5. Sunday of Epiphany , 02/06/2011

Sermon on Matthew 5:13-20, by Andrew Smith

¹³ "You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people's feet. ¹⁴ "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. ¹⁵ Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶ In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. ¹⁷ "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them. ¹⁸ For truly, I say to you, until heaven and earth pass away, not an iota, not a dot, will pass from the Law until all is accomplished. ¹⁹ Therefore whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. ²⁰ For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

The text for the sermon this morning is the Gospel for today from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount.

Today is the Fifth Sunday in the season of Epiphany and this year because Lent starts so late, we get a full taste of the season. Compare that with three years ago when we got only three Sundays of Epiphany. "What difference does it make?" you might be asking. Well, if you listen carefully, there is a logical order to the Sundays this season. Think about that for a minute and think back to what we have already heard this season: the visit of the Magi, who had come to worship Jesus as king. King Jesus has come to bring the kingdom of heaven near. If there is any doubt who He is, we have the testimony of the heavenly Father at Jesus' baptism, "this is my beloved Son." The reading from John is a little harder to fit into this kingdom paradigm, but there is John pointing to Jesus and saying, "Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world," as if to say, the only way into the kingdom is through the Lamb God has provided, Jesus. Then Jesus began His ministry in full, at first, preaching the same message as John, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." And after He called his first disciples, He began doing kingdom work, setting right again the kingdom corrupted by sin. Then last week, in the Beatitudes, Jesus explains to his disciples, those who already have the kingdom, what living in the kingdom looks like. So there is a logical progression to the Gospel readings during this season and we would do well to listen to them in order. And we would do well to remember that we have arrived at this section of Matthew chapter 5 through a particular door, the Beatitudes. You are the blessed ones. You have already received the kingdom of heaven. It's to you that Jesus preaches this Sermon on the Mount.

"You are the salt of the earth," most Bibles read. But this noun might better be seen acting like an action word, "You are that which salts the earth." The same goes for the light of the world. "You are that which lights the world." You salt the earth; you light the world. These images are not hard for us to understand. We live in an area where recently salt is verb. As a result of all the winter weather, the trucks salt the road. If they didn't, we couldn't get around as safely as we do. The same holds for light as a verb. The state has just completed the lighting project out on I-40, so now we can say they have lit the area to help drivers safely navigate the area. In these cases salt and light have beneficial effects on our area, helping us to drive safely. The same holds true for the disciples who metaphorically salt and light the world. It's a question of who and whose you are. You are disciples of Jesus, redeemed and blessed. Think about that for a minute. You are to salt and light the world. It's who you are. No others have been called by Jesus to do this. But don't take this as a command from Jesus as much as it is a description of what it means to be Christ's disciples in this world. Who you are is not dependent on how well you salt or light the world. No. Who you are is completely God's own act of calling and preserving you in the faith through the Holy Spirit. He does this through the Word of Jesus: "You are blessed, you poor in spirit, because the reign of heaven is already yours." Because you are blessed, because you already possess the kingdom of heaven, you salt and light the world.

Now I don't want to get bogged down with the specifics of salt in the time of the New Testament but I do think a word of explanation is due here. When we're talking about salt here we're not talking about the box of Morton's on the shelf. Most folks in Palestine got their salt from around the Dead Sea. This kind of salt could "lose its saltiness," acquiring the alkaline taste of other chemical compounds present as the salt was dissolved out and salt that isn't salty anymore is good for nothing. You also might be wondering why the disciples are to salt the earth. In this part of the country that might not need as much explanation because we know that salt is a great preservative for things like ham. The earth needs preserving, says Jesus, and disciples of Jesus salt the earth.

Jesus poses the next part as a question, "but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?" We can ask the question a little differently, a way which I think is still true to the text, "If you don't salt the earth, how will the earth get salted?" If the snow plow driver doesn't salt the road, how will the road get salted? Just as it is the job of the snow plow driver to salt the road, so it is that Christians salt the earth. It's what they do. A person who refuses this calling is a person who has never entered the kingdom. A disciple who no longer salts has deserted his calling and his Lord; he will be thrown out and trampled on the Last Day.

Just as you salt the earth, so shall you light the world. This is an image which is a little clearer for us. Dark is bad; in the dark is where evil hides. Light is good and dispels the darkness. Remember back just two weeks ago when Jesus began His ministry in Galilee? Matthew described it as the fulfillment of Isaiah's prophesy:

15 "The land of Zebulun and the land of Naphtali, the way of the sea, beyond the Jordan, Galilee of the Gentiles-

16 the people dwelling in darkness have seen a great light, and for those dwelling in the region and shadow of death, on them a light has dawned."

17 From that time Jesus began to preach, saying, "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand." (Mt. 4:15-17) The beginning of Jesus ministry is described as bringing light to people in darkness. Now not even a full chapter later, Jesus' disciples also light the world. Now catch what Jesus says next. It's actually a logical argument. "A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house." (Mt 5:14b, 15) An invisible city on a hill doesn't make sense. People don't light a lamp and then hide it under a bushel basket. That's absurd. Remember you light the world. To try to escape this calling means rejecting Jesus Himself. He teaches with authority, and all His disciples, then and now, believe that in Him, you are God's way of blessing the world around you. You bless the world around you, you salt the earth and you light the world by your good works.

"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Mt 5:16) Oh yes, your good works are your salt for the earth and your light for the world. There are many Christians, even Lutherans, who shy away from any talk of good works because of the fear of suggesting that good works might aid in one's salvation. But as our own Lutheran Confessions declare, good works are a necessary part of the Christian life. From the Formula of Concord, "Especially in these last times, it is just as necessary to exhort people to Christian discipline and good works, and to remind them how necessary it is that they exercise themselves in good works as an evidence of their faith and their gratitude toward God, as it is to warn against mingling good works in the article of justification." (FC Ep IV 18) Look how Jesus talks about good works. What are they for? Christians do good works so that others may see them and glorify God. Millions of times over the past two thousand years, people receiving shelter, food, clothing, medical care, have asked Christians, "Why do you do this?" And the answer is because Christians are called to do these things. Jesus will explain throughout the rest of the Sermon on the Mount what these good works look like but the nature of them all is to glorify God and to serve one's neighbor.

Jeff Gibbs in his commentary on Matthew, explains that these good works will be carried out by Christians in their "ordinary" vocations, those roles and stations in life where God has put them. But, he points out, "Those works and those lives... are to be extraordinary... Jesus' disciples are called to lives of remarkable purity, faithfulness, piety, love and generosity." (Gibbs, 261) He sees a particular trap for modern Lutherans. "The Reformation rightly rejected the notion that monastic vocations held any spiritual superiority to the "ordinary" callings of Christians. As Luther writes in the Large Catechism, "If this truth could be impressed upon the poor people, a servant girl would dance for joy and praise and thank God; and with her careful work, for which she receives sustenance and wages, she would gain a treasure such as all who pass for the greatest saints do not have. Is it not a wonderful thing to be able to boast to yourself, "If I do my daily housework faithfully, that is better than the holiness and austere life of all the monks"?

146 You have the promise, moreover, that you will prosper and fare well in everything. How can you lead a more blessed or holy life, as far as your works are concerned?

147 In the sight of God it is really faith that makes a person holy; faith alone serves him, while our works serve the people. (LC I 145-147) In Luther's day it needed to be reinforced that the ordinary callings were ordained by God and Christians living in them were pleasing God. Gibbs goes on to say that Christians today need to be exhorted not "to live in their vocations in ordinary ways, that is, in the same ways that non-Christians do." "Jesus' disciples are called to be extraordinary husbands and wives, remarkable neighbors and employees, powerful friends and citizens. Their deeds and their words, in the power of faith and the Spirit, will be like salt, like light in the darkness." [emphasis original] (262)

As if there could be any mistaking of what Jesus says here, the reading today concludes with Jesus' saying, "For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Mt 5:20) But remember who has called you. Remember who has made you His own. The Lord of heaven and earth, the Son of God, the One who does not destroy the Law but the One who achieves every last demand and completes even the smallest requirement of it, He has called you. He has given you possession of the kingdom of heaven. He has blessed you. Out of that relationship of grace and present promise and future blessing, you do good works, salting the earth and lighting the sin darkened world because your righteousness flows out of your relationship with Jesus. Good works are a part of every disciple's life in Christ and stem from Jesus' call and blessing.

You've been called to an extraordinary life in Christ Jesus. Salt the earth. Light the world. Glorify your Father in heaven assured of your righteousness in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus. Amen.

The Rev. Andrew Smith
Hickory, North Carolina, USA
E-Mail: smithad19+prediger@gmail.com

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