Salt and Light

 We get these metaphors of salt and light on a certain level of salt and light. 

In the town of Aberdeen, it is called the Pheasant Capitol of the World and people fly in from all over to for a chance to hunt pheasant. It is a good tourist and side income for many. Once one of our members had to travel to Sioux Falls, over 3 hours away to pick up some people flying in from a big city, can't remember which one. They arrived in the afternoon and the sun went down and they were driving on the dark highway. One of them asked if they have to pull off and wait until morning to continue the journey because it was too dark to drive. Nope, we have these things called headlights. Light is so abundant, we now have a movement called Dark Skies to end light pollution. Light is readily abundant in our world today. There is no need for just about anyone to sit in the dark anymore. Just flip a switch and you have light. We get so annoyed when a light bulb burns out because we have to change it. But, however, instead back in Jesus' day, up to about 150 years ago, when the sun went down, it was dark outside unless you built a big enough bonfire which rarely happened. It was dark inside unless you have a good lamp or some candles, but even then it was hard to read or do anything unless you were rich enough to light many lamps or candles or sit by the fireplace. 

Many of us will put salt on our food before we even taste it and like things salty. We can have Morton's salt, sea salt, and even Himalayan pink salt.  In our world today, in the United States, we have an over abundance of salt. We have so much salt we literally throw it on our side-walks and dump it on our roads to melt the snow and ice which we also have an abundance of up here in Northern Minnesota. We have and use so much salt that we have doctors, health coaches, and public service announcements asking us, for our health, to cut back on salt. But, however, instead, back in Jesus' day, salt was so rare and so valuable that it was used for currency. Didn't have the right Roman coin, if you had salt, you could use that as currency, because no one turned down a chance to get salt. It was so valued that salt was the based word for salvation. To get salvation, which was closer to the word liberation rather than get out of hell free card, was to get salt.

So, when Jesus is talking about being salt and light, he is definitely not talking about something common or ordinary or something that is overly abundant. Jesus is talking about two things that are precious to sustain life and things they couldn't and we can't live without. 

Last week Jesus began the Sermon on the Mount with who were blessed, in much of the Beatitudes, he turns the worldview upside down and saying those who are blessed are not the rich and successful, not the powerful and beautiful, not politicians or the soldiers. In this week's reading, Jesus doesn't separate out people or divide into categories, he calls out to everyone! Every Single Person! You, yes, them over there and everyone else, but YOU, you, you are the salt of the earth. You are valuable, you are necessary, you are worth your weight in salt! You can sustain life, you can add flavor, you can liberate and save this world! Imagine what that must have felt like to people who were under oppression, people who were poor, people who were at the edge of the world's largest empire but only used for their labor to make others rich.  Can we imagine this for our life, our community, and our world? 

You, you, you watching from home, you who will never see this sermon or hear this shared, are light. You are bright, you are warm, you are full of energy. You can help people see, you can shine on injustice, you can be a comforting presence in a time of pain or hurt or darkness. You can be the comforting life of a fire, a disco ball to get every body dancing, or a spotlight so others can really see what is going on. 

Jesus tells us we are salt and light. Salt and Light. Valuable, precious, and needed. He does warn us that to deny our saltiness and to hide our lamp isn't good, for us or the world. Why, because you are valuable, you are precious, and you are needed. With God all things are possible, so your saltiness can be restored, your light can put once again on a hill, the basket that shades you can be removed. 

So I invite you to come forward and remember your saltiness and shine your light. Come and dab your finger to get some salt and take a candle to shine your light.

You are valuable!

You are precious!

You are needed!