Light, Salt, Love

Christians are often reminded that we are to be salt and light. Salt flavors. Light illuminates. That is simply what salt and light do. While discipleship is personal, it is not private. It is what we are personally and publicly, salt and light, flavor and illumination.

“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. People do not light a lamp put it under the bushel basket; rather they put it 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.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same will be called least in the kingdom of heaven, but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” Matthew 5:13-20 NRSVue

After stating what his followers are to be, Jesus explained, in part, his role in all this. He doesn’t do away with the Law or the Prophets. And he doesn’t restrict us to the Law or the Prophets. Jesus is the fullest expression of them.

Jesus’ life and the life of his disciples is not static. It is not stationary. It doesn’t enshrine the status quo. It doesn’t return us to some idyllic past. We are not called to preserve ourselves, to keep ourselves safe and secure. We are to live and move and have our being as people who live in the kingdom of God, even if the rest of the world- does not. That is how we are salt and light.

This is one place where Christian Nationalists wander off the path of Jesus. As Christians our lives should illuminate the way to Jesus. Our lives should illuminate the peculiar way of life Jesus describes in the Sermon on the Mount. Ideally the Christian life, to push the metaphor, is well seasoned, and tasty. Christians are to be, just as Abraham was called to be, a blessing for all others.

The Christian life is not about coercion. It is not about power over others. The Christian life doesn’t force people to return to some ancient time. The Christian life isn’t static or stationary. The Christian life is movement toward God and God’s kin dom. Jesus fulfills the Law and Prophets. He is the perfect example of a faithful life. He is the perfect expression of the Law and Prophets.

We are guided by the past, but not constrained or restrained by it. We are shaped and informed by the Law and Prophets and Jesus guides us into greater and greater faithfulness and justice.

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus gives us five examples of how we move forward to greater justice and righteousness. “You have heard it said…but I say to you…” Jesus takes the authority found in the Law and the Prophets and claims that authority for himself. The six examples he gives are not exhaustive and not the only places we move forward. They are examples. They show the way forward for us. And they are, even 2000 years later, challenging. Today we are going to focus on two.¹

“You have heard that it was said, ‘An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.’ But I say to you: Do not resist an evildoer. But if anyone strikes you on the right cheek, turn the other also, and if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, give your coat as well, and if anyone forces you to go one mile, go also the second mile. Give to the one who asks of you, and do not refuse anyone who wants to borrow from you.

“You have heard that it was said, ‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you: Love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be children of your Father in heaven, for he makes his sun rise on the evil and on the good and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous. For if you love those who love you, what reward do you have? Do not even the tax collectors do the same? And if you greet only your brothers and sisters, what more are you doing than others? Do not even the gentiles do the same? Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect. Matthew 5:38-48 NRSVue

The concept of an “eye for an eye and tooth for a tooth” was to limit retaliation. It put a cap on revenge and retribution. No longer were people allowed to retaliate with increased violence. It was to stop revenge and retribution from spiraling into increasing violence.

Jesus response to violence is absolute non violence. Jesus calls us to acts of radical and very odd resistance to violence. There is not a hint of “what about my rights” or “they started it” to be found in Jesus’ response. It’s not even about a proportionate response. And it seems ridiculous, impossible, doomed to fail.

The idea that violence solves problems is deeply embedded in our culture and even religion. Think about the language we use to talk about sporting events, especially football. Think about superhero movies or westerns. Look at the language of many government officials. Look almost anywhere. Once you see it, it’s hard to miss. The idea of non violence in the face of violence seems naive and futile. But people who study nonviolent versus violent movements find that non violent movements are ultimately more successful.² Jesus’ way of nonviolence actually works.

Jesus calls us to love our enemies, and pray for them. This may be the hardest thing Jesus asks of us. We can walk away from violence and retaliation. We may be able to physically remove ourselves, but what lingers in our hearts and souls? Can we walk away and love our enemies? Harder still, can we stay and love our enemies? I surely don’t know everything Jesus means by this.

But I believe praying for our enemies and those who persecute others, is not to pray for God to fix them. “Please Lord make them less mean, less annoying, less of a problem for me.” I think our prayer needs to genuinely be for their well-being and flourishing. For their redemption. For them to know and experience God’s love. We must wholeheartedly pray for good for them- our enemy. I can tell you from personal experience, to sincerely and wholeheartedly pray for someone you don’t like for their well-being (and not because it makes my life more pleasant) is hard. It is a powerful prayer. But it is not a magical prayer. You may be more changed than the one you pray for. Or it may take years to see healing- for them and for you. It may take years for you to be able to honestly pray for them. Over time you will have shifted your understanding of that person from enemy to a person loved by God. And that allows us to act out of compassion and not anger or vengeance. This doesn’t mean condoning or tolerating abuse or violence. But no one is outside of God’s love. And that means we need to make a sincere effort to love our enemy.

What Jesus teaches in the Sermon on the Mount is not a strategy- either for winning or survival. It is not an evangelism technique. The goal is not for us to be good or to get into heaven. It is a call to actually be the people of God. That is Christ’s call and hope for us, that we will be the people of God, in what we say, believe, and do. Jesus redefines power and relationships and all social structures from what they are into what actually is in the kingdom of God. “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.” We don’t pray “will be done”, at some future time. We pray as it is- right now- in heaven. We act and pray for the kingdom of God to come here now.

To take Jesus’ teaching seriously is astoundingly difficult. It takes great self discipline and constant spiritual growth and formation. It takes a community. Not one of us can do this by ourselves.

And yet imagine a world with no outsiders. No enemies. No violence. Imagine a world filled with love. Imagine life in the kingdom of God.

1. This year, Lent and Easter come soon after Epiphany. The date of Easter (and therefore also Lent- the 40 days before Easter- changes. Some years there are more weeks between Epiphany and Lent than in other years. This is a year with fewer weeks, and the Lectionary skips over most of the Sermon on the Mound. But given the state of the nation, it seemed important for us not to skip over some of Jesus’ most challenging teaching, about non violence and love of our enemies. ↩︎
2. https://www.ericachenoweth.com/research/wcrw, https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20190513-it-only-takes-35-of-people-to-change-the-world ↩︎