Sermon On The Mount 3 - Sermon for Week Ending January 16, 2021

Gospel Reading 

 from Matthew 5: 13-16   (The Message translation)

“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God.

Sermon

We are continuing our series on the book, The Sermon on the Mount by Jewish Scholar Amy-Jill Levine, who reads the sermon in the gospel of Matthew as Rabbi Jesus’ interpretation of Torah, Jewish Law. She points out the echoes of Israel’s scriptures in the teachings and shows us how their threads reach through the whole New Testament. In today’s reading, Jesus gives the disciples more lessons about how to create and live in the new community that he calls the kingdom or kindom of heaven. In verse 13, he says, You are the salt of the earth. Throughout the Hebrew scriptures, salt is a symbol of purity and wisdom. It was used by priests for anointing and for incense. In 2 kings, when Elisha saw that the water was impure, making the land unfruitful, he threw salt into the spring, making it wholesome and life-giving. In first century Palestine, the monthly payment to the Roman soldiers was in salt. So it was valuable.

Salt is an enhancer in food. So teaching and living the gospel enhances the world. As The Message translation says, it brings out the God flavors.  And both Jesus and the Old Testament writers emphasized the living part, not just words, but actions. Salt loses its saltiness when it is diluted by unnecessary things;   and too much salt is worse than not enough. Levine says, “Oversalted pastors give sermons that point to themselves, and oversalted disciples are egotistical, seeking their own reward.” Disciples who are the salt of the earth do their work not for the purpose of calling attention to themselves, but to brighten and make more alive everything and everyone around them. They recognize that their value doesn’t lie in who they are, or in what position they hold, but in what they contribute to the world. In verse 14, Jesus tells the disciples that they are the light of the world. And that their being this light means that this community they are creating will fulfill the promise God made to Israel through the prophet Isaiah, “I will give you as a light to the nations, a beacon of hope.” Lots of people do good works out of ego or for self-aggrandizement, saying, “look at me, I’m the light. I’m the city on the hill. Be like me.” We see it in the church all the time. And in the government. I personally think that John Winthrop’s declaration in 1630 that America would be the city on the hill was the beginning of our country arrogantly appointing ourselves to be the example for what the rest of the world should strive for, which led to our belief that we are exceptional; we are the chosen ones. Levine says that being the light without pointing it to ourselves can be complicated because it does involve going public. We can’t be an example if we stay in our closets. She points to the verse in Matthew 6, which says “Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them,” and notes that Greek word dikaiosyne, which here is translated as piety, is most often translated as righteousness and justice. And that Jesus is saying that we should make sure that our righteousness is displayed for the sake of justice, not ourselves. It’s the motive that makes the difference, as we hear throughout the Sermon on the Mount. The threads of Jesus’ teachings stretch to us. We saw them in Dr. King, the Civil Rights Movement and the Poor People’s Campaign, which served to point out injustice in the world rather than point to themselves, and where their good works motivated others to help create a just world. We see it in Reverends Barber and Theoharris in the renewed Poor People’s Campaign. And In Black Lives Matter and the fight against voter suppression.  

When I was writing this,  I thought about who might be  the best modern example of actions over words, and shining the light not on herself  but on justice for others. Who comes close to being the kind of disciple that Jesus described? The person that came to mind is someone we don’t hear a lot about because she doesn’t travel around giving speeches, blowing her own horn, but she has spent her life doing good for others. Former first lady Rosalynn Carter. In the formation of the Carter Center, she used the foundation to advance developments in mental health, human rights, and poverty. She initiated the symposium on mental health at the center to focus and coordinate efforts on key issues, including mental illness in the elderly, children, and adolescents; treating mental illness in the primary care setting, and removing the stigma surrounding mental illnesses. And it is still ongoing 35 years later. She launched one of the most successful ever international programs to combat the stigma of mental illness, and called for creating equity for mental illness in our healthcare system with her book, Within our reach: Ending the mental health crisis, describing the current system as one that “continues to fail those in need.” At age 93, Mrs. Carter’s most recent work is for caregivers, through the institute for caregiving at her alma mater, Georgia Southwestern State University. Its purpose is to “identify the unmet needs of family caregivers and resolve our caregiver crisis.” She does so much more, Including building houses for Habitat for Humanity. To me, Rosalynn Carter is the epitome of servant leadership, doing good works for others without seeking recognition. She uses her own privilege to help those who don’t have the resources she has. She does it all quietly, without fanfare, with the determination and humility of the disciples whom Jesus called blessed, those he chose to help create a new community, of love and compassion and justice and equality. May we seek to follow his example and hers, so that we too can bring out the God flavors and God colors in our world.