Salt and Light

This coming Sunday’s Gospel lesson contains two very basic elements of human existence: salt and light. I do not have to go too far in my train of thought about these two substances to recognize that I would not be here without them. Salt serves to preserve food, to liven up meals, to clean cast iron (along with some water), to make water boil quicker, and probably much more that I am not thinking of at this very moment. Light is so important to human existence that we quite often associate its absence with non-existence! So we can quickly understand why Jesus would think it critical for salt to maintain its flavor and for light to remain visible, but what does it really mean?

 

Salt does not easily lose its flavor. In fact, some scientists maintain that NaCl (sodium-chloride or salt) will taste the same until it reacts chemically with another substance. Light is such a strong force that darkness has no ability to endarken it. That is light shines into the darkness and the darkness will not overcome it. So why worry about salt becoming un-salty? Why fret over light being hidden? Well, because salt does interact with other compounds. Light does get snuffed out. And, Jesus saw that even the beautiful, salty, light-filled cores of his followers could and would be tainted by other elements of this world.

At our cores we are salt and light. Within all of us the element of Christ flickers; however, we can so easily get caught up in out-flavoring or out-shining others. We can fall into the most human instinct of thinking that it is us who makes our light shine or our lives taste good. We mistake our place for God’s own. 

God through our ancestors gave to us laws that were so helpful to live in community, so that we could taste and see that life is good! While Jesus came to amplify God’s love to its loudest levels, this teacher from Nazareth was not doing something wholly different from his prophetic forbearers. He came to fulfill not to destroy what already was. God came to earth in Jesus to preserve and make more abundantly known what was, not to tear it down to do something different. Jesus took the themes of forgiveness, love, acceptance, hospitality, healing, righteousness, integrity, grace, and more and he brought them into his own age. These themes were present in the law of his people. Then, he fulfilled those laws, so that we might experience not the letter of those laws, but the grace of God within them.

We have the same opportunity today. We are called to be salt and light, like Jesus’ first disciples. Jesus asks us to co-create with him. The law has not faded away and while Jesus fulfills the law that action is one that started long ago and comes even into the present. We are called to fulfill with Christ the eternal law, which are those themes that lead to wholeness and oneness with God, neighbor, and creation. This sounds lovely, but the trouble comes when we believe that our way is the only way. We must maintain our saltiness and our light, but not at the expense of trampling on others or snuffing them out. Do not lose your saltiness, nor hide yourself now, but let us together find ways to bring our spices together and let us shine all the brighter as a constellation of lights. You are salt and you are light, let us taste and see that the Lord made us good.

Matthew 5:13-20: Salt, Light, and Shame

There have only been a handful of times when I have really gotten into real trouble in my life. I mean the type of trouble where one is called to the principal's, camp director's, or coach's office. It is funny how those particular memories are etched into the fabric of my being. Shame cannot come out with just one wash, instead it takes years of spinning around and rinsing. I can remember one such encounter very vividly.

I had done something at camp that was a clear violation of the rules. When the camp director confronted my cohorts and me, we were all very meek, humiliated, and saddened by our thoughtless behavior. Still, I felt that I was more guilty by association than an outright offender and in a private meeting I pleaded my case. One of the camp matriarchs found out about trying to pass the buck, and she simply said, "If a man does not have his word, what does he have?" My mouth gets dry thinking about that moment. As if I had just swallowed salt water, yet it seemed that I had lost my saltiness.

This coming Sunday's gospel follows the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12):
"Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.
"Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth.
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
"Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy.
"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.
"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.
"Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness’ sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
"Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you."

Jesus' short list of those who are blessed enlightens this message about salt and light. The poor, those who mourn, the meek, the hungry, the merciful, the pure, the peacemakers, and the righteously persecuted all receive blessings. To be blessed is to be salt and to be light. I imagine most of us at some point have been one of these blessed. Yet, for us to deny this blessing is for us to lose our saltiness and to block out the light. While I am not one for using shame as punishment, there is a difference between denying the Truth to avoid the shame of punishment and recruiting shame as a fear tactic. In my moment of denial I lost my saltiness, I blocked out the light of what it is to be blessed.

Now, I am not condoning seeking delinquent, illicit, or immoral behavior for the sake of experiencing some sort of persecution. Rather, I am saying that in our poverty, sorrow, meekness, hunger, mercy, purity, peace-seeking, and persecuted states we receive God's presence. When we are in a rather impoverished spiritual state we can clearly see God walking with us in ways that are not always apparent when we are riding high spiritually.

Additionally, I do not think getting in trouble for not following camp rules constitutes righteous persecution, rather in the shamed state I occupied, I clearly felt a closeness with God who called me into a deeper relationship. Jesus fulfilled the Law not so we could ignore it, but so that we might with him feel blessings and keep growing deeper in our saltiness and our lightness. Now I wonder, "How do we teach that we are blessed in our weakness without instilling shame in one another?"