Matthew 5:13-20
“The Recipe”
February 5, 2023
We have some amazing cooks and bakers here in this congregation.
I won’t name names but you have enjoyed the fruits of their gifted labors at many a potluck and coffee hour.
Some of you are known for a particular dish while others of you amaze us with a wide variety of yummy offerings.
There are those who’ve been cooking or baking these items for so long that you no longer even need a recipe.
You are able to put just the right amount of flour and sugar or tomatoes and onions and garlic and the dish turns out the same every time.
I happen to live in a household that is strongly divided on the use of recipes.
I fall down on the side of always wanting the specific amounts of ingredients along with the order and the temperature of the stove or oven and the pan size and the timing of all this.
The many cookbooks, boxes, and binders of recipes along with well over a thousand saved recipes in my computer (I know, I know – I won’t live that long to make all of these dishes) are a testament to my love of recipes.
My husband, on the other hand, is mostly a free style cook, throwing together ingredients, usually without the safety net of a recipe.
Needless to say, he finds me a bit obsessive when it comes to cooking and baking and all those instructions to follow.
We heard Jesus sharing the upside-down blessings last week – the ones we know as the Beatitude.
This week, Jesus is offering instructions on what it means to be a blessing.
If we look at the word blessing we see that it’s root is “bene” which translates to good or well.
What it means to be a blessing is to bring out the good in other people.
Every one of us has that good inside of us.
Sadly, not enough of us remember that on a daily basis.
Look around this room and consider the goodness that lies within each person here.
Jesus is explaining the how-to’s of being a blessing using two images.
Each of these images are not about themselves but rather what they bring out in things around them.
None of us grabs a handful of salt and eats it by itself.
No, we use it in a variety of ways.
Up until fairly recently in human history it was how all meat and vegetables were preserved.
Salt helps us move around in our part of the world when it’s used to melt snow and ice.
But the most delicious part of salt is what it does for so many foods.
It brings out the best flavor in everything from cabbage to potato chips to French fries and even chocolate.
Light does the same thing.
Light allows us to see the beauty of creation all around us.
Light allows us to follow a path, see down a nighttime road or climb stairs safely.
To have Jesus proclaim that we are salt of the earth and the light of the world is to point out that we each have a part to play in the universe.
And there doesn’t have to be a lot of salt or light either to make a huge difference.
Consider the pinch of salt that can make all the difference in a pot of soup.
Or the way just one lone candle can light up a whole room – or way more than that – you can actually see a single candle from 1.6 miles away with a flat and unobstructed view.
Jesus is not proclaiming some new thing we’re supposed to be.
He’s just naming what we are.
We are both salt and light.
We make a difference to everyone and everything around us.
We were created to bless this world by God.
He’s not saying do all these things in order to be blessed.
What Jesus is telling us is we are blessed and our destiny is living into that identity by blessing others in bringing out the best in them.
And as this passage and Jesus’ instructions continue, he recognizes that some may hear what he has to say and think he’s trying to get rid of the law that has been at the center of Jewish life all this time.
What Jesus is doing instead is encouraging all of us listening to fulfil the law by living into it, the full spirit of the law.
He’s discouraging practices that may literally be following the law but are done with less than honorable motivations.
We’re supposed to not just superficially follow that law but really embody all of its meaning.
One example that I saw offered was when Christians pray really hard for neighbors but have a lot of contempt for them. “Dear God, help them become more like us” would be the right action – prayer- with a less than honorable spirit behind it.
We have so much salt and light to offer the world – as individuals and collectively.
When we reach out to neighbors in need – here or anywhere around the world – we are wanting them to live their best lives.
With a new year and new opportunities to bring spice and light to the world, what ways can we share who we are with the world?
What parts of this community or the wider world could use our salt and light to bring out their best?
We have the recipe from Jesus.
We are the recipe.
The writer Steve Garnaas-Holmes reflecting on the words of Matthew: You are the light of the world says it this way:
Einstein told us:
matter is just energy holding still.
Light is the energy of God,
which is love moving.
“Let there be light,” God said,
and you were conceived.
You are love made matter,
Word made flesh,
the light of God, the light of Being,
momentarily here in this form,
shining, radiating God.
You don’t need to produce it
or generate it. It’s who you are.
When you are truly yourself, it shines.
The world sparkles
with people walking around gleaming.
Even on our deathbeds, we glow.
Trust your light. Give thanks.
Open the shutters of your lantern.
Let your light so shine before others,
that they may see by it, and glorify God. Amen.
(Steve Garnaas-Holmes, www.unfoldinglight.net)