Salt and Light

Scripture: 

Matthew 5:13-16

Preached 02/09/2014

 
Guy was surprised.  Flabbergasted, even.  He’s an art auctioneer, and was just searching around in a very dusty old attic.  He wasn’t expecting to find too much.  But he found a Van Gogh.  Now, Vincent Van Gogh may derive much of his fame from his reputation as a deeply troubled eccentric, but he could definitely paint, too.  His work is known for its rough beauty, emotional honesty, and vibrant use of color. His art was never popular in his own lifetime, and most likely died thinking he had failed. However, time changes a lot of things,  we know today that he’s heralded as a genius who has forever changed art as we know it.  And his paintings are now worth millions of dollars.  Which is why Guy was so surprised that one of his works was just discarded in a corner. 

The person who owned this painting, the person who owned the attic which Guy was searching wasn’t just anyone.  They were an art collector.  They knew their stuff.  How had they missed the fact that they had a Van Gogh?  Why was this painting not on central display?  Why was it left, just discarded and unnoticed by anyone, except for Guy? 

You know, it’s not just that art collector with a Van Gogh in a corner who may not recognize greatness in their midst.  I think we are all guilty of this sometimes.  It’s unfortunately easy to miss greatness, especially when it’s staring right at us, like our own face in the mirror.  When Guy found the Van Gogh, he immediately pointed out the greatness of the painting to the collector.  

And in our scripture reading this morning, we have Jesus, with a crowd of followers around him.  And what does Jesus do?  Point out the greatness he sees in front of him. 

You are the salt of the earth, he says.  It may not always seem like it, but salt is precious.  It’s necessary to life.  It’s part of every cell in our bodies, and part of every living thing on the planet. And in ancient times, like in Jesus’ time, it was even more precious.  You couldn’t just go to the grocery store and buy a container for a few cents.  No, salt was prized, and salt was pricey.  Empires became rich from mining salt. People died mining salt.  Let me just restate that: people died for salt.  And the salt they died for wasn’t even good salt, by our standards.  It wasn’t the pure sodium chloride we can sprinkle on our food.  It was often in large rock like chunks that were full of impurities that would eventually cause the saltiness to leach out of the rock with continued use. 

But salt was still precious.  Like today, salt was used to preserve other foods, to cleanse, to make stone walking surfaces less slippery, even as an offering to gods.  This is the kind of preciousness and priciness Jesus is talking about when he calls his listeners the salt of the earth.  

And he doesn’t stop there.  You are the light of the world, he says.  Not just the light of Jesus’ life, a phrase some of us might use to describe those very precious to us, but the light of the whole world.  It may not always seem like it, but light, too, is very precious, and like salt, was even more precious in the ancient world.  In Jesus time, you obviously couldn’t just flick a switch and have light flood your house.  People relied on fires and lamps to light their homes.   

The fires could only be lit in certain places, and you had to start them by that whole stick and stone spark method.  I’ve tried that—not easy.  So lamps were the best choice, small boat looking dishes of oil with a floating flame.  They were notoriously difficult to light, but they could be maintained easier than a whole fire, and they were portable inside and outside they could give you light, as they old slogan used to go I think, everywhere you want to be.   

And light, of course, was precious, and is precious, because it is the only way we can see.  It was this kind of great value that Jesus points out when he calls his listeners the light of the world. 
So who were these followers of Jesus?  These precious, incredibly valuable people whose greatness Jesus points out?  The best we can tell, they were just ordinary people.  They were most likely not rich or powerful.  They were fishers, carpenters, women, children, tax collectors, sick people. . .Ordinary people.  And yet, Jesus looked at them, and like that art collector looking at the dusty Van Gogh in the corner, saw greatness.  And he pointed it out. 

But Jesus message isn’t just for those ancient listeners, of course.  We wouldn’t bother reading Jesus’ words, studying them, and talking about them, modeling our lives after them, if we believed what he did and said and meant were just interesting pieces of historical trivia.  We believe this Book still talks.  And when Jesus calls his followers salt of the earth and light of the world, he’s calling all of us, all of you that too.  Jesus sees that you are all ordinary people.  And though you may not be wealthy or powerful, you are precious, and you are valuable, and you are full of greatness. 

Can you see it?  Can you see yourself, the Van Gogh in the corner?  Maybe I can help you out a little here, since I’ve had a week to study and ponder this text.  And I can see, in this congregation in front of me, greatness.  Remember, Jesus says this to you: You are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.  You are great.  Jesus saw it.  I see it.  And want you to see it too.   

You are the salt of the earth. Like salt, I’ve seen you preserve.  You’re preserving salt when you put your paper recycling in the bin to help preserve our planet and to make a little money for the church.  You preserve people’s lives when this donate soup to the hungry.   

You are the salt of the earth, and I’ve seen you cleanse.  You cleanse very literally help clean up the church, perhaps putting our Advent and Christmas decorations away or move pews. You cleanse when you work in the garden, pulling out the weeds and helping the beauty shine through.   

You are the salt of the earth, and I’ve seen you give traction.  Very literally, some of you salt and shovel and help us make it into the building safely.  You give traction, hope of getting one’s feet on solid ground when you pray for those in need.  You give traction when you volunteer to teach, and to help others find grounding in the Biblical text. You give traction by taking care of our little ones, and helping them find their place in this church. 

You are the salt of the earth, and I’ve definitely seen you add flavor.  You share stories with one another, and with me, at fellowship time.  You add flavor to worship by singing, ringing, or playing an instrument, or by leading it with me up here.  You come up with new ideas to try, like bonfires with flaming boomerangs, or a haystack game for the kids at Trunk or Treat.  And you make and share really flavorful food, too. 

You are the light of the world, and I’ve seen you shine.  You shine forth God’s love to the world when you cut the lawn and care for the property, making sure this little part of the Body of Christ can shine to the community around us.  You shine when you volunteer for support groups, and on boards of agencies that help those in need.  You shine when you represent this church at Presbytery meetings, when you tell, invite and bring your family and friends and neighbors and strangers to this place.  You shine in so many ways.   

And what I’m sharing is just part of what I see.  And what I see mostly limited to this church.  But Jesus didn’t say you are the salt and the light of Calvary Presbyterian.  He didn’t say you are the salt and the light of the whole Church, either.  Jesus said you are the salt of the earth—the whole earth.  You are the light of the world.  The whole world. 

I know—it’s likely a little hard to own these two blessings.  We’ve probably all been taught that it’s best to be modest, and we downplay who we are and what we do.  And while bragging isn’t what Jesus is going for, Jesus does ask us all to recognize that we are something, we are someones, who are great. We are precious and oh so valuable.  Let me restate that so you hear it again.  You are precious.  You are so valuable.  You are the salt and the light of the world.  You are that discovered Van Gogh, a masterpiece, and you don’t deserve to sit dusty in the corner or covered with a bushel basket.  Your greatness deserves to be seen.  And this isn’t about everyone else seeing your greatness.  It’s about you seeing it too, and accepting this blessing that Jesus gives. 

So, in this basket are candles for all of you.  Take one, and over the course of this week, pay attention.  Look for the times when you are acting as the salt of the earth, or the light of the world.  Trust me, you will all be salt and light this week, as you all are every week.  When you recognize that, make a note of it.  And then when you are able, take that candle and light it.  Say a prayer to God, thanking God the greatness God has put in you.  You are the salt of the earth, and you are the light of the world.  Don’t sit dusty in a corner, don’t hide under a bushel basket.  Bask in God’s salt and light in you.  Amen.