How many of you keep a watch on how much salt you eat, buying the low-sodium versions of things like canned soup and cold cuts and avoiding high-sodium treats like pizza and potato chips? It’s an article of faith that salt is hazardous to your health. And it’s very difficult to avoid, since most processed foods need salt for their shelf life, and we’ve all noticed how much better things taste with salt. Even caramel gets sea salt added to it these days. But every slice of bacon, every bite of cheese, and every single peanut comes with a stab of guilt. What most of us don’t realize, though, is that reduced sodium intake is not for everyone. Low sodium levels can be just as harm-ful to your health as high ones. Too little salt can kill you. Nobody nowadays thinks about how absolutely essential sodium is for life.
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 that’s just ordinary salt. There’s also kosher salt, Himalayan salt, French gray salt, and dozens of others. You can buy a box of 18 different gourmet salts from Amazon for only $30. So we don’t view salt as the ancients did. The Romans believed that only the sun itself was more essential for life than salt, and Roman soldiers usually received their pay in salt. That’s where the phrase “not worth his salt” originated, and the word salary actually comes from salt.
As I’ve already suggested, salt has two primary functions. First, salt adds flavor. Food without salt is bland and tasteless. 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 four ways to preserve food for the long term: you could dry it, or pickle it, or smoke it, or salt it. Salt is a preservative. It keeps food stable, keeps it from undergoing the kind of chemical changes which make it not only inedible but even dangerous. That’s why processed foods use so much of it!
So it’s really kind of obvious what Jesus is doing tacking this sentence on after listing the 8 blessed qualities his followers should display. “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 underfoot.” [Mt 5:13]
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. And as any cook knows, salt has to be added. It has to be stirred in, or at the very least sprinkled on top. And that means that it is impossible to be a Christian in private. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, said that “Christianity is essential-ly 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. From the Benedictines to the Shakers, this has always had a certain attraction.
But think about it. What has Jesus been teaching his followers in the sermon intro we call the Beatitudes? He’s been showing them - and us – what becoming his followers is all about. Of course these qualities do speak to our internal condition. To be poor in spirit, to mourn over the world's brokenness (and our own), 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 them are worked out in the world, as we go about our daily lives.
They are all connected, too, in different combinations as we meet different situations. Mercy, for instance, requires recognizing pain and sorrow, and then taking action. How can you do mercy except as you are involved in a world filled with suffering? Of course even within Christian circles there is pain. This year we have grieved the loss of a husband and a mother; watched in prayer over loved ones suffering serious illness and a child born with a broken body, to name only a few. So I suppose we can exercise mercy without exposing ourselves to those nasty sinners out there. But turning our eyes inward, only to people like ourselves, isn’t really mercy, is it. Mercy is tender to all kinds of human frailty. It often involves extending forgiveness, not just sympathy. And forgiveness disarms people. It changes things.
Being poor in spirit is pretty much a prerequisite for all of these blessings, not least for being pure in heart. You abandon your ego for the sake of God and pursue righteousness because other rewards pale in comparison. This person is one “in whom there is no deceit,” [Jn 1:47] transparently in love with God, uncorrupted by the compromises and indulgences and distractions of the world. The truly pure in heart see others with Jesus’ eyes, and give them hope. This changes things.
If you hunger and thirst for righteousness, and combine that with peacemaking and purity of heart, you wind up with meekness, which is obedience allied with strength. These three qualities together make you someone who does what is right, even when it is difficult or dangerous - and doing it while praying for your opponents. Do God’s will, even if the world is against you. Even when it’s hard. Pray in public. Say Merry Christmas. Don’t take government money if it means taking the cross off of the wall. Give that cup of water in Jesus’ name. Martin Luther King, Jr. may well be the best example we have of this kind of strong obedience. And he changed our world.
Peacemakers require meekness as they move out into the world’s violence, with mourning and mercy and the courage to 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 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 abandon 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. But beware of “peace-making initiatives” that start with the premise that peace is possible without the cross. It is not.
Have you noticed something about these examples? Each one of them requires that doing Christianity must be also in some way involve speaking Christianity.
And so the crowning Beatitude turns out to be 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. 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, what will make us salty again? Is it time for us to be “thrown out and trampled underfoot?”
A generation ago President Bush’s Faith-Based Initiatives program recognized the fact that Christianity, more than any other factor, is able to protect society - especially our young people - from spoiling, from the kind of corruption and decay that has been infecting us for far too long. And the disappearance of Christianity from our public square has played a far larger role in the degradation of our public discourse than most people realize. But one of the most memorable things 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. That’s where the “freedom from religion” movement comes from, and why Christians are often ignored, insulted, and even fired when they hold to traditional teaching about morality, or have the gall to pray in public. Salt is an active ingredient; salty Christians are activists.
But society isn’t soup. It’s not enough for us to just be out there, doing salty things in a dying world.
And that is why Jesus’ reiterates that his disciples – us – are to go public. The very next sentence he speaks makes that very clear. “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.” [Mt 5:14-16]
Salt goes into the body. It is necessary, and good, and contributes to the health of the body. It changes the body – for a time. But for lasting change to occur some-thing has to go into the mind and heart as well. And that is where light comes in.
The most important thing about light is that it is visible. Our culture has adopted the attitude that religion is a personal matter. Now, Christianity is unquestionably a personal relationship; each person must make his or her own decision about whether or not to believe in Jesus. But this isn’t generally what people mean by that statement. They usually mean that faith should be kept private, not openly shared.
Most people would rather not be accountable to anyone for their actions. And some part of them knows how God would judge them, and so are angry at any reminder of God. “For all who do evil hate the light and do not come to the light, so that their deeds may not be exposed.” [Jn 3:20] These insist that faith is personal in order to protect themselves from their own self-judgment. Others are so sure of their own righteousness that the very concept of sin becomes a personal insult. Some Christians have also fallen into this way of thinking, partly in order to excuse their failure to share what they believe, to keep from being made uncomfortable. But Jesus teaches that to be a Christian is to live our faith out loud, openly before the watching world. Personal doesn’t mean private. Because Jesus is the light of the world, not just of you and me.
Again let me quote John Wesley: “a secret, unobserved religion cannot be the religion of Je-sus Christ. Whatever religion can be concealed, is not Christianity.”
Remember that Jesus the Light is also Jesus the Word. It is the Word that gives meaning to our actions, who lights those who walk in darkness. Too many well-meaning people think that providing material help will solve all human ills. But that is not true. Meaning is provided by understanding who we are, and who God is, and how to be in a right relationship with both God and his creation. The work of carrying the good news of our reconciliation with God through Christ to the rest of the world is our job. And reunion with God in the afterlife – heaven - is only part of the story of salvation. Reconciliation with God results in real change in us and in the culture around us. But “…how are they to believe in one of whom they have never heard? And how are they to hear without someone to proclaim him?” [Rom 10:14]
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 we respond? We flinch, don’t we, put our hands up and turn away. Sometimes we may even strike out. 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. Because, like salt, light changes things. Light brings life to a dying world. But, as Peter says in his first letter,
…even if you do suffer for doing what is right, you are blessed. Do not fear what they fear, and do not be intimidated, but in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who de-mands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and respect. Maintain a good conscience so that, when you are maligned, those who abuse you for your good conduct in Christ may be put to shame.” [1 Pet 3:14-17]
And so the Beatitudes are not only our contribution to the world, but our defense against it. Do not expect the world to love you. Be poor in spirit and pure in heart. Mourn for the lost and the broken. Do mercy. Make peace. Act rightly. And Jesus the Word will light the world, and you will be part of it.
