“Salt and Light” a sermon based on Matthew 5:13-20 Preached at Mount Albert United Church February 9, 2020

 “You are the salt of the earth. If salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. People don’t light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see you clearly and glorify the Spirit which infuses you.”

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I love to cook when I have time, and because of that I tend to buy all kinds of salt to use depending on the dish. We saw some of those this morning. We tend to think of salt as just white stuff – if we stretch a little we might use the ‘fleur de sel’, the first harvest of salt which is not the heavy crystals, but lighter and flakier. My favourite cooking salt is the oregano salt from Portugal – light fleur de sel mixed with chopped oregano. My son now uses only that for cooking.

Have you ever tried cooking without salt? Yes, some have, some must for health reasons – but then we have to stretch ourselves to find other ways to flavour things. Somehow, though, the food remains bland. Something is missing.

And in fact salt can lose its saltiness. The white table salt is simple sodium chloride, which remains salty. But this pink rock salt from the Himalayas is sodium chloride and other compounds. It’s a cruder salt, so to speak, containing not only sodium chloride but other substances as well. So if it were exposed to condensation, for example, the sodium chloride would be removed, and the remainder would not be salty at all. Essentially the salt would lose its flavour and become useless.

The reading this morning from Matthew is one part of the “Sermon on the Mount” - the whole sermon is about three and a half chapters. Which is why we get it in pieces, week by week – there’s just too much in the whole of the teaching to get into one Sunday. Jesus is teaching the people who followed him, who came to listen and to learn. So he’s speaking directly to those followers; if they follow him, if they follow his way, then part of the calling is to take that ‘flavour’ into the relationships they have with others. It isn’t a suggestion to proselytise or convert others, it’s a direction for how to live.

Plus - the "you" he spoke to were the disciples who had just heard him, "Blessed are you when they insult and persecute you because of me." Remembering who is in the audience throws a particular light upon the message we're hearing. The first six “beatitudes” were in the third person  - ‘blessed are they’, ‘blessed are those who’; he only made it personal when he came to this one – blessed are you who suffer for my sake, and *then* he goes on to talk about salt and light. He is saying that the message is so provocative that those who truly are committed to compassion and love may be ridiculed and persecuted, but they will have made a difference, and that there is no way to undo the influence they've had.

It’s important to recognise that Jesus often makes references which the listeners of his time would know right away. Jesus talks about light, and notes that people don’t enter the house, light a lamp, and then immediately cover it so they cannot see. It doesn’t make a lot of sense to us, because our lights are mostly electric – we flick a switch – or use a voice command. To Jesus’ listeners, who might have only one light in a house, given their poverty, it makes all kinds of sense. He speaks of a city on a hill.  About six miles from Nazareth was the city of Sepphoris – Zippori, also known as Diocaesarea in Roman times, a city built on a hill overlooking the Beit Netofa Valley. There is a theory that Jesus’ mother was born there, as well as Saints Anna and Joaquim. It was a multi-cultural city attracting people from all over the Middle Eastern world. Every religion would be represented, every culture, every language. Joseph, and possibly Jesus, would have worked there as carpenters. Sepphoris was big enough and high enough that the light from the city could be seen for miles around. Again Jesus says this is how his listeners, those who follow him need to be – light like that from a city on a hill, a beacon for others around.

Tertullian, an early Christian author, wrote in the late second century ‘Apologeticus’, Chapter 50, addressing Constantine: "No cruelty of yours, though each were to exceed the last in its exquisite refinement, profits you in the least; but forms rather an attraction to our sect. We spring up in greater numbers as often as we are mown down by you: the blood of the Christians is a source of new life" Eventually, Constantine understood that message and stopped the persecutions. His tolerance allowed Christianity to become mainstream. Once it became mainstream, and was organised into denominations, the saltiness of the faith was diluted, especially over the centuries, until the concept of “our church” has taken precedence over Jesus’ teaching.

The absolute *last* thing Jesus was talking about in the Sermon on the Mount was a mainstream faith. An anonymous Christian, in writing to a pagan named Diognetus, said: "Christians cannot be distinguished from the rest of the human race by country or language or customs … they do not follow an eccentric manner of life." The early Christians were people who seemed ordinary; but they became salt and light in a world described as ‘dark’, under Roman oppression and oppression from their own religious leaders.

Jesus teachings make sense to people who live in a communal culture. Our individualism values independence, personal achievement and success; it thrives on competition, sometimes at any cost. Individual rights take precedence over group rights. A communal culture values family or community over individual rights, focuses on unity, and cooperation. As people who value individualism, we might interpret Jesus' words about salt and light as calls to us as individuals. But it is extremely important to note that Jesus' hearers more likely interpreted this as a light-bearing, salty community.

Jesus addressed a group of followers, a community. It was a call to actively bring about God’s realm right in their midst. It had to be done as a community, together. One grain of salt doesn't flavour anything, and one light, even if it's well-placed, won't make the city on the hill visible in the dark. Living and following in loving community was their witness.

Mary McGlone, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet in the US writes: “No matter our cultural background, we need to be aware that Jesus invites us into a communal movement. He doesn't offer a methodology for individual salvation any more than we can light the world by ourselves. ………. (followers) enlighten the world because in them the hungry are fed, the homeless are taken in and everybody watches out for one another. They won't dilute their message, and they don't worry about what it costs because they don't believe they can afford to live in the darkness of another kind of world.”

So what does it mean to be a ‘salty’ follower of Jesus, one who shines light everywhere? 

Someone who will speak for what is right and just, not just stand idly by; not afraid to speak out against those who oppress or discriminate against others – even if it means personal risk, loss of a job, or criticism, or even attack. Someone who is compassionate toward those who suffer, who shows kindness to all, who provides a beacon of light in a dark place.

Jesus doesn’t *call*, in this part of his sermon – he says *to be* full of zest and flavor; to flavour the world with spirit and love. That’s part of how we have watered down our commitment as disciples. Jesus does not call, he says “Be”. Because we believe we cannot afford to live in the darkness of another kind of world. It is in our hands, beginning in our community  - spicing and lighting the world. May it be so.

Sources:

1.      “Salt and Light”, a sermon based on Matthew 5:13-20 by Fran Ota, 2014.

2.      Zesty Christians a sermon based on Matthew 5:13-20 by Rev. Frank Schaefer

3.      Essay by Mary M. McGlone, Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet. She is currently writing the history of the Sisters of St. Joseph in the U.S.