Salt and Light (Feb. 5, 2023) Matthew 5.13-20

You’re driving along and you see a vehicle in front of you with a sticker in the window. It looks like a fish or something else that you cannot make out. In fact, you cannot really make out the lettering as it looks like something that is badly put together. So, you shrug your shoulders and continue driving. Then in a parking lot, you see similar sticker in a back window. You go up to the vehicle and take a closer look and notice that the letters are in the form of what looks like driftwood. When you look more closely you see that this sticker says the words, “Salt Life”, a sticker that you have seen all over the place. And so, with a chuckle and a shake of your head, you move on to where you are going wondering why this car (and many others) have this sticker, especially when the vehicle in question is a champagne gold 2008 Toyota Camry.

See, Salt Life means something very different now than what it meant when the term came into being. It is a company that creates and sells surf and beach gear but according to the online Urban Dictionary, Salt Life was:

“Originally a sticker on the back of cars used to denote a surfer, bodyboarder, or general beach bum whose life centered around the ocean or related beach going activities. Ever seen a 32-year-old man whose primary activity was surfing and working on his tan? That person would have a salt life sticker. Unfortunately the trend spread to senior citizens, wanna be hipsters, soccer moms, and other persons wishing to inform the world that yes, they too have visited the beach at some point in life and they have the sticker to prove it.”

I have seen the stickers and so have you. They are more prominent at the beach, of course, but they are all over the place around here. Some are on Jeeps and trucks with clear indicators that they are used at the beach for surfing and such. But many of the stickers I have seen are on the car I described earlier or on those vehicles of domesticity and responsibility, the minivan and the SUV. What was once a sign of the carefree and somewhat slacker lifestyle of the surfer or “beachbum” is now on every car of those who have spent a week at the Outer Banks and want a cool souvenir of their trip that proves they are hip and up with the times.

Now you may be wondering what this has to do with our text for today. How is the beach and the bumper stickers of Salt Life to be applied to the words of Jesus? Let us step back for a moment and look at the context of the words of Jesus.

Jesus is preaching what is now known as the Sermon on the Mount. He has just spoken the Beatitudes which told those listening that it is not the go-getters or the movers and shakers who will be blessed, but rather those who are poor, hungry, reviled, mournful, the down and out. Those who are on the outside looking in, those on the margins, those who are without the power and influence to make things happen, these are to be the ones who are blessed by God. The people who were listening would have been taken aback, especially the disciples of Jesus. As we know, they will later be jockeying for position in the Kingdom and so they were perhaps expecting to hear that they will be given power and influence. Then comes Jesus’ next words.

Those listening are to be the salt of the earth. To us, this phrase means “Basic, fundamental goodness; the phrase can be used to describe any simple, good person”, what many would say where I grew up are “good country folk.” And we like that phrase and meaning. It makes us feel, as I like to say, warm and gushy inside. But this is not what Jesus meant at all.

Salt is small and kind of ordinary. It can be found in many places and really does not stand out that much. So why is salt such a big deal in the ancient world and even today?

Salt served, and still does, many purposes. It added flavor to otherwise bland food. How many have watched someone add salt to green beans that have been boiled to mushiness? Who hasn’t added salt to an otherwise plain baked chicken that sits on your plate? Yeah, we all have. To put it in more contemporary terms, Jesus would have today said “You are the red chili pepper of the earth that is to flavor this world”.

Salt was used in the covenant and was a part of the sacrifices in both Jewish and pagan religions. It was crucial to good hospitality as well. One did not want the salt holder to be empty when guests arrived.

Salt was also a preservative. In a time without refrigeration, people needed a way to make sure meat and other foods were able to be kept for more than a few days without spoiling. Salt was the perfect answer. It kept the food from spoiling and it provided a flavor that worked its way into the food rather than just being on the surface. When you eat salt cured ham, or anything else salt cured, you know exactly what I am saying.

Jesus is saying that we as salt are to be all these things. We are to add flavor to a broken and hurting world. We are to be a part of the covenant and make sure that it is followed by bringing hospitality, justice, kindness and walking humbly with God. And we are to be a preservative. We are to make sure that the Torah goes beyond a surface appreciation and works deep into ours and others souls, so that the Torah will be found not in the literal sense of following the letter of the law but that the intent of the law, the relationship with God that is seen and is known and is preserved.

But one more thing that salt does. It makes one thirsty. When one has too much salt, there is an overwhelming thirst and need for something to take that thirst away. Again, anyone who has had salt cured food knows this. As the salt of the earth, we are to make people thirst for Jesus and for the Kingdom of God.

And yet, Jesus says that salt can lose its saltiness. Now this is a bit of hyperbole because salt cannot lose its essential property. But we understand the meaning of what Jesus is saying. If salt were to lose its properties that make it so useful and so powerful, it is useless. It is good for nothing but throwing it onto the ground to just be trampled or, to do any good, to be thrown on the sidewalks to make sure they are not icy in the winter. If we lose our saltiness, if we lose our preservative, our flavoring, our thirst making aspects of those who are in the kingdom of God, then we are of no use to God anymore.

Jesus also tells us that we are to be a light. In New Testament times lamps put out very weak light (imagine a flashlight with very weak batteries). But in the night, when there was nothing but darkness, this weak light would be able to light up an entire room/house. One would never think of putting a basket over that light because then the whole area would be plunged into darkness. And so, it is with us. We are to be light that shines in the darkness and can light a path for people to come and find what they need in God. We are not to be hidden in the house or under a basket but we are to be like a city on a hill, where torch lights would be seen for miles around. We are to be a beacon to those who are lost and searching.

How are we to be salt and light? How do we live as Jesus told us? By doing what Jesus came to do: fulfilling the Law. Now there is no way that we can keep the Law perfectly to the letter. But that is not what Jesus is wanting. He is wanting us to fulfill the meaning of the Law and the Prophets. In this meaning, it is the quality of doing the Law, not the quantity. Quantity was what the Pharisees and others were doing. They were looking inward and holding the Law amongst themselves. Quality in observance of the Law is that the Law was to bring us closer in relationship with God. When we are in relationship with God, we see the things that we do that are not fulfilling the Law and Prophets. We act as salt and light upon ourselves even though it is not something that we like to do. We work to do the will of God in the meaning of the Law and Prophets, not just making sure that we follow the letter of the Law literally.

So, how do we show this quality of the Law and Prophets? By going out and telling. We are not salt and light on our own. That is completely by God’s doing. We are made to be salt and light by the mercy and the grace of God. And in grateful response to these gifts, we are to go out and do the good works that God has told us to do in the Law and Prophets. The works are not anything that will earn us salvation, but are indicators that we are living in grateful thanks to God for the gifts that were given to us. When we have been given the grace and mercy of God we will want to go out and do justice, love kindness and walk humbly with God. We will not want to keep the news to just ourselves or our little group. In Isaiah 42, Israel is told that they were to be a light to the nations. They seemed to forget that in Jesus’ time. Sometimes it seems that we to have forgotten that we are to be salt and light to the world. When we do what Jesus called us to be, we will want to be salt and light that brings people to the one who can make things right with God.

Going back to the illustration at the beginning of the sermon. How many of you have seen a Salt Life sticker and dismissed it because of the vehicle it was on? You might have said something like, “Their “salt life” is one week at the beach but they really don’t have that life in them.” What about the fish emblems or bumper stickers that we see on cars that are symbols of a Christian life? If you had one on your car would someone say, “They have the sticker, sure, but they don’t live it.” Do you, do I, live as salt and light or do we just have a sticker that says, “I go to church, but that’s my only claim”. Are we salt and light? Has our salt lost its saltiness and have we hidden our light under a basket? Do we live the lives that Jesus calls us to live, ones of justice, kindness, grace, hospitality, and humility or do we just try to follow the letter of the law to make sure we attain points in heaven? Are we the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” or are we just making sure we are keeping the rules? Amen.