Elements of Faith

February 9^th, 2014       “Elements of Faith”        Rev. Heather Jepsen

Matthew 5:13-20

          We will spend the entire month of February studying Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew.  Last week we read the Beatitudes and I shared with you Barbara Brown Taylor’s thoughts on seeing the world from the position of standing on our heads.  Today we continue in Jesus’ sermon examining his famous lessons on salt, light, and our relationship to the law and prophets.

          As a person who loves to cook, I find a lot of nuances in Jesus’ lesson on salt.  I am one of those people who have a little bowl, or more properly cellar, of salt right next to my stove.  Salt is like a magic ingredient that one adds at varying stages of a recipe.  When making a batch of soup you add it at the beginning to flavor the vegetables and then you add it at the end to enhance the flavor of the whole combination of ingredients.

          The neat thing about working with salt is that it takes practice, it’s touchy.  The key to using salt is that things that are salted shouldn’t taste salty.  You add too much and you spoil the dish.  But if you add too little, then you have missed an opportunity for your dish to be at its most flavorful.  Knowing how much salt to use takes practice and often I will taste a dish and add a small amount of salt numerous times before I am done.  It’s pretty cool.

          In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus tells the disciples that they are salt.  Not that they are becoming salt or that they will be salt, but that they are salt.  They are salt, just the way they are.  As salt, they are challenged to bring just the right amount of the flavor of faith to the world around them.  Like our modern use of salt, the use of our faith salt can be touchy, we can use too much or too little.

          We all know those people that are a little too salty.  They bring their personal understanding of faith to every situation and every conversation.  It’s over the top and it puts people off.  I’m thinking of characters like Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church.  Too salty, too much, instead of adding to the flavor of life, characters like this just leave a bad taste in the mouth.  Like Lot’s wife looking backward, these folks are nothing but salt itself.

          We also know people that could use their salt more.  Like missed opportunities in the soup pot, these folks are too shy about sharing their beliefs.  So afraid that they will turn the stew too far, or turn people off from church all together, folks neglect to mention or show their faith in anyway.  Like Jesus mentions, these folks have lost their saltiness all together and aren’t good for anything.  It takes finesse to share our faith with the world around us, but if we aren’t salty at all then we are nothing.

          After his salt metaphor for faith, Jesus switches gears and uses light as a metaphor.  Similar to the use of salt, the use of light is all about having the right angle and amount.  Light is one of the most important aspects of life, you can’t get anything done if you don’t have light.  Throughout this week’s winter storm, I was most aware and grateful for light.  So often the snow knocks out power to homes and suddenly we are plunged in the dark, unable to engage in our daily tasks.

          No light is no good, but too much light is also not good.  At our house it is not uncommon to suddenly find yourself with a flash light shining directly in your eyes.  Some well meaning and excited child wants to share the joy of light with you but instead of shining the light in such a way for you both to share in the experience, they shine the light directly on your retina, temporarily blinding you.  Whoa, too much light and you cannot see!

          Our faith is a light in the world around us.  It brings necessary light, awareness, and vision to our daily activities.  When the power goes out, we can’t get things done, when the faith light goes out, we can’t live.  When we shine too much light in a rude fashion we end up in the same situation as too much salt, we blind people and turn them off of the church all together.  Like the issue of salt the use of faith light in the world around us is a matter of finesse.

          After speaking of salt and light, Jesus begins to discuss the law and prophets and his role in the history of the church.  Lest some folks think he has come to do away with the religious system, Jesus tells them that he has not come to erase the old system, rather he has come to fulfill the promises that the earlier generations have made.  In fact, Jesus will spend a good portion of this sermon, reinterpreting the laws for a new generation of believers.

          Like the salt of faith which brings out the true flavor of any person, and like light which shines in the world so we can more clearly see God’s creation, Jesus has come to bring about the true message of the tradition in which he was born.  Like a good helping of salt, Jesus will bring to the front the true flavor or meaning of the law.  Like light shining on old scrolls, Jesus’ teachings will make clear the true intent of God’s word for God’s people. 

          Similar to the discussions of salt and light, Jesus seems to be saying that with the law we also see cases of too much and too little.  Folks that aren’t willing to follow the laws of the faith and encourage others along a similar path will be called least in the kingdom of heaven.  Not enough emphasis on the laws, willing to cast them aside willy nilly, is not the path of faith.  People that follow the laws too zealously also put themselves in a bad position.   Jesus mentions the scribes and Pharisees who think that the law alone will save them.  Zealous following of the law and ignoring the greater will and purpose of God is also a bad path to be on.

          From salt and light faith, to the relationship between following and upholding the laws and traditions, the path of the Christian is one that we must walk gingerly with finesse.  It is not a black or white situation; do this – not that, salt or no salt, light or dark, law or no law.  Rather, it is a situation of gray areas and in-betweens.  Be salty, but not too salty.  Shine your light, but don’t blind people.  Follow the laws of the faith, but don’t assume that they alone will be your salvation.  It is a tricky situation and a difficult path to be on, and that is why the journey of faith takes a lifetime and is not just something we do one Sunday morning in our lives.

          These kinds of grey areas, this kind of uneasy ground, can make for a difficult journey.  Sermons like this can make you uncomfortable, especially if you came here today simply looking for instructions on how to live the good life.  Fortunately, I have something more than just a sermon for you this morning.  Today we are also celebrating communion.

          Gathering as a community around the Lord’s Table can serve as a grounding experience for us.  When so much of life and faith becomes questions and insecurity, the communion table is a place where we can gather on solid ground.  When we gather here, we know where we stand.  We know who we are, who our God is, and who our God calls us to be.  We gather humbly, admitting our sinfulness and the places where we have been too salty, or not bold enough in our seasoning.  We gather in hope, as our faith shines a light on our world and brings vision to the future God promises for us.  We gather in fulfillment, aware that Jesus, the crucified savior, is the lens through which the traditional faith of law and prophets can be understood.

          Perhaps more importantly, we gather knowing that no matter where we find ourselves on the spectrum of salt and light, on the interpretation of law and prophets, we are a people who are loved.  This table grounds us in the knowledge of God’s love for us, God’s desire to reach out to us, and God’s willingness to do whatever it takes to touch our hearts.  When we take communion we are in community with God as we share as a church family and as individuals in the elements of God’s love.  “Christ’s body broken for you.  Christ’s blood shed for you.”

          This month as we continue to study Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, we will be continually called to examine our own lives of faith.  Jesus’ sermon is not an easy one to hear, and I am sure the people gathered on the mountain that day did not leave the worship time feeling warm and fuzzy.  It is a challenge to consider how we have responded to the teachings of Jesus and how much we are willing to share our faith with those around us.  Are you too salty or too shy, are you too bright or too shady, are you too zealous or too lax?  All of us err on the scale in one way or another.  And perhaps that is the message.  When it comes to faith, none of us are perfect.  We are always trying, always growing, always making mistakes, and always improving in our walk with Jesus in the world.  May God be with us on the journey, and may we find balance in the elements of faith.  Amen.