Everyone knows that salt and light are good. They are good in the biblical context and good in our contemporary context, even though I should probably add disclaimers for those with high blood pressure, sleep disorders, or fair skin.
When Jesus said that “ye are the salt of the earth” and “ye are the light of the world” these were words of encouragement to the people who’d gathered to hear him deliver what we now call the Sermon on the Mount. Among the oft-repeated phrases of these well-known teachings of Jesus, “salt of the earth” and “light of the world” rank pretty high. And approaching this section of the Sermon for the purposes of a sermon, one might begin with the assumption that real insights will come from a deeper examination of salt and light as metaphors.
But in a way, both of these metaphors are problematic as Jesus uses them. To begin with, salt doesn’t really lose its saltiness, despite the various rationalizations of this text that you can find online. As for light, I must admit I find St. John’s Gospel a little more compelling than St. Matthew’s; for in John we hear Jesus tell us that he is the light of the world, rather than this assertion that, as the old versions say, “ye are the light of the world.” No offense, but given the choice between he and ye as the light of the world, I think I am going to choose Jesus every time. Still, here in the Sermon on the Mount, we hear Jesus say these things, and we can’t just dismiss them. So, what’s a preacher to do?
“Ye are the salt of the earth…. Ye are the light or the world.”
If the challenge isn’t to try to understand salt better, and the challenge isn’t to try to understand light better, I would say that the challenge isn’t even to try to understand Jesus better, as the rabbi on the Mount. I am wondering if the real challenge is to try to understand “ye” better! By this, I do not mean that I want us to I read the text closely enough to understand precisely who Jesus’ audience was - anyone can do that. St. Matthew tells us that “great crowds followed him from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judaea, and from beyond the Jordan.” And he assures us that “his disciples came to him” as he began to preach. It is reasonable to suppose that the audience is nearly all Jewish, since the sermon addresses Jewish Scripture, Jewish law, and Jewish custom. We heard in the passage we read today that Jesus “did not come to abolish the law or the prophets.” He came “to fulfill.” And the people who were most likely to be interested in the fulfillment of the law and the prophets were Jews. We know who the audience was.
So, what do I mean by asserting that the challenge here may be to understand “ye” better?
At least in these few verses, when Jesus specifically says, “ye are the salt of the earth… ye are the light of the world,” I think the question might be this: Who are ye?
Let me put it another way: Do ye know who ye are?
Who are ye? The question is posed to you, right now. Are ye happy with yer life? Are ye struggling to get from day to day? Are ye confident in yer faith? Are ye confused and frustrated by the world ye live in? Are ye ready to help yer neighbor? Are ye looking for God in the world? Are ye ready to glorify his Name? Are ye living yer life for yerself, or are ye living yer life for others? Are ye satisfied with yer relationships? Are ye doing what ye want to be doing? Are ye peaceful and content? Are ye anxious and on edge? Are ye salty and light? Or are ye bland and dim? Who are ye? Do ye even know? Do ye know who ye are?
And what these few lines of the Sermon on the Mount tell us is this: that ye might not know who ye are - not really, not truly. Ye might not know what ye were made to be or who ye were made to be. No, ye might not know who ye really are, but Jesus does! And Jesus wants ye to know who ye are! He wants ye to know that ye are salt, ye are light! Not all by yer lonesome, yer not! It’s not so much that ye, yerself, alone in yer pew are so salty, so light.
Commentators point out that since in English, we lack a distinct pronoun for the second person plural, it’s easy to miss this emphasis: that Jesus is talking to a congregation. But in the Greek text, the “ye” is plural. And gathered together in Christ’s Name, gathered together in Christ’s company, gathered together by Christ’s teaching, gathered together as Christ’s Body ye taste like salt and ye look like light. Ye add flavor and ye preserve goodness in the world around ye - or at least ye could because God made ye to do so. And ye pierce the darkness of this world (or ye could if ye knew who God had made ye to be). And the more of ye there are, the saltier and the brighter ye be!
The Jews gathered there on the mountain had been living in a Promised Land, whose promise was as real as ever, but whose land had been occupied by an imperial force intent on its own well being above all. Sure, the Temple was still standing, but did they know, did they remember what it meant to be God’s people? God had called them to be a certain and particular people. But they had forgotten what that meant before, and they could forget again. Did they know who they were?
And what was the point of teaching them about the law and the prophets, about anger and reconciliation, about faithfulness and failure, about loving their enemies, about giving, and about praying, and seeing, and judging, about storing up treasures in heaven, and about the impossibility of loving both God and wealth, and about asking, and seeking, and knocking, about the Golden Rule, about going through the narrow gate, about what real fruitfulness is, about being hearers and doers of the Word of God… what was the point, if they didn’t even know who they were? Because if ye don’t know who ye are, ye don’t know that Jesus is talking to ye! And ye don’t know how to form the community that Jesus is calling ye to be.
But if ye know that ye are salt! If ye know that ye are light! Then ye start by knowing what Jesus knows about ye, about who ye are when ye come together with yer brothers and yer sisters, and with everyone who’s neither/nor. And ye are reminded that ye are salty, ye are bright!
Ye are the salt of the earth… ye are the light of the world!
Maybe Jesus started the Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes because he knew there were many people there who were blessed of God, but who didn’t know it: people who were poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, in need of mercy, pure in heart, desperate for peace, persecuted, and reviled. “Blessed are ye all!” He said to them.
But many there were who did not count themselves in any of those categories of blessing. What about them? And many there were who did not know how much it matters to be gathered together by and with Jesus. “Well,” Jesus told them, “gathered here, I’ll tell you who ye are, Ye are the salt of the earth! Ye are the light of the world!”
And what about ye?!? (Though I suppose in Philadelphia, I could ask, What about youse?). What about ye, gathered here in this place today? Do ye know who ye are? And do ye know that when ye gather here in God’s Name ye become more of who God made ye to be?
Maybe ye are poor in spirit, mournful, meek, hungry and thirsty for righteousness, in need of mercy, pure in heart, desperate for peace, persecuted, or reviled… but maybe yer not. Maybe ye don’t hear yerself described among the blessed of the Lord. And maybe ye think that if ye don’t hear yerself described among the blessed of the Lord, ye are not among them!
What’s more, maybe ye think that ye are on yer own, and that who ye are is something ye can only know when ye consider yerself in isolation. Maybe when ye look at yerself in the mirror all by yerself in the morning, ye think there is nothing blessed about ye, and that ye can’t possibly be counted among the blessed of the Lord.
But ye can be and ye are! For ye are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. And Jesus will not have ye lose yer saltiness: not if he can stop it, he won’t! And Jesus will not see yer light grow dim: not if if he can uncover it, he won’t!
And ye don’t need to spend more time contemplating the meaning and essence of salt; ye don’t need to spend more time contemplating the meaning and essence of light. What ye need to spend more time contemplating is the meaning and essence of yerselves, gathered here, and how it is that ye are more salty and more bright when ye gather together in God’s Name, when ye join together with more salt and more light, and ye begin to see who and what God made ye to be.
What’s a grain of salt on its own? What’s a photon of light bouncing around all by itself? But come together… and ye begin to function more like the salt of the earth, more like the light of the world! Remember that Jesus had not sat down with each disciple to have a one-on-one. Jesus had gathered a crowd! And Jesus was speaking to a people! This fact helps us realize why online worship became so important during the pandemic. Because when we literally couldn’t gather together in church to be with him and with each other, we could at least gather on an electronic mountainside and know that we are not alone in our encounter with Jesus.
Alone in our enforced isolation, it’s so easy to forget who we are, who God made us to be, and that over and over again, Jesus calls us to come together. And when he does call us together, it’s not so he can berate us, it’s not so he can tell us what horrible sinners we are, and how hopeless we should be. When Jesus calls us together it’s to tell us of the blessedness that we are likely to forget about ourselves because we have gotten caught up in the work and worry of the empire, and forgotten who we are when we come together in his presence.
Do ye know who ye are? Do ye know that ye are blessed in the eyes and in the heart of God? Do ye know how much more of yerself ye become when ye gather here in Christ's Name? Do ye know how salty and how bright ye are?
Ye are the salt of the earth... and ye are the light of the world. Yes, ye are! Jesus said so himself.
You know me, between he and ye, I'd choose Jesus every time... but Jesus chose ye!
Preached by Fr. Sean Mullen
5 February 2023
Saint Mark’s, Locust Street, Philadelphia
