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Praise and mercy be to you, for God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, the text for this morning’s sermon comes from the Gospel reading. You may be seated. It is the fourth verse that we just sang. Let me read it to you again. From the cross, thy wisdom shining, breaketh forth in conquering might. From the cross, forever beameth. All thy bright redeeming light.
In this morning’s text, Jesus begins by calling us who we are. You are salt and you are light. But it’s vitally important for us to know, in calling us such, where our saltness comes and from where our light does originate. It comes from the cross. It comes from the cross. He who sweat blood is the salt that has been given to you in your baptism. He who is the light of the world is the light which enlightened your darkness and caused light to shine within you, that you may know God is loving and gracious, not vengeful. It is the cross from which both come. It is outside of yourself that these come, not from within.
Last week was the Beatitudes of the Sermon on the Mount. And every one of the Beatitudes began with the words, Blessed, blessed are you. And all of them were about your calling in Christ in relationship to God. Jesus finishes that in this sermon and then moves toward your relationship to each other. Your relationship to me, my relationship to you. Husbands’ relationships to their wives and wives to their husbands. Workers to employers and employers to workers. Coworker to coworker. Parish family member with your fellow parish family member. These are all the relationships that Jesus is referring when He calls you salt and when He calls you light. Because He is again reaffirming your identity. It is one that’s given to you, not one you have conjured yourself. It is one that is placed in you by the Spirit, not one that you have prayed for to receive. It is God’s gift to you, not one that you have earned.
Now it’s interesting, because of all the method and means that God could use for us, to have the message given to us so that we may believe of all the possible places and ways He’s chosen you. You. He’s chosen how you speak, how you think, your unique ways to use you just as He used the uniqueness of Peter and of John and of Paul to reach people. He uses you. But He did not call you to a life of mediocrity. He did not call you to a life of a little above average. He did not call you to be a norm. He called you to exceed and set yourself apart.
Because by being salt, you have already been set apart from the rest of the world which is not salty. By your being made light of the world, you have already been set apart in an extraordinary and remarkable way from the rest of the world which lies in darkness. So in all those special arenas that God has called you, the arena of family, the arena of marriage, the arena of parenting or of being a child, the arena of your employee, the arena of your co-worker, the arena of your church family, you have been called to not just be a normal, average husband, wife, mother, father, sister, brother, parent, child, employee, employer, co-worker, parish family member.
You’ve been called to be a remarkable husband and an extraordinary wife. You’ve been called to be a unique father or an above reproach mother, a most excellent son, and a most amazing daughter. But not as the world would define amazing, extraordinary, remarkable, extraordinary. But as Christ defines amazing, extraordinary, and remarkable. And how does Christ define amazing, extraordinary, and remarkable? In serving. Was it not Jesus who said, “Whoever among you wishes to be great must be the servant of all.” And He is the greatest of all, for He is the one who alone served you to make you salt. He is the one who served you to make you light. He is the one who has called you to be husband or wife, father or mother, son or daughter. He is the one who has placed you as worker or employer, as co-worker to co-worker. And He is also the one who has placed you into this communion of saints known as St. Paul parish family.
We have not been called just to be these places and these positions. We have been called to be saints. Salt and light in those places and those positions, which is not what the world is like and not how the world defines greatness. Now Jesus was very clear, for He made it clear that all of the Scriptures are about Him. Everything in the Bible is about Jesus. Everything in the Old Testament is not law. It is all the prophecies that were fulfilled in Christ. So the entire Scripture is all fulfilled in Christ. And not only is it fulfilled in Christ, Christ says He’s not going to bend any of it. He’s not going to compromise a bit of it. He’s not going to bend it. He’s not going to throw it to the side. And you and I, we are not going to get special dispensations. We’re not going to get a pass to be like the rest of the world when He calls us salt and He calls us light.
We are different than the rest of the world. We are remarkable, extraordinary, unique, most excellent, and any other adjective of what Jesus defines as great service. We don’t get the opportunity to act as we wish, and yet our flesh cries out, “I want to be who I am.” We want to choose who we give love to because we deem others, certain others, to be worthy of our love, and yet we deem others not to be worthy of our love. And that is how the world defines greatness, but not God. The world defines that as greatness, and that is an abomination to God. What God defines greatness is loving and forgiving everyone, not just showing mercy to those that we deem worthy of mercy, but to give mercy to the scum that do not deserve it, who have carved a beautiful scar in our heart. That’s the one unto whom mercy is to be given in grander scale.
Now you see what He means when He says mercy. “Whoever relaxes one of the least of these commandments and teaches others to do the same by word or by deed will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven.” And remember, greatness is not defined by how man in this world defines greatness. That’s the greatest servant in all. And look what it looks like. It looks like failure. It looks like complete and utter despisal and humiliation and degradation. And yet, it is the greatest service given to you, to me, and to the world. And of all the ways that God wants to bring His good news of service to you and to other people, He uses people in your life. And He uses people in other people’s lives, meaning you.
You’ve been given this gift. You are the one who is salt. Your saltness doesn’t come about because of you. It came about because of God. Your lightness did not come about because of you. It came about because of God. Jesus went on to say, “I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.” There are two things being mentioned here in this verse. One, Jesus has already made it very clear. None of the Scripture has been thrown out. Every single jot and tittle has been fulfilled by Him so that you have no checkmark against you. You have nothing of accusation that sticks to you from Satan or from your own flesh that binds itself to you. Jesus has died and buried every condemnation that could be yours. And because you have had all of it fulfilled, you are holy and you are righteous. Live like you are holy and righteous. Live not like one who still has to prove something to yourself, or to this world, or to your parents, or to your wife, or to your children. Do not live like you have to prove something. You have been shown the proof of your life in Christ.
Live like one who’s been forgiven, which has been set free and not condemned. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. Paul says it in Romans clearly, because he has fulfilled all things. He said that in this text to you this morning. But having said that, he says, live it out. Are you a good tree? Yes. You were made good because you are salt, you are light. You are a good tree. What does a good tree produce except nothing but good fruit? Good. The scribes and Pharisees that Jesus uses as a comparison are a bad tree. They will always produce bad fruit. Yet how did the world look at the scribes and Pharisees’ bad fruit? Wow! They looked at it as being an amazing, holy, and righteous man. But they lacked mercy and forgiveness because they did not receive mercy and forgiveness. And you can’t give what you don’t have to give in the first place. Jesus is not calling you as one who doesn’t have it. He fulfilled it for you. He is calling you as one who has it to give. Full of it.
He’s called you back here with your fellow members to get it again and to receive it again. And to bear fruit again. But you and I know what it’s like to live out this life. We fail. And the flesh is what we typically lean on in how we choose to love and to forgive. And in leaning on the flesh, we are so sad and sorrow-filled because we have dishonored the very One who calls us salt and light. And in dishonoring Him, He leads us to come back to Him with repentance. What did Jesus say? “Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.” He comforts those who mourn their sin. “Blessed are those who are poor in spirit, for they shall inherit the kingdom of heaven.” Yes, we fail. Yes, God drives us to our knees to repent. And yes, God points us back to the source of our saltiness and the source of our light, His suffering, death, and resurrection.
And the fruits of that cross we partake of. We don’t partake of them as Jesus and me. We partake of them as a parish family. We are all we have, one to another. We partake of it as a family. To love and to forgive even when it’s difficult. And we bring our desire to love and to forgive from nowhere else but from Him who alone has served us first. Washing our feet, cleansing our ugliness, binding up our wounds and making us new again.
In the name of Him who chooses to call you salt and to call you light because He has made you such. Jesus, Amen. The peace of God which passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds on Christ Jesus to life eternal. Amen.