How many of you watch Survivor? I never have. I suppose I should, to be in touch with contemporary culture, in order to be able to speak to it... but it simply doesn’t appeal to me. I have plenty of reality in my own life, thank you, I like my down time to be somewhat more elevated - to coin a phrase. But as I understand it, when the tribal council meets to vote one of their membership off, the torch of the unlucky one gets extinguished. Their light goes out. And they’re out of the game.
Now, cause and effect operate a little differently in Christianity... Nobody else can put your light out, nobody else can kick you out of the game. But the end is the same. Once your light is out, you are out of the game.
What that means is that it is impossible to be a Christian in private. John Wesley said that “Christianity is essentially a social religion; to turn it into a solitary religion, is to destroy it.”
Some people would take issue with that. “My faith is between me and God,” they say, “being in the world distracts me from God.” And, in fact, for much of the history of the church a special sort of admiration was reserved for the holy hermit, those who spent all their time locked away from the temptations of the world, spending their time instead in rapt and silent contemplation of the beauty of our God. Their whole being was dedicated to worship.
Still others point to Paul’s admonition not to associate with sinners, and withdraw from the world to a closed community to keep themselves from being corrupted by the world.
But think about it. What has Jesus been teaching us in the last few weeks as we’ve gone through the 8 Beatitudes? He’s been showing us the series of steps we have to take in order to become like him. And admittedly half of them do speak to our internal condition. To be poor in spirit, to mourn over our sins and the worlds, to hunger and thirst after righteousness, to be pure in heart... all of these are inward attitudes. But that’s only half the story. All of the other ones - and these, too, if you stop to think about it - are worked out in the world, as we go about our daily lives.
Meekness, for instance, is absolutely essential to Christianity. Now more than anything else a meek person goes along with God’s agenda, which may include patience in pain and sickness, or endurance of various kinds of loss or suffering. And certainly these qualities can be exercised wherever you are, in a desert or in a prison cell. But the central ingredient of meekness is the gentle, obedient strength which turns the other cheek, prays for enemies, and chooses not to retaliate in the face of injustice. And you can’t do any of those things if you withdraw from the world, or surround yourself only with like-minded people.
And what about mercy? How can you be merciful except as you are involved in a world filled with suffering? And how can you respond with mercy unless you feel for and with them, sharing their pain, being willing to give of yourself to give them ease? Well, even within Christian circles there is pain. Even today we are mourning with one of our own on the loss of her child, waiting with another as her husband lies in the hospital, praying for yet a third as her mother endures a long and painful dying process. So I suppose we can exercise mercy without exposing ourselves to those nasty sinners out there.
But how can we be peacemakers if we don’t go where the conflict is? We rejoice in being called children of God... Yet God will only recognize us as such if we have been makers of peace in the world he has given us. Now I realize that church conflicts can be some of the nastiest in the known universe - but I submit to you that most of those conflicts - if not all - only happen when we forget to practice the Beatitudes. So even if we want to hide from our clear marching orders, to follow Jesus out into the world as radical peacemakers, the world will follow us even inside the doors of the church. So we better just accept that being a Christian means being actively involved with other people, most of whom are quite imperfect indeed.
And anyway if we’re going to make it to the top of the Dean’s list, so to speak, the crowning Beatitude is one of thorns: namely, “blessed are those who are persecuted for my sake.” Granted, we’re not to seek out persecution, but we’re certainly not given permission to run and hide from the kinds of people who are likely to do the persecuting.
And that is why Jesus follows up the eight Beatitudes with a summary statement of what we’re to do with them: we’re to go public.
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. Matt 5:13-16
We have work to do on Jesus’ behalf. He has saved us with a price, and he has saved us for a purpose. Jesus said that “the one who believes in me will also do the works that I do and, in fact, will do greater works than these, because I am going to the Father” [John 14:12] Most scholars nowadays believe that he was referring to the numbers that would be reached after his death, rather than ever more spectacular signs and wonders. The work of salvation was finished on the cross, but the work of carrying the good news of our reconciliation with God to the rest of the world is our job.
Our world doesn’t have a clue how important salt was to the people of Jesus’ day. Less than a dollar at any grocery store will buy you enough salt for a year... And most Americans eat far more salt then they need. It’s in everything. So we don’t view salt as the ancients did. The Romans believed that only the sun itself was more valuable than salt, and many Roman soldiers received their pay in salt. That’s where the phrase "not worth his salt" originated. And the word salary comes from salt.
Salt has two primary functions. First, salt adds flavor. We all know how bland and tasteless food are without salt. That is why cutting down on salt in our diets is so hard. But the second function is even more important, especially in Jesus’ day. Remember, they didn’t have refrigerators. They didn’t even have cans. There were only three ways to preserve food for the long-term: you could dry it, or pickle it, or salt it. Salt is a preservative. It keeps food from rotting. And we as Christians do add a distinctive flavor to society - one that, I might add, does raise some people’s blood pressure! But our more important function is to preserve it from corruption. President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives program recognizes the fact that Christianity, more than any other factor, is able to protect society - especially our young people - from spoiling, from the kind of degradation and decay that we have been watching go on around us for the past generation and more. But the last thing to remember about salt is that it stings. If you get salt water in an open wound, it will hurt. And the open wounds in our society do scream bloody murder when Christianity is applied. Salt is an active ingredient; salty Christians are activists. We are useless if we are not out there in the world. And if, when we are in the world, nobody winces, maybe we’ve lost our saltiness. If so, who will make us salty again? Is it time for us to be “thrown out and trampled under foot?”
We are also called to be light. And light is visible. Our culture has adopted the attitude that religion is a personal matter. Now, Christianity is unquestionably a personal relationship, and each person must make their own decision about whether they are going to believe in Jesus. But this isn’t generally what people mean by that statement. They usually mean that faith should be kept to oneself, not openly shared. Some insist that it’s personal in order to keep others from practicing their faith out loud, because they’re made uncomfortable by other people’s beliefs. Others buy into that position in order to excuse their failure to share what they believe, again to keep from being made uncomfortable. But Jesus teaches that a Christian is to be live their faith out loud, openly before the watching world. Personal doesn’t mean private.
Again let me quote John Wesley: “It is impossible for any that have it, to conceal the religion of Jesus Christ... As well may men think to hide a city, as to hide a Christian; yea, as well may they conceal a city set upon a hill, as a holy, zealous, active lover of God and man.” He goes on to say that, “It is true, men who love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil, [Jn 3:19] will take all possible pains to prove that the light which is in you is darkness. They will say evil, all manner of evil, falsely, of the good which is in you; they will lay to your charge that which is farthest from your thoughts, which is the very reverse of all you are, and all you do. And your patient continuance in well-doing, your meek suffering all things for the Lord’s sake, your calm, humble joy in the midst of persecution, your unwearied labor to overcome evil with good, will make you still more visible and conspicuous than you were before.
Wesley closes by emphasizing that “a secret, unobserved religion, cannot be the religion of Jesus Christ. Whatever religion can be concealed, is not Christianity.” it is impossible to keep our religion from being seen, unless we disown it. We can only hide the light by putting it out.
Again, like salt, light hurts. Think of how painful it is to have someone wake you by shining a light in your eyes. How do you respond? We flinch, don’t we, put our hands up and turn away. Don’t be surprised, then, if that’s the reaction we get from a willfully blind world. But it’s not an excuse to turn the light off.
I wonder where the old phrase, “to carry a torch for someone” comes from? Meaning to continue loving someone long after it stops making sense - Does anybody know? If you do, let me know after class. Torch songs are songs of unrequited love, love that haunts, that consumes, that we can’t escape. . Our love for Jesus is more than requited, if anyone should be singing the blues over a lover’s faithfulness, it’s Jesus, not the other way around. And our love for Jesus makes more sense the longer we practice it. So let’s change the meaning around a little. Even if it does make sense to love Jesus, let’s carry the torch. Let’s not put it out to keep from getting caught. Let’s stay in the game.
