Salt And Light: A Sermon For The 5th Sunday After Epiphany

Salt and Light: A Sermon for the 5th Sunday of Epiphany

Matthew 5:13–20 NKJV

“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses its flavor, how shall it be seasoned? It is then good for nothing but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men.

“You are the light of the world. A city that is set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.

“Do not think that I came to destroy the Law or the Prophets. I did not come to destroy but to fulfill. For assuredly, I say to you, till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle will by no means pass from the law till all is fulfilled. Whoever therefore breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches men so, shall be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does and teaches them, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I say to you, that unless your righteousness exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven.

We now come to the 5th Sunday in Epiphany in which we remember that Jesus, who is THE Light of the world came into the world. The very Word of God came to earth and was made flesh and born of the Virgin Mary. The Apostle John tells us that He dwelt (tabernacled) among us. We zero in on His birth as well as His death on the cross for our sin, buried, then rose on the 3rd day on the 3rd day. He appeared to many after His resurrection then ascended to the right hand of the Father. He will return to judge the living and the dead. Through Him, we expect our own resurrection and eternal life in Him. We rehearsed these doctrines when we recited the Apostle’s Creed this morning. I cannot understate how important these doctrines are. There are numberless books and sermons which have been written and spoken concerning these central doctrines. This morning. the lectionary passages from Psalm 112, Isaiah, I Corinthians 2, and Matthew 5:13-20 focus on how we should apply the central doctrines of our faith. we will zero in this morning on the Gospel passage.

The Gospel text comes from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew’s gospel. In it Jesus gives instruction on how the disciple of Jesus Christ should live out their faith in this world. He begins the sermon with a series of blessings. These blessings seem strange to the world. The worldly man would hardly consider these blessings at all. It is the poor in spirit who are blessed and not the rich. It is the meek and not the strong who are blessed. It is the persecuted and despised who are precious in the sight of the LORD. This should force us to rethink the values that the world presses upon us.

(I have an entire sermon series on the Sermon on the Mount published on this sermon site if you are interested in more detail.)

This morning’s text follows upon the beatitudes. It begins with the assertion “You are the Salt of the Earth.” We call people of extraordinary moral character by this epithet. Many times this is justified, even though Jesus is speaking of His disciples and not mankind in general. In fact, Jesus heavily criticizes the Pharisees who were held to be upright by many. But Jesus is addressing those who heard the Sermon on the Mount that day. These blessings and being called “the salt of the earth” did not apply to all the hearers, though. Rather it is those who build their lives upon the Rock, who hear His words and put them into practice who are the blessed.

The Greek uses the emphatic pronoun “YOU” here as well as the definite article ‘the”. This is an exclusive statement meaning that it is the true disciple of Christ and no other who is the salt of the earth. The same construction is used for the “YOU are “The Light of the World.” When we hear this, we might be puzzled. Did not Jesus in one of His exclusive “I AM” statements call Himself “The Light of the World? Would not Jesus’ exclusive statement rule out anyone else being THE light? When we think of logic, a skeptic might quote the philosophers who say that two mutually exclusive statements can be true at the same time. For example, if there is a man and a bus on the street, they cannot be in the same place at the same time. But this is a fallacy. Suppose the man is in the bus. This is an inclusive statement, and, therefore, true, so long as the relationship remains he same. The Christian disciple is “in Christ.” Sp long as this relationship exists, the two statements do not exclude each other. As the bus is greater than the man in the bus, it does not equate the man and the bus. There is more to the bus than the individual on the bus. Christ is far greater than we are. But the important thing is that we are on the bus. We are “in Christ.” Apart from Christ, the claim would be mutually exclusive. So, let us not neglect the only way on can be the light of the world or “the salt of the earth.” How we put our faith in practice is important.