Episodes
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
You ARE
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
Sunday Aug 02, 2015
A homily preached by Rev. Ginger E. Gaines-Cirelli at Foundry UMC August 2, 2015, the tenth Sunday after Pentecost.
Texts: Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 5:13-20
Today’s Gospel comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount and consists of a fairly familiar set of teachings. Not wanting to make assumptions based on this familiarity, I hit the books to try to discover what Jesus, as a Jew who lived when and where he did, might have been referring to when he spoke of salt and light… And in my research, I came across a wide array of explanations and references to salt in the Jewish tradition. My personal favorite is described as “salting the baby.” According to one scholar, salt was used both by Hebrew women and others in nearby cultures to repel the presence of evil—sort of like using garlic to keep the vampires away. So when babies were born, they were “salted” as a form of protection. Being fairly skeptical about whether this explanation had anything to do with what Jesus is teaching in Matthew 5, I decided to ask a Rabbi friend if he could shed any light on how Jesus, as a Rabbi of the time, might have been referencing salt. What I was given is a rabbinic commentary on this passage that confirmed what I was beginning to deduce: during the period when Jesus lived, salt was used to preserve and cure food, making salt absolutely essential for the well-being—even the survival—of the world and its people.[i] By referring to his disciples—to us—as the “salt of the earth” Jesus is saying that our lives are essential to the world. Jesus teaches that his disciples are the element in the world that keeps the world wholesome; the disciples help preserve what sustains life—the beautiful, good, and true things of the world.
What about light? What might Jesus be talking about when he tells his listeners that they are the light of the world? The prophetic tradition, especially Isaiah, calls God’s people to be “a light to the nations.” (Isaiah 42:6, 49:6, 60:3) In today’s passage Isaiah gives some instruction about what that means. To be light in the world, according to Isaiah, is to be merciful to folks who are suffering, to be generous with what we have in support of those who don’t have enough, to do whatever we can to set people free from the things that keep them from really living, to try to do the right thing in difficult situations at work and at home, to keep good priorities, to be present and supportive of our families, to allow ourselves to be inconvenienced for the sake of others’ needs, to stand up for those who are hurt or weak, and to choose to speak words that build up other people instead of words that tear them down. (Isaiah 58:6-7,9) When Jesus says, “You are the light of the world,” he is saying that we, his disciples, are those who live in the world in these ways…we are those who shine light into the world.
The teachings of the Hebrew Bible speak of God’s Word as light—“thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” (Psalm 119:105) My Rabbi friend shared with me that Rabbinic tradition teaches that the Torah, the Hebrew Bible (Jesus’s Bible), is also compared to salt,[ii] as that which preserves what is necessary for life to thrive and be sustained. Torah is salt and light. The disciples of Jesus are salt and light. I believe it is this connection that helps us understand why Jesus goes on to talk about fulfilling the law and the prophets. The disciples of Jesus are salt and light in the world as they live as ones preserved and guided by the salt and light of Torah, of God’s Word.
For me, the most striking thing about Jesus’ teaching today is that he says to those who would follow him: “You ARE the salt of the earth…You ARE the light of the world.” There is no condition placed on these things. Jesus is saying that this is our nature, how we are made—we are made to be salt and light in the world. The rabbinic tradition confirms this ; the Talmud teaches that the question “if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?” is purely rhetorical. Salt CAN’T lose its saltiness.[iii] Salt is salt. You ARE salt, you are the element in the world that helps preserve the good, the beautiful, and the true things of this world. Lights of a city on a hill cannot be hidden—light is light, there for all to see. You ARE light, you are agents of God’s love, mercy, and justice. This is who we are created to be: salt and light.
But the rhetorical question must have been asked to make a point. Perhaps Jesus—in asking about salt that isn’t being “salty”—is, in good prophetic fashion, speaking about the ways we betray our true nature, acting in ways contrary to what we are made for. Isaiah speaks of our “rebellion,” and calls us out for the ways that we serve our own interests, oppress workers, quarrel and fight and “strike with a wicked fist,” the ways that we “point the finger” and speak evil of others. We know all too well that evil, violence, and injustice are rampant in our world, our country, our city. We know our complicity. But the prophetic call of Jesus—and Isaiah before him—is to turn away from what is destructive, to turn away from all that is counter to the ways of God, to turn away from anything that keeps us from being who we really are, to turn toward God, to be like the prodigal child who had wandered so far from home who—all at once—“came to himself” and remembered who he was and whose he was, remembered that he could go home. And when we turn and return to God we will find healing, refreshment, and sustenance for ourselves—like a watered garden, like a spring whose waters never run out. If and when we turn to God, then God’s grace fills us more and more and we are given strength to claim our true nature, to live out of our true purpose; and then—using the words of Isaiah—we can be light that we are for others, we can be healers of the breach and restorer of streets to live in. And-oh!-doesn’t our world need healers of the breach and restorers of streets to live in?
Each one of us is created by God to be salt and light... As unique children of God no one can be salt and light in the world in exactly the same way. YOU are salt and light as only you can be. Where is God giving you an opportunity to heal the breach that exists between the rich and poor, between races, between political parties, between members of your family? Where is God giving you a chance to help this “city on a hill”—Washington, DC—shine its light more justly? Think for a moment about how you have already been salt and light in the world—in your workplace, your community, your church, your family—about how God has worked through you to help someone else, to provide for someone, to guide, to care, to heal, to show mercy, to communicate love…
You see, you ARE salt and light. We can try to live as those who are created for something else; we can forget who we really are and what we’re made for; we can try to hide who we really are as God’s strong, graced, courageous, beloved children. We could try to hide our light under a bushel basket, but why would we want to? Why do you suppose would we want to?
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