Rector's Sermon
6 February 2011

First Reading	Psalm	Epistle	Gospel
Isaiah 58:1–12	Psalm 112:1–9	1 Corinthians 2:1–12	Matthew 5:13–20

      As the lessons for the past weeks have illustrated, the message of the Biblical prophets was mainly concerned with larger social issues. The prophets were not fortunetellers or diviners of the future, but they fearlessly warned that present actions of any society had consequences, and irresponsible and selfish behavior would sooner or later produce unfortunate and tragic results. How a nation treated the poor, how rulers handled power, how those in charge exerted authority and exercised justice, and what was society’s concern for the welfare of all, were always important issues for people of faith. Whenever the prophets referred to personal morality, it was inevitably connected to how one’s personal behavior affected the greater circle of others.

      Last week, we read the famous Sermon on the Mount. It was a reminder that people of faith are called to be a people of blessing, but there was no escaping that blessings were to be spread without limits rather than being contained and protected within a group of self-selected insiders. People of faith are not like the stereotype of the drop out and get high, narcisstic flower children of the 1960’s. Those who think Jesus just went around with a smile on his face, kissing babies haven’t been paying attention to Jesus’ teaching. At the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, there is a definite change in tone.  Jesus says, “Blessed are you when people revile you, persecute you, and utter all things falsely about you on my account, for so were the true prophets treated.”  Jesus is serving clear notice that the way of genuine disciples may very well lead to trial and suffering. The Gospel is not a ten-step process to guaranteed popularity and worldly success. Aversion to embarrassment, fear of persecution, and apprehension of losing the many social benefits the larger world bestows upon its favorites, weaken many would-be disciples and gradually destroy their faith and any ability whatsoever to witness to the Good News.

      Jesus addresses the people in the grammatical imperative mode, something that is often lost in the English translation. He is addressing the people as a whole, not as individuals.  Jesus doesn’t say that his disciples should be like salt; Jesus insists all of his disciples must be like salt for the world. You must serve as light for the world. Salt that is adulterated by the agenda of the world, light that is fearful and therefore hides under a cover aren’t good for anything. Salt is meant to spice things up and heighten community responsibility, to enhance the good flavors of society, to preserve justice and guard against the spoilage of selfishness and indifference that leads to society’s decay. As a Biblical commentator once remarked, “If Jesus had lived in Mexico, he might have said people of faith should be like hot chili peppers.”¹

      Jesus goes on to affirm that the Gospel does not set aside the message of the prophets. Rather Jesus continues the prophets’ judgment on an unjust society of any age, and expects no less from disciples. The God of the prophets is not different from the God of Jesus. (Regretfully that was an early heresy in the church that has continued to this day.) Jesus serves as an example of what it means to be the salt of the world, and then says, “You, too, must become an example. 

      There is an old story about two passengers who were traveling west on a train. One was a young woman neatly dressed, going to her first teaching job at a rural school on the prairie. The other appeared worldly and sophisticated, and leeringly glanced at the young lady. “My dear,” he said oh so smugly, “I can tell by the look of you that you are a young schoolteacher.”  “Yes, I am,” she replied, looking him squarely in the eyes. “And I can tell by the look of you that you are a lecherous, unregenerate drunkard!” The man was so taken back, that he gasped, “Is the mark of the stuff really on me?” It became a favorite tale of the Women’s Temperance Union a century ago.

            Jesus has, in effect, been teaching about what the mark of a Christian is. When people are baptized, we publicly affirm that they are marked Christ’s own forever. Part of that mark is to be a salty person. Part of it is to take the message of the prophets to heart and not suppress it. Maybe, just maybe, and please don’t write the bishop about this, but maybe after we pour water over the baptized forehead, we ought to sprinkle them with a little salt, too. Perhaps we should not try to sell that excess salt from the church commissary after all. Think about it! 

      ¹Cf. Douglas R.A. Hare, in Interpretation: Matthew, p. 44

       And I offer this to you in the name of the Living God, Amen.