Any of you on low salt diets? It’s a tough adjustment….because the wonder of salt is that it brings out other flavors. know too much of it is bad…but on the whole salt is like magic. It just makes everything taste better. Of course…like most good things, we take salt for granted…it’s cheap and you can find it on every kitchen table. But the truth is, that it is far more significant than we might imagine. Homer called it divine. Plato believed it was precious to the gods. Mark Kulansky wrote an entire book about how the history of the world has been shaped by salt. Empires built on it — wars fought over it. Partially because as a preservative for food, it ensured survival. And partially because our bodies can’t function without it. It is an essential nutrient. Salt may seem like a trivial everyday item…but in reality, it is powerful…and one of the building blocks for our human life and human story.
So…basically…that’s a long drawn out way of saying….when Jesus says “you are the salt of the earth”….it means something. It means you are essential for the life of the world. The world needs you…your flavor. Your strength. Your unique gifts. And can salt ever lose its saltiness? Can it ever be worth trampling underfoot? Of course not. It’s impossible. Salt simply IS. That means that no matter what happens to you…your essential saltiness cannot be taken away. You…the essence that is you, child of God…remains.
Friends….you are the salt of the earth….and without you, the world is flavorless and bland. You are needed…essential…you matter.
Most of us don’t feel that important. We feel pretty insignificant in the scope of things. But the world is a better place because you are in it. You are salt. And you are light.
In a few minutes, we’ll have some baptisms. And you’ll hear these words of Jesus one more time — “Let your light so shine before others..that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven”. Baptism is God’s announcement that you are made to be light in this world. Who you are is exactly what God intended when God made you to make the world more beautiful…and You are made for love. For joy. For kindness. That is what is etched in your soul…that essence of your very existence. You are a beloved child of God. So don’t hide it. Don’t ever be less than who you are. Don’t hide your beautiful heart because of what others say or do. Don’t let the evil that others do cover your light. You get to love…even when others hate. You get to hope…even when others are hopeless. You get to shine even when it’s dark. You were made for this. That’s what Jesus is saying here. That’s what the young servant girl did for Naaman…
And that’s what Jesus shows us…with his life…and even his death. Jesus, God’s beloved son, reveals who we are and what we were made for. He reveals the light that shines even in the darkest corners of this world. And that light is love…love that sees the world not as a battleground, but as God’s garden. Where love can be planted …and can grow even in places and among people we never imagined. Among the rocks and the weeds. Even among our enemies. I can’t help but think of the parable of the sower that Jesus tells…how the gardener throws seeds everywhere…in the good soil where the seeds are nurtured and grow beautifully, sure…but also in all the places no sane gardener would plant. Places where it seems utterly hopeless to plant seeds…the gardener throws the seeds on the hard path and in the weeds and in the rocks. That’s Jesus….tossing seeds of love and mercy and grace to everyone… to the righteous and unrighteous. To Jews and Gentiles. To deeply religious folks and people who aren’t religious at all…to friends and enemies. And based on the people who ended up following Jesus…it turns out that it actually wasn’t the ones that everyone assumed were “good soil” that responded to his love. It often wasn’t the righteous or the good or the religious…and it often wasn’t even family or friends or his own Jewish community. . No the ones who were transformed by Jesus’ love were the ones who were desperate for grace. The ones who needed mercy. The ones who the world deemed worthless and hopeless…the beggars and lepers and tax collectors, the demon possessed and the Samaritans and centurions…strangely enough…they were the good soil, made beautiful with Jesus’ love. Made “perfect”.
So what on earth do we mean by “perfect”? Are we talking about some specified perfect behavior? Are we talking about always being “right”? Nope. The Greek word is actually “telos”…and it’s more about completeness and fullness. This is more about being fully the people we were made to be. Not hiding under masks or pretending to be what we’re not….but shining our light…the light God put in us uniquely…for the world. Jesus loved people so they could love themselves…and let their light shine.
And Jesus’ love looks at even those who dwell in deepest darkness and sees who they were meant to be. Jesus’ love dares to see the salt and the light buried deep under the pain and sin that have twisted so many people in this world….and offers us forgiveness. And new beginnings.
Deb Allen, who some of you remember…was a former pastor at the UCC church in town. In one of her sermons, she was reflecting on her father, who was not a good man when he was alive. But she said that she looked forward to seeing him in heaven…when she could finally meet the person he was intended to be. Sometimes…that’s what love is. We may not be able to reconcile with people in this life…but love is simply trusting that the evil they do is not what they were made for. It is simply trusting, even when we cannot see it…even when we cannot be around the people who have hurt us…even when we have to shake off our shoes and move on…trusting that God has them and holds them and won’t give up on them…and that they, too, are God’s beloved.
Jesus invites us to love our enemies…and that means we choose to never be less than who we are no matter what others do or say. We refuse to give in to the hate that would destroy us. We refuse to let others dim our light. And we dare to offer kindness and mercy….love and grace even to those who do not deserve it. Because we know that we have received kindness and mercy…love and grace that we could never deserve.
As it says on the screen — We are all meant to shine, as children do.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
You are salt. And you are light. And you make the world beautiful. Let your light shine. Amen.
Leave a Reply