My favorite movie actor is Jimmy Stewart. He did some
great movies. My most favorite movie of his is called It’s a Wonderful Life. It
was never recognized as a great movie when it first came out. It helped make
him a superstar but he never won an award for that movie. Today, we see it as a
Christmas Classic. It’s not Christmas if we don’t see It’s a Wonderful Life on
television somewhere.
There is one scene from this movie that goes directly to
our Gospel reading today. It is the scene where the Martini’s (the restaurant
owner) family is getting ready to move into their house and in a little
ceremony before they get the keys, Donna Reed holds up several items; one of
those items is a can of Morton Salt and she says “salt, so that this house will
always know flavor.” How fitting is that for today. I know it is not Christmas
but here are her words about salt. How salt can add flavor to life.
I think Donna Reed’s character knows a little something
about our scripture reading for today. Last week, we heard the presentation of
Jesus from our Gospel of Luke. It was a festival day. There was an alternate
reading for last Sunday and that reading was the Beatitudes. It was those words
that we have heard to many times. “Blessed are you the poor in spirit, those
who mourn, the meek, the hungry….” Jesus reveals to the listeners on this
Sermon on the Mount that they are blessed. He is telling them about the
blessings that God has given despite their situations.
What is it about their situations that makes them
blessed? That is a sermon for another time but part of their situations is that
they are all different. Jesus is addressing these people who have come to hear
him preach. They did not all come from the same place. They did not all come
from the same background. They came from different economic situations,
financial situations, ethnic situations, and the list could go on and on. This
is a large group of different people coming together who have heard about this
Jesus, listened to him, and think there is something to this man. So they are
listening to him speak and he is blessing them all.
And we come to the end of the Beatitudes where he gives
them this little tidbit; “you are the salt of the earth.” What in the world
does that mean? It means that despite their situations, economic, spirituality,
racial, nationality…whatever it is that brought them to hear the Word of God is
not a bad thing. In fact, it is part of what makes you who you are and Jesus
welcomes those differences. What do we know salt to be? It is a preservative.
They used it in the days before refrigerators to keep meat from going bad. That
is not a bad thing is it. That would mean in Jesus time that salt can be used
to maintain their faith…preserve their faith.
Salt is
also considered a spice isn’t it. It gives flavor to our foods. As the famous
chef Emeril Lagasse would say “when you add spice you add BAM!” To the food. It
brings out the goodness of the food and accents the food…it makes it taste that
much better. So Jesus is telling these people that he just spoke to about
blessings that they are preservatives, they are important regardless of their
situation. He is telling them that God sees them as important and valued in the
world that God created. He is also telling them that they add flavor to the
world. Their backgrounds, financial situations, nationalities, genders is what
adds flavor to the world; not only as God’s creation but as children of God.
That would be something to feel really good about.
But
Jesus does not stop there. He also tells them that they are the light of the
world. We all know what happens to light. When you light one of these candles
in the dark, there is a cone around it. If you light a bunch of candles, then
the room gets a little brighter and brighter. When we light a lamp when the
power goes out, we want the light to spread into the whole room. We all want to
see what we can see in the dark. Inventors have figured out how to make these
lamps work on batteries rather than oil, electricity so that when we flick that
switch, the light shines and depending where you are, not much or nothing is
hidden.
This
light is not just about a lamp. Jesus is teaching the listeners that there is
something good inside of them because God is good and it is God who created
them and so there is something good inside them. What is it that is inside
them? It is the goodness that is God. It is that creation and praise for the
Word of God coming to them in the flesh to teach them about the God of love,
grace, and mercy. It is Jesus, Immanuel which means God is with them that is
deep within them that is being revealed. It is NOT to say that we are God. I am
saying that God’s goodness; God’s love, grace, and mercy is inside each one of
them to accept the diversity of situation and accept one another as God’s
creation.
This
reading is for us as well. We hear the blessings of the Beatitudes and can take
comfort in the God of compassion for God’s creation. We too are salt of the
earth. We come from different situations in our lives; different nationalities,
races, financial situations, and yet God created us all differently but with
goodness in our hearts and souls. We come together from our backgrounds to hear
the Word of God. We don’t sit in a particular pew based on social standing but
we sit because God invites us…calls us to come and see, and hear, and
experience the gift of God’s love and forgiveness; because of God’s only Son,
Jesus Christ on the cross.
We,
also, are not just a preservative. It is because of our situations that give us
flavor. Not one of us has the same exact personality. Truly, I think that might
be a little boring. We all have very different personalities, sense of humors,
and gifts. It is because we are all so different that we make up the church as
a whole. We have carpenters, farmers, accountants, lawyers, contractors, people
who work with people, people who work with animals, educators, I mean the list
goes on and on. All these salty people make up the church and thank God;
because we can celebrate this world of diverse Christians and still worship
together and share all that God has made.
There
is kind of one drawback with all this saltiness. It means that we are not
always going to agree on everything. Who here is shocked by that? Not everyone
is going to agree with everyone else because that would be pretty boring
wouldn’t it? Believe it or not, that is something to celebrate as well. It is
because of the saltiness we come up with different ways of solving problems,
inventing things, and even worshipping our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ; it
also means working together, as the body of Christ, to give our thanks and
praise to God who created us and to Jesus who revealed God’s love for us; in
many different ways and expressions.
We,
too, are light. We have light inside of us. It is the light of Jesus Christ,
God’s Son, who taught us all about God’s love and forgiveness. We have a piece
of God in us through our baptism in being marked with the cross of Christ
forever; and through the gift of Holy Communion. Through the bread and the
wine…the body ad blood of Jesus, we have the gift of God within us; the
Goodness of God blessed with the gifts of compassion and love for one another.
But Jesus tells us not to let that light hide. He says, “Let your light so
shine before others so that they may see your good works and glorify your
father in heaven.” Jesus is telling us to go out and share that light. Share it
with our family, our neighbors, and with the world. The light of Christ is not
to be hidden and kept in our little corner of the world but that light is to go
into the world.
So let
us go into the world letting God’s light that is in us shine so that God’s love
is never hidden: AMEN !
No comments:
Post a Comment