How Do You Taste? -- 5th Sunday after Epiphany

In 1630, John Winthrop told the settlers of Massachusetts: “Consider that we shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us; so that if we shall deal falsely with our god in this work we have undertaken and so cause him to withdraw his present help from us, we shall be made a story and a byword through the world.” Ronald Reagan, whose 100th birthday is today, also spoke of America as a shining city; “a tall proud city built on rocks stronger than oceans, wind-swept, God-blessed, and teeming with people of all kinds living in harmony and peace, a city with free ports that hummed with commerce and creativity, and if there had to be city walls, the walls had doors and the doors were open to anyone with the will and the heart to get here.”

For Winthrop, the city on a hill is a warning. For Reagan it is a vision of peace and prosperity. By the time I’m finished, I hope you’ll see that for the owner of this phrase, Jesus Christ, it is both, a warning and a blessing. The phrase, “salt of the earth,” has also inspired people in ways that went a little beyond what Jesus originally meant. When I spoke at my father’s funeral, I referred to him as the salt of the earth – humble, unpretentious, and just good. I also confessed that his language was certainly, uh, salty. But again, what does the source of these images mean by them?

First, today’s portion of Matthew’s Gospel comes right after the words we heard in last week’s Gospel reading: “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.” In any Bible we have today, Jesus’ “salt of the earth” analogy begins a new paragraph. But there are no paragraphs in the original Greek text of Matthew. So hear Jesus tell you today: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”

To be salt, to be a light, is to be slandered, reviled, persecuted. But that’s not the end of the story. That virulent opposition has a purpose. Slander and persecution are not the end of the Christian life. Our enduring purpose as Christians is to be salt. How are we salt? Well, salt has over 14,000 known uses. It was so valuable in Jesus’s time that Roman soldiers took part of their wages in salt, not coins. In the week ahead, I invite you to think of all the things that salt can do, and then think about what you can be for the people around you.

Of course, Jesus refers to one use of salt when he warns us, “if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?” How can salt lose its taste? By itself, it can’t. Salt doesn’t spoil. And we who have been marked as Christ’s own forever in baptism can’t be spoiled. But if I pour a teaspoon of salt into a gallon of sand, the salt will be lost. No one will then be able to taste us who have been marked as Christ’s own forever. To be the salt of the earth is to stand out, sometimes in opposition to what we season. But to be the salt of the earth is also to make good and joyful that which is bland, lifeless. Who needs to taste you? Who needs to taste your joy, or your opposition. And who needs to taste us, the Body of Christ?

By its nature, light stands out. It is exposed for all to see. And if we are the light of the world, we must shine for all to see. Is it our purpose to shine the light of truth on a sinful world? Is it to give warmth to the suffering? Is it both? Whether we see ourselves as salt or as light, there seems to be a tension between conflict and support. We must stand out from what we season, even be in opposition to what we season. But we must be tasty to those who need to feed from us. We must let our light shine on the wrongs of the world. But our light can also give warmth.

So, how do we be the salt that people need to season their lives? How do we be the light that gives truth and warmth to those around us? Listen again to our Savior: “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” When you’re out there beyond the walls of the church, remember that when people see you who call yourself, “Christian,” they will be seeing whatever God you worship. What sort of God is that you give glory to? That is the God whom those around you will see.

For some, God may be the angry judge who is more concerned with who’s in or out of heaven. For others, God may be the indulgent Daddy who forgives everything. Each of us needs to understand the God our parents taught us to worship, and the God we learned to worship on our own. So what kind of God will you who are the salt of the earth feed to the people around you? What kind of God will you who are the light of the world reveal to the people around you. Ask yourself every day: How can I stand out as salt, how can I stand out as light, in such a way that it’s not about me, but that they may give glory to our Father who is in heaven?

You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Let us season each other. Let us warm each other. Then let the world taste the goodness of God in us. Then let the world be warmed and purified by the light that shines from each of us.