“Salt and Light”

Matthew 5:13-16

A sermon preached by the Rev. Douglas M. Donley

September 4, 2005

University Baptist Church

Minneapolis, MN

 

            “You are the salt of the Earth.  You are the light of the world.”  These are two familiar sentences.  They have been put to music and trumpeted about as conveying what it means to be a Christian.  Please allow me to briefly unpack both of these terms so that we can figure out how we can be the spiciest and most illuminating people that God wants us to be.

            Think of salt: a seemingly common spice, certainly the staple spice of my growing up years.  But as we get older and more sodium conscious, we tend to replace good old salt with a whole bunch of other spices to mimic the flavor but to minimize our sodium retention.  In the days of the Hebrew people, salt was not as plentiful as it is today.  It was actually a luxury.  People gave it to each other as gifts.  If you had salt, you could preserve meat, you could eat with more joy, you could preserve yourselves.

            Jesus said that the people were salt to each other, salt for the world—a precious commodity that is for good.  It does no good to stay alone and not be used to bring spice to anyone.   Think of the people who give spice to your life.  Think of the way they bring you excitement, that your time spent with them is time well spent.  They are salt to you.  Our church tries to be that kind of salt for the world.  We try to be that kind of salt for each other. 

            As I think of salt these days, I can’t help but think of the people in New Orleans and their salty tears.  Their rage and despair is palpable.  If we are to be salt to each other, then we need to hear about their struggles.  We need to absorb their tears.  We need to send down support to those who need it, so that we can be salt to them.

            Jesus also told people that they were a light to all the nations—a City on a hill.  When you think of a city on a hill, people of course would have thought about Jerusalem, a city built on the summit of the ancient Mount Mariah.   This city which is supposed to be where God dwells was occupied by the powers of the Roman Empire.   By the time Matthew was written the Temple had been destroyed and the people were living in fear.  Jesus knew what we know today, that the city on the hill where empire lives and has its symbols of power often does not care so much about the people in the valley.  New Orleans is a city in a valley.  The persecuted people who were the victims of empire listening to the sermon in the mount were the people in the valley.  But Jesus said, “You are a city on a hill.  You are a light to all nations.”  In other words, you are that which will expose injustice and hatred, and neglect of God’s people.  You don’t need to wait for the city of empire to give you what you need, you are a city yourselves.  As long as you let your light shine, then you will have and give life to a people in need.

            The persecuted people are the ones who needed to shine light on the corners where evil hide.  The fact is that both the Clinton and Bush Administrations cut funding to the levee-makers in southern Louisiana.  It is a bipartisan ignoring of need. 

            I saw the congressional black caucus talk about what they were seeing and shining a light on the continued existence of poverty and racism in this country.

            If we are to be a light on a hill, then we need to be activists.  We need to be exposing injustice, exposing evil wherever it lurks.  We need to be the purest, the brightest the most hope-giving.  That’s what being a Christian is all about.  We’re far from that light, but that’s the goal.  It starts by recognizing it in ourselves and in each other.  You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.

            The only way we can really live into this is together.  We need to be spiced up and preserved a bit.  We need this community.  We need to share food and laughter to balance all of the other work.  We need to find ways to share our resources with those in need.

            I hope that as you begin this academic year that you will find ways that you can pursue rigorous academic pursuits and balance it with good friends, spicy excitement that feeds your spirit.  Only then can you be truly subversive to the powers and principalities.  Only then can you be a part of the coming reign of God.