Matthew 5: 13-20

In a small church during the summer, a pastor was preaching with gusto. Due to the warmth of the evening, the windows were open and bugs of all sizes were attracted to the sanctuary lights. As the pastor was making an energetic point, a large moth flew into his open mouth. The congregation was silent, awaiting some reply after the ingestion of the fluttering creature. After some coughing and throat clearing, he responded, “Ladies and gentlemen, with some difficulty, a moth has entered the ministry.”

The Sunday School teacher was describing how Lot’s wife looked back and turned into a pillar of salt. A boy interrupted excitedly, “My mommy looked back once while she was driving. She turned into a telephone pole!” 

We heard this morning from the Sermon on the Mount in the fifth chapter of Matthew. The sermon begins with the Beatitudes.  Jesus spoke of those who lacked and suffered spiritually and materially in this world. Blessed are the lacking or suffering. They will be different. Blessed are those who bless others. Greater things will they see. Blessed are you who suffer persecution on account of Jesus. Rejoice for your reward is coming. They are blessed because their world was about to change because Jesus had been revealed. Now, disciples; now, believers in the revelation of the kingdom of God in the person of Jesus Christ: YOU ARE NOW SALT; YOU ARE NOW LIGHT. You are not urged to be salt and light. You are defined as being salt and light. Salt and light affect their environment. Salt preserves and seasons. Light brings illumination and exposes.

Sodium Chloride, which we know as table salt (When it rains it pours), is a compound incapable of degeneration. But salt in ancient Palestine was harvested in a form that contained other natural substances that could and did go bad, so that salt became useless. Worthless salt, Jesus said, is thrown out. There are physical benefits of natural salt. When consumed it helps us stay hydrated. Good sea salt helps promote vascular/heart health, helps balance electrolytes and prevents muscle cramping, helps support nervous system function, and improves sleep.

When you and I are light of the world as followers of Jesus we are conspicuous BECAUSE WE STAND OUT. A teacher noticed one of her students sticking his stomach out noticeably. She asked him why he was doing that. The boy replied, “The principal told me to. I told him I had a stomachache. He told me to stick it out until noon and then I could go home.” We stand out.

Lest we forget, there are physical benefits of light for us. Exposure to natural light helps our bodies produce Vitamin D, improves our sleep patterns, helps us to focus, enables us to get more done, and even makes us happier. Ensuring we get enough of this vital resource is key to our physical and psychological wellbeing.

Salt preserves and seasons. Light illuminates and exposes. The true benefits of salt and light, of preservation of that which benefits us and our world, of illumination of that which we see fully, can only be known by following the One who FULFILLS THE LAW AND THE PROPHETS, the One, our Lord, Jesus Christ. On the Sermon on the Mount, he is teaching the disciples particularly what it means to follow him and do as he does. That’s what disciples, we who are blessed beyond words, do. We are called to do as he did. I AM SALT; I AM LIGHT.

Jesus is our example of salt and light. As salt, he sat at dinner with many tax collectors and sinners in Matthew, chapter nine. The Pharisees said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” He overheard this  and said, “Those who are well have no need for a physician, but those who are sick.” He went on and said, “Go learn what this means, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice'” (Matthew 9: 10-13). He referenced here a verse from the prophet Hosea: “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings” (Hosea 6: 6). One can say he sought to preserve the revelation of God’s will found in the prophets here and many other times when being confronted by the Pharisees particularly. Jesus remains our example of salt, preserving the call for all to repent and believe the good news of God – “Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of heaven” (Matthew 5: 3). We are called to do as he did. I AM SALT; I AM LIGHT.

George Buttrick, a preacher and New Testament scholar of another generation wrote years ago, “Jesus is light, and there is no proof for light except light itself.”

Jesus is our example of light. As light, Jesus was teaching in the temple in Jerusalem in John, chapter eight. The scribes and Pharisees brought to him a woman caught in adultery and tested him on how he would respond with the hope they could charge him with teaching against the law of Moses. He gave the classic response, “Let anyone who is without sin throw the first stone.” Starting in verse ten, “Jesus said to her, ‘Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?’ She said, ‘No one, sir.’ And Jesus said, ‘Neither do I condemn you. Go your way and from now on do not sin again.’ Again, Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but will have the light of life'” (John 8: 1-12). Light illuminates and exposes. The perverted righteousness of the Pharisees was exposed, and the true righteousness in Jesus to not condemn and offer new life in him was illuminated. Again, we are called to do as he did. I AM SALT; I AM LIGHT.

Nikolai Berdyaev, who abandoned Marxism for Christianity, insisted years ago that neither history nor theology nor the church brought him to the Christian faith, but a simple woman called only Mother Maria. He was present at a concentration camp where the Nazis were murdering Jews in gas chambers. One distraught mother refused to part with her baby. When Maria saw that the Nazi officer was only interested in numbers, without a word she pushed the mother aside and quickly took her place in the gas chamber. This action revealed to Berdyaev the heart of Christianity and what it ultimately means. “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” (Matthew 5: 16).

Our Lord is the one who has blessed us beyond measure, and we are now salt and light in this world, to show our world how good he truly is.

(Preached at St Mark United Methodist Church in Anniston, AL, 2-8-26)