Sermon - February 6, 2011
Year A - The Year of Matthew - Epiphany 5
Isaiah 58:1-9a, (9b-12); Psalm 112:1-9, (10); 1 Corinthians 2:1-12, (13-16); Matthew 5:13-20

Today, Jesus says:
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything. You are the light of the world...No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket, but on the lamp stand and it gives light in all the house.

Notice that Jesus does not say: "You ought to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. No, he says: "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Salt and light are both absolutely essential for human life; and they are both things we take for granted. However, we notice them if they are completely absent. Have you ever tasted that "salt free" soup? If your body is low on salt, you would become very sick. Your cells require some salt.

We notice light when there is no light. Power outages and the fear of power outages during ice-storms bring the importance of light to us.

Most of the time, important things like salt and light lay hidden. We do not notice them. Try to imagine the world without salt and without light! The Church has its great faults. Christians have big problems and lots of faults. However, just imagine the world without your faith. 

Salt has had a bad reputation in recent decades. We are told that individuals who eat too much salt are at a risk of developing high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and even stomach cancer. In our day, salt is treated almost like a poison rather than something of value. 

Salt is inexpensive in our culture. In addition to small amounts of salt for the table, we buy it in 40-pound bags for use in water softeners or on slick winter sidewalks and by the dump-truck load to melt ice on roads and bridges. Right now, this winter, we are seeing salt everywhere. We track it into stores and buildings and even into our homes. 

The way in which modern people view salt – abundant everywhere – is decidedly different from people centuries ago. In Biblical times, salt was rare, hard to obtain, and considered a very precious commodity. Pliny, a first century Roman writer, and contemporary of Jesus, wrote, "Nothing is more useful than salt and sunshine."

The Romans paid their soldiers an allowance of salt called a salarium - hence our word salary, and the phrase 'worth one's salt'. The phrase, "Take it with a grain of salt," is from the Latin, "cum grano salis," which means "be suspicious" because there is only a little bit of truth or value in what someone is saying. 

Salt was important and valuable. Consequently, we can better understand why Jesus used the image of salt in today’s gospel: “You are the salt of the earth.” 

Jesus used an analogy that people of his day could easily understand. He wanted to let them know that God does extraordinary things for his people, and we should not try to hide it. We should not be ashamed of our faith. We let our faith shine like a lamp in the darkness. 

Jesus was telling his followers that he placed a high value on them and on what he wanted of them – just as the first-century culture placed a very high value on salt. He taught his followers to act for God in ways as important and varied as salt was in their world.

Jesus says to those who would be his followers, "You are the salt of the earth, 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 underfoot." Jesus was saying to us that as a "person of faith" you are essential to the world. However, if you lose the quality of your faith, what good are you to God’s work? For the purposes of God's vision for the world, your value is lost. Thus, Jesus’ words move from a curious statement to a steep challenge.

Christian faith can provide spiritual seasoning that gives life joy and meaning. To keep life from being bland and unrewarding, we season it with Christian commitment and understanding of God’s love for his children. Being salt to the world means adding flavor to life wherever and whenever possible. It means adding a zestful spirit to life and love. It means pursuing meaning in all we do and in all we encounter. It means acting in love towards those who enter our lives.

In Jesus’ day, salt was often connected with purity. The Romans believed that salt was the purest of all things, because it came from pure things: the sun and the sea. It was used by the Jews to purify their offerings to God. When Jesus tells Christians they are the salt of the earth, he is saying that we must accept a pure and high standard in speech, thought, and behavior – keeping ourselves unspotted by the world’s self-centeredness. Jesus calls us to be a cleansing presence, constantly witnessing to the good that is found in God and the values of God’s realm.

We are called as people of faith to preserve the quality of righteousness. What is righteousness? Last Sunday Jesus taught the Beatitudes. Righteousness is humility of spirit. What Paul wrote of love in First Corinthians can also be said of righteousness. Like love, righteousness is not arrogant or rude; it does not force its own way, it is humble. 

Righteousness is like a circle, for even the quality of passion is conditioned by mercy. (The beatitudes go from humility to mercy.) Mercy saves us from becoming the evil we deplore, from using the rightness of our convictions to hate those who oppose us. For the ultimate aim of righteousness is peace in our homes, communities, lives, and in our world. In some way, in some area of life, to be a Christian is to be about preserving or bringing about peace.

Jesus calls us to be salt in the world. As God's salt in the world we can promote healing through prayer, caring for others, and supporting the least, the lost, and the lonely.

Salt has, for centuries, served as a preservative to prevent food from spoiling. We, as salt in the world are preserved by God’s mercy. As followers of Jesus, we are committed to preserving Christian principles that keep others and ourselves from turning in on ourselves and outward to the people in our lives and in the world.

As Christians, we do not need to go on a spiritual salt-free diet. Instead, we are called to be the salt of the earth. Jesus empowers us to purify, to heal, to nurture, to thaw the frozen, to preserve, and to season the people of the earth. The power of God supports and sustains us and stands with us if we risk whatever it takes to become salt to the world. Moreover, when we fail in this effort, God will raise us up, renew us, and give us strength to persevere, again and again. Amen.