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Sermon Archive - February 7, 1999
Pastor Gazzolo
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Matthew 5: l3-20
"You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the earth."
When Jesus said this to his followers, it was a declaration, not a hope, not a
promise.
Jesus believed that those who followed him would be different than other
people. They
would stick out from the darkness like a city on the hill. And their light
filled difference
would witness to their faith.
Witness is what this salt and light text is about. For in Jesus' eyes, to be
his follower was
to witness.
For Lutherans, the call to witness may seem awkward, especially when we think
of
witnessing to our faith as sharing our beliefs and pressing them on others or
as making
ourselves conspicuous. It's very Lutheran to see our faith as a private
matter. We prefer
to pray in the closet. When Jesus calls us to witness by standing out from
the crowd, we
want to draw back. As Garrison Keillor has well documented, Lutherans are a
reticent
lot. We want to blend quietly into the scene. This does not make for
prophetic witness.
But witnessing is what this text is about, and it?s much more than pressing
our particular
belief system on others.
He said "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world," and
the more I
looked at the text, the clearer it became that Jesus simply was declaring that
if you follow
me... if you follow me, you will reflect in your life the righteousness and
love of God, just
as the moon reflects the light of the sun in the darkness of the night.
"You are the salt of the earth," he said. Why salt?
Being salt carried a number of connotations. Of course, for us now, salt is
simply a
humble flavoring agent. For the people of Israel salt was essential. It
preserved foods. It
purified foods. It sealed a contract. To eat bread and salt with one another
in that part of
the world then signaled a covenant relationship. Salt signaled covenant.
The Law, as written in the book of Leviticus, demanded that every sacrifice
offered to
Jahweh must be salted. For one thing, as a symbol of Covenant relationship,
but also in a
more practical and less symbolic way, salt was thought to purify the flesh and
make the
animal sacrifice acceptable to God.
Why salt? Because we are called to purify what is corrupted. Called to be
living
reminders of the covenant with God. He called us salt.
He called us "light of the world."
Judaism had long spoken of God as the light of the world. Indeed scriptural
tradition
describes a Servant of God, the people of Israel, the Law, God himself as
light of the
world that transforms its darkness. Jesus calls us to transform darkness
..the darkness of
sin in our world into light. Little moons reflecting in the night the light
of the Son...And
that's what salt meant to Jesus..what light meant.
Jesus expected those who call themselves followers to stand out..to reflect
the light of
God in their lives..their light transforming the darkness. He expected those
who called
themselves followers to be agents of purification in this world..to reflect in
words and
actions God's covenant made with us through Jesus. Jesus called us to make
faithful
choices that would help preserve our world from total corruption.
Jesus expected a lot. We aren't perfect, nor are we full of wisdom, nor are
we all that
brave. Standing out can be costly...examples like Bonhoeffer and King come to
mind. All
three Gospels mention the possibility that the salt might lose its savor, its
saltiness and
become worthless.....insipid self serving witness worth nothing when it comes
to
redeeming the world.
Has the Church long since lost its saltiness, its light? Has the Church and
its people and
its pastors become more interested in numbers, numbers of people and finances,
than in
witnessing faithfully to the will of God in this world? Can the Church both
grow in
numbers and at the same time challenge and enlighten the society?
The Church, God keep it, has often lost its savor...more interested in saving
its skin than in
saving the world it has been called to serve. And then when you least expect
it, one of its
children steps out, salty and light-filled and makes the world sit up and pay
attention. The
Church is an institution both human and divine, and reflects it.
But the danger is clearly that when the Church and its people and its pastors
dilute God's
message, the Body of Christ ends up resembling the world around it, and it is
no longer a
light to guide anyone anywhere.
Sure, the text calls us to witness, and in my opinion, least of all, to
witness with words and
doctrinal claims, called, I believe, to witness by our choices, by our
questions, by our
challenges, by our basic character...called to be salt of the earth...light on
the hill.
To me, witnessing is action more than mere words. We are a witnessing church
when we
bring in our bags and casseroles of food to serve a PADS dinner tomorrow
night. We are
a witnessing people at Habitat and at Bethel. We all agree on that witness
and support it
faithfully and generously. It is a gracious witness to the love of God.
But there are times when how to witness....how to purify...how to shine light
in the
darkness may not be so clear to us, nor even so gracious. And those are the
times when
the church and its people must pray for God's direction in a confusing and
imperfect
world.
For example, we look back now and see clearly that when people marched for
civil rights,
when people questioned the war in Viet Nam, they were stepping out on
something
important. But at the time I was too conventional to question the mood of the
nation, nor
did I have the salt to step out and march.
Jesus warns us against losing our saltiness. Salt, pure salt, does not lose
its savor. But
when it is mingled with other ingredients, as is the salt in the Dead Sea,
salt loses its
savor. Salt polluted is the salt that loses its savor. Witness polluted by
self interest or fear
loses its savor.
But, as I said, how to witness to our Lord is not always clear to us.
Faithful Christians
split over the right thing to do. In the l950's Pastor Paul Berggren of Zion
Lutheran in
Deerfield faced a hard decision. What did it mean to be salt and light in
Deerfield when
builders were about to build a development open to people of all races. The
issue tore
Deerfield and its churches wide open. All the churches with the exception of
Zion and the
Unitarian Church ducked, and Zion would have ducked if its pastor had not
stepped out
and made a choice, a salty choice. Today, we look back on the l950's in
Deerfield, and
know that Paul Berggren's prophetic and costly choice was the salty choice.
Then it was
not so easy for many Christians to see.
The Kingdom of God comes in one choice at a time, one challenge at a time. It
comes in
with pain and often blood, like any birth. It does not come into this world
without
sacrifice..without the courageous witness of undiluted salt and light.
In uptown Chicago Rev. Dell of the Broadway United Methodist Church recently
agreed
to unite in marriage a couple of his parishioners. They were faithful members
who wanted
to make their loving commitment to each other a solemn public act as all
lovers do. The
Methodist bishop personally agreed with Rev. Dell's decision, but had to
uphold the law
established by the Methodist Church. The Methodist Church, like most other
churches,
does not sanction homosexual marriage.
Will we look on it differently in twenty or thirty years? What does it mean
to be salt and
light? Presently each side in this controversy claims they are doing the work
of the Lord.
Some believing with all their hearts that witnessing to the love of God is to
bless such
unions...others think it is pollution. Could we agree on it? Probably
not...though in some
years we might.
What, for the sake of God, does it mean to be salt and light when thoughtful
Christians
can't agree? Abortion or choice creates the same strong division. We need
the light of
God to direct us before we know what our witness must be.
I have opposed the death penalty for many years, openly combatting it in
court. But it is
the law in many states. This last week we have seen the tenth innocent man
released from
Death Row since Illinois re-instituted the Death Penalty 20 years ago. He was
released
just before his planned execution. As Christians we need to ask how many who
were
executed in our name by the state were also innocent.
These are questions that as Christians we must ask. We may not take things
for granted
even when they are law. We worship God not the state.
If we pay attention in our office in our school room, in our society, in our
home, there will
come a time when we must step out..stand out from the norm...not because we
want to
stand out, but because we have been baptized to witness boldly in our world to
the
righteousness, the mercy, the justice and the love of God.
Lord, cast light on our thinking...Show us what you would have us think and do
to be
your witnesses in this imperfect world....And then, Lord, help us be salty
enough.
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