5th Sunday after the Epiphany Sermon
Has anyone ever called you the salt of the earth? Or said to you “You are the light of my life!”?
If your answer is “yes,” I’m guessing those strong and tender words had quite an impact on you. I think that was probably true in Jesus’ day too, though the words would have sounded vastly different to his hearers. Different, not just because it was Jesus saying the words, but different because of what the words would have meant. So in order to make this first century scripture come alive in our 21st century lives, we need to understand what salt and light meant in the first century Mediterranean world.
In the ancient world, salt was a far more essential and precious commodity than it is today. While salt was regarded as a necessary element in cooking, to accent, enliven and bring out the depth and beauty of other flavors just as it is today, in the ancient world, salt was used for so many other things. Salt for medicinal purposes, for preservation, for purification, for hospitality, for commerce and trade. But the most interesting thing about salt in the ancient world is the indissoluble connection between salt and covenant.
In Jesus’ world, salt was a symbol of covenant and in his time, people often spoke of a covenant of salt as a way to describe the truth and endurance of a trusted collaboration or relationship.
When serious commitments were made, people would say “There is salt between us.” Deals were sealed with the words “He has eaten of my salt.” Salt is enduring – it preserves things for a very long time, so it makes perfect sense that it would be used to describe a covenant that was meant to go on and on and on. Salt purifies, so it makes perfect sense that it would used to describe a covenant that was meant to be pure, worthy and binding. God’s covenant with King David was called a “covenant of salt.” 2 Chronicles 13:15. God’s covenant with the line of priests that descended from Moses’ brother Aaron was called a “covenant of salt.” Numbers 18:19. “Have salt among yourselves,” Jesus said, “and be at peace with each other.” Mark 9:50. Salt to enliven, salt to enhance, salt to accentuate, salt to bind together, salt to make sacred and enduring.
Salt and Light. We know about letting our light shine, we’ve been singing about it since we were little. Ask your littles: 🎵This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine… In the church I last served I sang that song with the children in dayschool chapel each time we gathered. I wanted even the littlest among them to begin to grasp what Jesus meant when he said, “You are the light of the world.” “There is a quiet light that shines in all of us,”[i] and that light exists to illuminates all of the beauty, and goodness, and love in the world. “You are the light of the world,” Jesus says. “Live like that! Let my light shine through you and become the light that dispels the darkness in the world.”
You see, being the light of the world means we exist so that things can be seen as they really are – that’s what good light does. It allows things to be truly seen. I think what Jesus is telling us when he calls us the light of the world, is that we exist to illuminate what is true, to show things as they truly are, to make visible the reality that the Kingdom of Heaven, present then, present now, and still to come, is a world where the merciful, the peacemakers, the meek and pure of heart are themselves blessed, even as they bless others. The Kingdom of Heaven is the world imbued with God’s Holy Spirit, a world where everything and everyone is utterly beloved and blessed.
I know that most of us don’t wake up in the morning and check the liturgical calendar, but last Monday was the feast of the Presentation, the day Mary went to the temple to be purified after birthing her son, and she and Joseph dedicated Jesus, their first-born boychild, to God in the temple. It was there that they encountered the prophet Anna and the old man Simeon, the one who first proclaimed Jesus to be the light of the world. Simeon’s prayer of blessing became the prayer we say at Compline, the last prayers of the day… Lord, you now have set your servant free to go in peace as you have promised. For these eyes of mine have seen the savior whom you have prepared for all the world to see. A LIGHT TO ENLIGHTEN THE NATIONS, and the glory of your people, Israel. Just over a month old and Jesus was recognized as the light of the world. Stunning. And just as stunning, today Jesus tells us that we are that same light. I don’t know about you, but to me it feels like a lot of responsibility. How am I supposed to be the light of the world that Jesus is?
There is a clue in the beatitudes we heard last Sunday, the words that come right before today’s gospel passage. Having just told everyone how beloved and blessed they are, Jesus tells them – and us – we are salt and light… Blessed are the poor in spirit, blessed are the mourners, the meek, the ones who hunger and thirst for righteousness. Blessed are the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers and the ones who are persecuted. Blessed are you. Blessed are you who are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
Do you see what Jesus is doing here? Jesus doesn’t tell us we have to do anything to be blessed, he tells us we already are. He doesn’t ask us if we want to be the light of the world or the salt of the earth, he tells us we already are. He doesn’t say we have to behave perfectly or even well or work to be merciful or meek or pure of heart. He tells us we already are. You see, it’s because of who we are, not what we do, that we are blessed, that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And it’s because of who we are – not what we are – that we do what we do.
We are salt and light, beloved and blessed, simply because we are God’s own beloveds. There is nothing we can do to make God love us and there is nothing we can do to make God not love us. Love is who God is. And all that belovedness and blessing is God’s pure gift. It’s what makes us the salt of the earth and the light of the world. It’s who we really are – Jesus always sees us as we really are. So then, how then shall we live?
Jesus used salt and light to help his earliest followers understand how they were to live, and they can tell us much about how we are to live, too. Because salt was both symbolic and practical in the ancient world, because it was used for sacrifice, purification, seasoning, preserving and making sacred covenants, salt was sacramental. Because light exists to illumine what is around us, to allow us to see things as they truly are, to dispel the darkness, light is sacred too. Sacrifice, purification, seasoning, preserving, binding together, dispelling the darkness, making visible truth that might not otherwise be seen … that’s all very sacramental and life-giving stuff. The life of a follower of Jesus of Nazareth is precisely that – life-giving and sacramental. It is a life of blessing.
When Jesus said “You are the light of the world, you are the salt of the earth,” when he said “blessed are you and you and you and you…” he was talking about who we are. He was talking about living a life of blessing. When Jesus called his followers blessed, when he told them they were salt and light he was telling them about the way the world really is. He was telling them that the real world is the Kingdom of Heaven world, where love is the law and peace and justice are its fruits. Jesus speaks to us just as clearly today as he spoke to his followers on that mountain so long ago. The love and peace and justice that Jesus called his followers to live into are as countercultural today as they were in 1st century Roman-occupied Palestine, and no easier to come by.
But as followers of Jesus of Nazareth, there is no other way for us to live. Because of Jesus, we love in the face of hurt and anger and fear. Because of Jesus, we work for justice in the face of greed and power and abuse. Because of Jesus, we pray and work for peace in a world stunned by injustice and cruelty and hate. Because of Jesus, we hold hope. Because of Jesus, we choose the way of salt and light and blessing. Jesus tells us we are salt and light and blessing so we will know how to live in the world. Salt is insignificant until it is put to use – to season, to heal, to preserve and connect. Light does not exist to be seen, but to illuminate the reality of God’s Kingdom come among us. Salt and light do not exist for themselves. Neither did Jesus or the disciples. Neither do we. We become what we were created to be only when we are used, when we pour ourselves out and shine Christ’s redemptive and sanctifying love in God’s beautiful, broken and suffering world.
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Nothing can undo that. So rejoice.
Be salty. Let your light so shine. And you, and you and you and you and you and you and you…
go and be a blessing in the world. Amen
[i] John O’Donohue To Bless the Space Between Us