Who loves bacon? It's very trendy to love bacon right now, most of
you are probably aware of this because of things like BaconFest and the
overabundance of bacon-studded options at grocery stores and restaurants.
And
do you know why bacon is so popular? Because it's delicious. Now I realize I
might be alienating the vegetarians right now, but I'm not really sure what the
bacon-equivalent is for vegetarians, so bear with me. Bacon is delicious, and
so this week I was researching what it takes to make bacon. I'm one of those
people that always wonders how I can make something that we're used to buying
better or cheaper. So it turns out that bacon isn't that difficult to make. You
start with a pork belly. A pork belly, the stomach of a pig. Now I know this is
also trendy in foodie circles, but I am not going to eat pork belly by itself,
that is not appealing to me at all. There are no redeeming qualities about pork
belly except that it makes bacon. And do you know what makes pork belly bacon?
Salt. 4 cups of salt for about 4 pounds of pork belly. That’s a lot of salt.
But you know what? Salt makes things
taste better. Salt makes things better.
Our scripture for the day is the end
of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, which sometimes we call it the beatitudes. A few months ago we talked about this because
the first part of this sermon talks about those who are blessed and Jesus says
over and over, blessed are… so Jesus has just finished turning our idea of what
being blessed means upside down and then goes on to this bit about salt and
light that we read today.
We probably don’t think too much about the importance of salt in
our day to day lives, but in Jesus’ time, salt was essential. It wasn’t just a
seasoning, it was used as a purifier, a disinfectant, a preservative, part of
religious sacrifices, and even a symbol of friendship. We now know that salt is
absolutely essential for the human body to function, even on the cellular
level. Now they may not have known that at the time that Jesus was giving this
sermon, but they did know that salt was really important. Just like with bacon,
salt makes things better; in Jesus’ time it purified things, it disinfected
things, it preserved things. Obviously this is symbolic so I like the way that
the Message puts it: “You’re here to besalt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth.” The
God-flavors, the good, the pure, the clean, the righteous, the peaceful, the
hopeful, the redemptive flavors of the world. We are here to make things taste
better; to make things around us better.
Now Jesus also says we are the light of the
world. And some of the same can be said for light. Light was also essential in
Jesus’ time as well. When it was night in Jesus’ time, it was DARK, really
dark. Can’t see your hand in front of your face dark. Light was necessary for
people to be able to function after sundown. It also had strong religious connotations.
What was the first thing that God created in Genesis? Light, God created the
light first. Light is always connected symbolically to God, representing goodness
and truth and hope. The message has a good way of saying this too: “You’re here
to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.” The God colors,
illuminating the work that God is doing in and through and among us.
Highlighting the good news that God is alive and active in our world.
Now I really like the Message’s paraphrase of
these verses, because I think it awakens our imagination to what it means to be
salt and light in the world. We’re supposed to be salt: making things better,
and light: highlighting God’s work here. But there’s a problem with this
translation, with the way this is paraphrased, and I think I’ve made the same
mistake every time I’ve read these verses too. The Message says: “Let me tell
you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the
God-flavors of this earth… Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be
light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.” I always got the sense
that this was a command, Jesus saying, “hey, you’re supposed to be salt and
light!” You should be doing this, you should be doing that. But when I took a
look at some of the other translations, and did some more research, I found out
that this isn’t a command. The way that Matthew wrote this has no hints of
command, this is actually a blessing, Jesus is giving those who heard him, and
us today, a blessing.
Have you ever heard the term “self-fulfilling
prophecy”? The idea is that if you tell a child, or an adult for that matter,
that he or she is good or bad or naughty or smart or any number of things,
regardless of whether that label is true, if we hear it enough, we live into it.
We become what we’re called. We become what we’re called,
whether it’s true to begin with or not. And that’s what Jesus is doing here
with us. He’s not saying, you better be salt and light, or you’re supposed to
be salt and light, or “good Jews” or “good Christians” are salt and light. He
says YOU ARE the salt of the earth, YOU
ARE the light of the world. You already are, it is a part of who you are so
live it out, don’t be shy! Friends, this isn’t a command, Jesus is not giving
us directions, he’s giving us a blessing, an affirmation, he is commissioning
us to live into our identities as Christians, to make the world a better,
brighter place. The good news is that this is not another expectation or list
of rules, this is confirmation that we already have what we need, that it’s a
part of who we are, it’s built into our DNA we just have to live it out.
Now I hear some of you saying, to yourself of
course “but Jen, you don’t know me, the ways that I’ve hurt people, the ways I’ve
hurt myself, the messes I’ve gotten into. I’m not really good, I’m not the salt
and light Jesus is talking about. Best case scenario, I just keep myself out of
trouble.” Point taken, I think the things that we do and that are done to us
work against the truth that we are good. But do you think Jesus thought he was
talking to a bunch of saints? Do you think God doesn’t know what you’ve gone
through and what you’ve done? God knows us better than we know ourselves, Jesus
wasn’t fooled by pretenses or big shows of piety, Jesus came for the outcast,
the marginalized, the downtrodden, those who are not perfect. And still he
says, “You ARE the salt of the earth, you ARE the light of the world, now live
like it!”
But this salt and light bit isn’t the end of our
scripture today either, and I think now that we understand this first part,
maybe in a new way, now that we know that this is an affirmation not a command,
we can read this second part in a new light as well. This is the part where
Jesus is saying that he did not come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. Part
of this is a reaction to those who were saying that Jesus wasn’t respecting or
following the law, and teaching others not to follow it either. And while I’d
be one of the first people to claim that Jesus was not into legalism and
rule-following as the key to the kingdom of God, he’s very clear that he’s not
opposed to it and he’s not here to make it go away. He came so that we would
understand the law better, that we might see what the law looks like when it’s
not distorted by legalism and competition and one-upmanship. Just like Jesus reinterpreted our
understanding of being blessed in the first part of this sermon, just like
Jesus helps us reinterpret how we understand ourselves as salt and light, Jesus
helps us reinterpret the law. God didn’t create laws that were flawed and God
didn’t create the laws so that people could be legalistic about it. God gave
the law to the people of that time to help them know what it would be like to
live in the kingdom of God. God gave the law to God’s people so they would have
some guidelines, some sense of how God would want things to be. Like with most
things though, we’ve gone and messed up the original intent with our sin. Jesus
came not to abolish the law, not to declare it null and void, but to fulfill
it, to reclaim it.
And I couldn’t help
struggle a little bit with putting these two parts of scripture together at
first. Jesus is giving this blessing and affirmation and then seems to throw in
this “And hey, don’t let people say I’m trying to mess with the law because I’m
not, don’t forget the law!” It seems kind of defensive to me at first. But as I
began to think about some of the questions we have, some of those voices that
come into play when we hear Jesus of all people telling us that we already are
salt and light, that making things better and shining light on God’s work is a
part of who we, I realize that maybe Jesus isn’t leaving us hanging. That like
God, Jesus offers us some more guidance a clue to figuring out how to be more
salty and bright. While we might doubt Jesus’ blessing and affirmation to us,
while we might want to leave salt and light as nice symbols that don’t require
much of us, Jesus’ clue to us is to look to the law. If you’re not sure what
being salt and light looks like, look to the law. Not the law that the
Pharisees and concocted or interpreted, but the real laws that God has given
us, the keys to the kingdom of God. If you’re wondering what it really means to
bring out the God-flavors and the God-colors in the world, look to the law, but
look at it through my eyes. And we know how Jesus understood the law, we find
later on in Matthew chapter 22 where a Pharisee, a so-called expert in the law,
asks him which is the greatest commandment. And do you know what he says? He
says: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ 38 This
is the greatest and first commandment. 39 And a second is like it:
‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ 40 On these two commandments hang all the law
and the prophets.” On these two commandments hang all the law and
the prophets. The law is summed up this way: love God and love others. You are
salt and light when you love God and love others. It is a part of who you are, it’s in your DNA. You are salt and light,
and you know what salt and light do? Love, love God and love others.
No matter what drama we’re going through, no
matter the challenges we have, we here at West Des Moines UMC are the salt of
the earth and the light of the world. We do make the world a better place and
we do shine light on the ways that God is working in the world; we do love God
and we love others. Just last week we had the Costa Rica Mission team leading
us in worship, reflecting on ways that they worked with God to make the world a
better place and the places where they saw God working for good in the world.
If you remember at Christmas time, LifeTree Café attendees had the opportunity
to make stars out of dollar bills, with the intent to give them to someone who
was working on Christmas. And on Christmas day, Paul Gesell was at Caseys a
gave one of those stars to a woman who was working. She was so appreciative;
she hunted down our facebook page to thanks us. We have the prayer shawl
ministry LifeGroup, that makes hospital and hospice rooms a little brighter
with the reminder that person is loved and cared for. The money that we all
collectively gave to Habitat for Humanity both here and in El Salvador so that
other lives and communities might be better. The people who cook meals here
every Wednesday so that we can come together and share a meal as a community so
that we can shine a light of the ways God is working around us. There are so
many more examples, I know that each of you could name one. All of you who give
of your time and money and talents so that this faith community can make the
world a better place and so we can continue to point out and shine a light on
the fact that God is alive and that God is at work in and through and among us.
All of you who love God and love others, we are already the salt of the earth,
we are already the light of the world. Our call now is to live that out more deeply,
more passionately, more tangibly wherever we are and where ever we go. Amen.
You are the salt of the
earth; You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others, so
that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven. Go
into the world now and be salt and light, be the church. Amen.
(c) Pastor Jen Hibben
(c) Pastor Jen Hibben
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