Park United Methodist Church

Isaiah 2:2-5

Matthew 5:13-16

​

Reflection: 

Have you ever thought about losing your saltiness?  Jesus tells us we are the salt of the world.  That can mean so many things.  In those days, it was a preservation technique and also a flavoring.  Today, we also use it as a way to describe someone who is a bit sassy.  There were actually eleven different biblical references for salt, including using it as a part of offerings and to seal covenants.  

​

So what is Jesus getting at, and how do we lose saltiness?  The chemical formula stays the same, so what does he mean?  

​

When I was in Vieques, Puerto Rico, we took a cooking class to learn more about the culture.  It was awesome, but I learned about salt.  When to salt and how to salt.  Our chef insisted that you do not salt until the end, or you lose your saltiness.  This was the first time I had heard that phrase other than the scripture I had been studying for this week!  I asked her about that.  It gets diluted and absorbed in the rice. You want to wait until the end, when it enhances flavor and does not just get lost in the rest of the dish.

​

It made me think about Jesus’s story.  How do we live a life that does the right thing at the right time in order to enhance God’s word?  To live out God’s word in a way that preserves the kingdom and does not allow it to get lost in the power plays that make up the world, the ease of turning a blind eye to the injustices of this world?  The comfort that those with privilege find in not “making waves”?

​

Salt was the only way meat could last.  In Puerto  Rico, they still lose electricity multiple times a day.  Many places are trying to move to solar if they own their own buildings.  This loss of electricity also makes the preservation of food difficult.  Salted cod is a local meat found in multiple dishes.  I had it twice while I was there.  It preserves the fish, making it easier to keep.  How do we preserve the Kingdom of God and not take the easy way out?  How do we stand up for the weak, the poor, those on the margins?  How do we share God’s love with others in a world that supports selfishness and is centered on how everything makes “me” feel?

​

Jesus then moves on to the next and related metaphor, “you are the light of the world.  A town built on a hill cannot be hidden.”  Jesus is harkening back to Isaiah here, scriptures that his hearers would know and word plays that they would also catch.  The word for light in Hebrew is Or, Torah means instruction, and Yoreh means to give instruction.  Tim Mackie helps us put this together in the Isaiah poetry, stating “the key point is that God’s light and God’s instruction shine out to the world to show the way of true life.”That it will flow like the rivers out into the world.  This imagery is what is being built off of.  

​

We are to be the light - the teaching, the people of God, going out into the world.  We are to share the kingdom of God out into the world.  The teaching of God with the nations changing the world as we go.  Going back to Isaiah, this will cause us to hammer spears into plow shares.   We will have the life-giving, generous instruction of God and then share it with others of all nations and nationalities. 

​

Isaiah 42 speaks of a single servant who will come to restore the people, relationships, and community because the Jewish people have broken the covenant so many times that they have not been the people of the light.  In our understanding as Christians, this is Christ.  We are to be like Christ, who brings this restoration.  Thus, the light on the hill.  

​

Jesus goes on to tell us not to cover the light with a basket.  William Barclay, in his commentary, mentions that people did cover their lights with clay pots in the evening when they went out to sleep, because they were difficult to relight and they feared them burning down the house.

 

So, if we are to be the light, the salt of this new covenant, the preserver of this new way of being in the world.  We need not fear burning with God’s love.  Not fear living into the covenant Jesus brought to us of loving God and loving the neighbor.  Living out a way of life that looks very different than putting yourself and comfort ahead of looking out for others.  

​

So, how do we do this now?  What could that look like?   Maybe it is listening to that small voice that asks you to share your story as Dan did.  Maybe it is picking up a new ministry, as several volunteers have done lately, so that our card ministry continues to thrive and our bags for new folks continue to grow!  Perhaps it is finding ways to stick up for those who are living in fear right now.  What does it look like to love like Jesus, and to be the light in a world that desperately needs light?