Being the Salt and the Light (2/5/17)
On Sunday, February 5th, we continued to examine the question of what true righteousness looks like. We heard from the prophet Isaiah and we continued to explore the Sermon on the Mount. Did I make another extended reference to The Godfather in my sermon? You'll have to read on if you want to find out.
Nicholas Roerich, Procopius the Righteous Praying
Sermon
Good morning! I’ve heard from a few of you and it seemed
like you enjoyed my reference to The
Godfather in last week’s sermon. I was thinking about starting with a
reference to The Godfather Part II.
You have to admit, that’s about the only time in history where the sequel was
as good as the original or maybe even better. But then I realized I would have
to make a reference to The Godfather Part
III in next Sunday’s sermon. That wasn’t such a good movie; I was afraid
you might not want to come out for one more sequel.
However, this week’s gospel lesson is truly a sequel to
what we heard last week; it continues the Sermon on the Mount. Our Old
Testament reading also picks up the theme of righteousness. As you may
remember, last week we heard from the prophet Micah, who posed the question:
“What does the Lord require of you, but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?” I suggested that we could use these requirements
to interpret all of scripture. To put it another way, if we are to walk along
the path of righteousness, we must always do justice, love kindness, and walk
humbly with God.
In this morning’s reading from Isaiah, God’s chosen people
are upset with the Lord; they feel that God is not paying attention to all their
observances of the Law. They cry out to God: “Why do we fast, but you do not
see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?” Now when I hear this, I’m
reminded of a classmate of mine from seminary. I’ll call him Will, but that’s
not his real name.
Will is a younger guy, and like me, he doesn’t miss too
many meals. One day, another one of our classmates, Rachel—and that is her real
name—brought a pan of freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies to class. Rachel did
this from time to time and her cookies were legendary. When the pan of cookies
reached Will, he said, “No thank you; I’m fasting today!” He said it just loud
enough so that everyone in the room could hear.
Really, Will?
Really? In a class in seminary, where everyone knew this
scripture from Isaiah. To say nothing of the next chapter of the Gospel of
Matthew, in which Jesus instructs the disciples:
“And whenever you fast,
do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as
to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received
their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that
your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and
your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Truly, truly, Will must
have known those scriptures, yet it didn’t stop him from calling our attention
to his fast. We were all a little amused. Also, I was glad there was an extra
cookie for me.
The prophets of the Old Testament are consistent; they call
for God’s chosen people, Israel, to take care of the poor and the vulnerable,
feed the hungry, end injustice and oppression.[1] The people want to worship
God correctly and righteously, but they come up short. They get the form of
worship correct, they fast as they are instructed, but they can’t integrate
this part of the ritual into a complete and righteous spiritual life; they
fast, “but their fasting does not seem to affect their actions toward others.”[2] They just want to know
which rituals they have to complete and how much money they have to put in the
collection plate. They want to finish worship on time so they can get home in
time to watch the Steelers. Wait. Maybe that last example isn’t from ancient
Israel.
Our life of faith is about more than what we do while we’re
in worship. If our main concern is about what we do here in church or how much
money we give, then the giving becomes about us. It is not true worship. No.
True worship begins with humility; it begins when we admit that we are
dependent upon God for all our blessings; and it begins when we thank God for
all the wonderful things that God has done for us, simply because God loves us.
The proper response to God’s love is to love and worship God, and
also to love everyone else, because we are all created by God. We return that
love by doing justice and acting kindly toward one another. That is what the
prophet Micah told us last week and that is also what Isaiah tells us this
Sunday. When the people of Israel complain that God doesn’t notice their
fasting, God speaks to them through the prophet Isaiah. God says:
Look, you serve your own
interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to
quarrel and to fight
and
to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do
today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that
I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the
head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a
fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast
that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go
free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share
your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your
house;
when you see the naked,
to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
I can’t hear this
without hearing Jesus saying: “I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty
and you gave me something to drink, I was naked and you clothed me.” Here’s the
thing: “Religious ritual when unaccompanied by social action is self-serving.
It is empty.”[3]
That is not to say that we are to abandon the rituals of worship
or stop observing the Law! In fact, Jesus states this very clearly in this
morning’s gospel lesson: “Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or
the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.” Jesus is the one who
acts with complete and total righteousness. Remember, the Sermon on the Mount
is Jesus’ first public act in the Gospel of Matthew. So, the first and most
important thing is to teach the disciples how to act with righteousness. In
last Sunday’s lesson, Jesus began by telling the disciples that they were
blessed, that they were equipped for the work that they were about to go out
and do. In this lesson, Jesus explains that they must put their blessings into
action. All of Christ’s teaching will be for naught if the disciples just sit
on what Jesus has taught them:
“You are the salt of the
earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is
no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
“You are the light of
the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp
puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to
all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that
they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
Jesus is telling the disciples that they have to act on what he is
teaching. Remember, teaching is very important in the Gospel of Matthew. The
Presbyterian Church also thinks teaching is very important; that’s why my job
title is Teaching Elder. Remember, too, that the disciples are where we enter
this story; the disciples are stand-ins for us. I am here to teach you and I am
here to equip you for the work of discipleship, because knowledge must be
followed with action. If not, then all of this becomes a form of spiritual
entertainment—just one more thing to compete for people’s time and attention.
Many churches try to be entertaining. I try to be
entertaining. I want you to laugh at my jokes and I hope that references to pop
songs and movies like The Godfather draw
you in to the message. I also know that I’m not going to be that preacher who
struts around the chancel screaming out about fire and brimstone. I’m not gonna
be that cool, young pastor who breaks out an electric guitar and plays in the
praise band. Yes, those pastors can be very entertaining. We can draw people in
if we are more entertaining. We can get more money in the collection plate if
we are more entertaining. But being entertained is very different from being
righteous.
As the prophets of the Old Testament remind us, being
righteous is not just a checklist of behaviors, a list of chores that God gives
us. Righteousness is more than coming to church every Sunday. Righteousness is
more than putting your envelope in the collection plate every Sunday.
Righteousness is about our relationship with God; it is about our complete
faithfulness to God’s covenants. That’s not easy!
Jesus tells the disciples that they have to be more
righteous than the scribes and the Pharisees. The scribes and the Pharisees
followed the Law, observed all of the rules of ritual purity, and their worship
was always correct. They had the knowledge, but their faith was imperfect. When
God told them they weren’t living righteously, they asked how much money they
had to put in the collection plate. They knew the letter of the Law, but they
didn’t act in the spirit of the Law.
For too long in the church, we have had knowledge without
action. We’ve been going on auto-pilot for so long, that we’ve forgotten what
true righteousness looks like:
- It looks like visiting sick people in the hospital.
- It looks like visiting the elderly in their homes or care facilities.
- It looks like visiting people in jail.
- It involves listening to people who are struggling with addiction, or listening to those who have lost loved ones to addiction.
- It involves working for social justice.
- It requires us to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, and provide for the poor.
- It requires us to be in relationships with people who make us uncomfortable.
I know that many of you already do these things in your
personal lives. Thank you! That’s wonderful! Keep up the good work! But it’s
not enough. We have to live as a changed people. We have to act collectively as
the Church, the body of Christ in the world. And we have to do it visibly, as
the Church, the body of Christ in the world. We have to come together and shine
with the light of Christ’s love. This is what it means to be the salt of the
earth and the light of the world.
There are lots of ways to be the salt and the light. Over
the next few months, it will be the work of this congregation to figure out how
you are all called to be the salt and the light. There are many righteous ways
to live into this calling. May God equip us with His Holy Spirit as we discern
our response to this calling. Thanks be to God. Amen.
Benediction
Now, beloved, as you depart from this place, remember that
we are called to be the Church, the body of Christ. We are called to
participate in His saving work. We are called to do justice, love mercy, and
walk humbly with God. Go forth and be instruments of God’s love and peace and
reconciliation. Live as changed people. Do not return evil for evil to any
person, but know that we are all loved by God, and that we are called to
reflect that love to everyone we meet. Go forth and be the salt of the earth
and the light of the world. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord, Let all
God’s children say, Amen!
[1]
Tyler Mayfield, “Commentary on Isaiah 58:1-12,” retrieved from: http://www.workingpreacher.org/preaching.aspx?commentary_id=3153
[2]
Tyler Mayfield.
[3]
Tyler Mayfield.
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