Isaiah with a very similar message. Isaiah reports that God hears us say, “Don’t you see all the things we are doing to be faithful? We fast, we “humble” ourselves.” And God replies, “what I see is that you “fast” in name only, and go on behaving as you have done in the past—that is, badly. Here is what I, God, want from you. Here is what a real “fast” would look like—
to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and God will say, Here I am.
I think this is why Jesus is so quick to point out that he isn’t “doing a new thing” but is, in fact, being true to the law and the prophets (to his Scripture, to his religious heritage, to those who have gone before). He is reminding everyone that faith and works cannot be separated. And that God calls us to be involved in the world in which we live.
It is so tempting to hide when it seems dangerous to be a salt or light. (Maybe that is why we need blessings before we contemplate what it is Jesus has in store for us to do). As Jill Duffield imagines in the Presbyterian Outlook “The temptation to hide under a bushel or in the basement or with our close, comfortable circles is intense when the world seems very, very dark. That’s what we do when we get scared. We hunker down, do what we know, hide. When we see the vulnerable being trampled, our tendency is not to run out into the street and stand between them and the onslaught, rather it is to go into our homes and lock the door. This little light of mine, I am going to snuff it out so no one knows I am home. I am going to pull down the blackout curtains so that I am not an easy target for the bombs falling from the sky.” (February 3 2017)
Jesus seems to be talking right to us. This is true of every age, I bet. Walking with God, being more righteous than the Pharisees, requires a whole lot more than most of us would like to give.
Salt of the earth. Light of the world. Couldn’t we pare that down to something more manageable? Do we really have the resources, even the know-how? Our little lights do seem so little.
And then I remember who Jesus was talking to—the fisher folk, the poor in spirit, the meek, the pure in heart, even the peacemakers. Not those who would seem to be well positioned to change the world, to change anything for that matter.
And the whispers of something I’ve heard before begin to tickle my ear. A boy with a slingshot taking on a hardened military giant. An angel announcing surprising news to a young girl. A tired woman refusing to give up her seat on a bus.
And the words begin to sound louder and louder. Blessed are you,
Blessed are you,
Blessed are you.
Salt of the earth.
Light of the world.
You are not alone.
Salt doesn’t come just in a single grain.
Light is brightest when it is many rays together.
Don’t shoot low, shoot high.
For what does it mean to do justice and love mercy and walk humbly with God?
What does it mean to break every yoke and let the oppressed go free?
What will it mean for us?
That’s what Jesus asks. Every generation. Everyone.
You are the salt of the earth.
You are the light of the world.
Blessed are you.
What will you, what will we, do with our blessing?
Alleluia, Amen.
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