We Are Already the Salt of the Earth - Matthew 5:13-20
In the box set of Jesus’s greatest hits, the Sermon on the Mount would arguably be one of his more critically acclaimed albums. Maybe not the breakout hit, but like his sophomore album--you know the one that’s less formulaic pop and a bit more experimental but just mainstream enough. You can start to hear the post-punk influence.
The Sermon on the Mount is a significant moment in the gospel of Matthew. It’s one of Jesus’s lengthier discourses, which is a mildly fancy way of saying that it’s one of those longer stretches in the gospels where it’s just Jesus talking for a while. Up on that Mount Jesus goes on for three whole chapters. Last week, Kate offered some really inspired analysis of the Beatitudes which is Jesus’s opening track to the Sermon on the Mount.
Jesus covers a lot of topics on that hilltop, including but not limited to: How to deal with people who do us wrong; how to address broken relationships; what to do with strong emotions like anger; spiritual discipline and piety; having the right mindset in a complex world; how to live faithfully. The Sermon on the Mount also has some of Jesus more quotable gems like: No one can serve two masters. Do not judge, so that you may not be judged. Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Our gospel lesson today is probably one of the better known hits from the Sermon on the Mount. Upbeat but with some slightly edgier lyrics and a bridge that uses a few minor chords and makes you question what the song is really about. I realize at this point that I may have exhausted this metaphor. But with the mention of salt, an earlier draft of my sermon tried to rely on a soup making analogy.
But I digress. Probably most of us have heard the phrases “salt of the earth” or “don’t hide your light under a basket” or “a city on a hill cannot be hidden.” Such phrases have been quoted and repeated in a variety of contexts for nearly two thousand years. At this point, we may, as so many have, delve into these simple few metaphors. Even on their own there is something edifying to be found in salt and light and a city on a hill. I would ask us to consider that on a deeper level Jesus may be challenging us to better understand what it means to be a disciple in a world fraught with difficulties.
If we take this salt metaphor for instance. We might consider what it means to be the salt of the earth. I spent a good twenty minutes delving into the interesting properties of salt and the use of salt in the ancient world. Fascinating stuff, but I don’t know that I came to a deeper understanding of Jesus’s message here.
We might wonder what Jesus is saying about us, with respect to salt or light or a city on a hill. I think we often want to make this about ourselves a bit. We may ask ourselves, how do we be or become salt and so forth. I don’t know that Jesus’s message here is merely: be a bit saltier; Shine a little brighter; Build a bigger city on a taller hill.
What we might not appreciate at first read is that Jesus uses this bit of his Sermon on the Mount to create some stark contrast between the Kingdom of God and the ways of the world. He uses language like lost and restored; abolish and fulfilled; passing away and accomplished. You can find these words in this passage. Often Jesus is strenuous and hyperbolic like this; it’s a hallmark of his teaching style. He isn’t just talking about us as salt and light. Jesus is holding up the message of the gospel, that is the cross, over and against and the ways of the world--what Paul calls in our epistle lesson the wisdom of the rulers of this age.
Jesus is asking us to look outside ourselves and consider the high stakes of following Christ in our world. Jesus may be saying something more, something about the kingdom of God in the midst of the kingdoms of this world. So we might understand Jesus to be saying: Salt is either salty or it is not salt at all. A lamp gives light to the house or it is no lamp at all. If there is a hill and you can see no city upon it, then there is no city. The gospel that we or any of us proclaim is either the gospel of Jesus Christ or it is no gospel at all.
Set aside the salt and light and city on a hill and consider the second half of our gospel lesson where Jesus discusses the law. Here Jesus is anticipating the arguments some may make against his teaching. Jesus is, of course addressing the potential objections his contemporaries have to his teaching--that he’s pushing things too far; that he’s trying to abolish the law, tear asunder the culture and society. I think it’s safe to say that we can also apply Jesus to our own present day world.
I may be taking some liberty here, but I would venture that the salt and light and city metaphors may really be about the world in which we are trying to follow Christ. Jesus is suggesting that the world would rather be bland and unseasoned. The world would rather be dimly lit and in darkness. The world would rather that city on a hill be more of an imposing and unwelcoming fortress meant to keep undesirable people out. In this way, Jesus isn’t addressing opponents of the gospel, but rather, those who claim the gospel for their own but use it to support their own privilege and power. This is why the stakes of following Christ in this world are so high.
Some in the world--the rulers of this age--talk plenty about Jesus. They hold up Jesus to support their position and to make their case. Some wield the gospel like a bludgeon or an even an ax, smashing and chopping what doesn’t fit into their worldview. But they speak with their own wisdom, a wisdom that suits their own purposes and not with the wisdom of God. Oh, they like Jesus, just without his spice rack and torch and city planning. Now, Jesus, just a hint of salt. Just a small lamp on this side table--keep a little mood lighting; let’s not redecorate the whole place. We like our city just as it is with its current residents. I’m being a bit cheeky maybe. But I have witnessed far too often how the bad news of the world so masquerades as the gospel. We have seen how the bad news of the world runs up against the true gospel of Christ.
Jesus himself knows this. He addresses this very issue. The wisdom of this age would claim the gospel for itself while at the same time say, it sounds like you are trying to change things, twist things, rewrite the rules. They would accuse and condemn and say “You’re trying to abolish and overthrow!” Jesus famously says “not one letter, not one stroke of a letter will pass away” until he has accomplished what he has come to accomplish. I’m upending the whole affair, Jesus suggests, just not the way that you’re suggesting.
Jesus is telling us--strenuously reminding us, even--that through his cross and resurrection--we are already salt. We are already a lamp to light the house. We are--this is, Christ Church, on the corner of Scott and 6th--a city on a hill. We didn’t make ourselves salty; we didn’t light that lamp; this city is not of our own making. All of it belongs to Christ, and we to him.
Salt cannot lose its saltiness except by being diluted. A lamp gives light unless it’s covered and hidden away. A city on a hill is not to defend itself, but to draw others in, to welcome those outside to become members of the community. Salt is not salty for itself. A lamp shines not for itself. A city is built not for itself. You are the salt that the world needs to season and sanctify it. You are the light meant to shine for the sake of others, to light their paths. We are a city meant to welcome those outside into our community not as citizens of the world, but as children of God.
And none of this stands on the wisdom of the rulers of this age--not one word of it. Not one stroke of a single letter depends upon the world’s wisdom. Through the cross and resurrection of Christ whatever was lost is restored; whatever the world has abolished will be fulfilled; and while the wisdom of this age passes away, by his cross and resurrection God’s divine love for us is accomplished in us.