Epiphany 5 A
You are the Salt of the Earth
St. Matthew 5:13-20
9 February 2014 – Redeemer
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You are the salt of the earth. In Biblical times salt’s primary use wasn’t seasoning it was preserving. You didn’t sprinkle salt on your medium rare sirloin to bring out the flavor; you sprinkled salt on your totally raw sirloin to keep it from spoiling.
You are the salt of the earth. Salt preserves. The reason the world has been preserved is because of you. If it weren’t for you the world would have been destroyed after the first sin. The world would not have been preserved in Noah’s ark. The Medes and the Persians would not have risen to power. Rome would not have ruled the world in the days of Jesus Christ. The Christian West would not have turned back the Muslim invaders. Europeans would not have flocked to the new world and established 13 colonies that became the United States. The Ottoman Empire would not have been defeated in WWI and Germany and Japan in WWII. The cold war would not have been won by Ronald Reagan without a single nuclear missile launch.
Because of you, God has preserved the whole world to this day. By you I mean “you” plural, the communion of saints, the church of the baptized, the bride of Christ. That’s what Jesus said to his disciples (plural), “you (plural) are the salt of the earth.” Because of you the earth is being preserved. I believe in creation, no matter how dangerous that belief is according to Bill Nye the science guy. I believe the earth is about 8-10,000 years old. Why has God preserved the world this long after Adam and Eve profaned God’s holy garden and swallowed death instead of life? It is here for your sake. It was preserved this long so that Jesus could be born of woman and born under the Law. It was preserved that God might offer His own flesh and blood on the cross as payment for your sin. It was preserved so that the Holy Spirit might come upon the Apostles at Pentecost and God’s Word of repentance and forgiveness might be preached to the ends of the earth – all the way to Stearns County, Minnesota. It was preserved that your parents might bring you to the baptismal font, that they might drop you off crying to Sunday School and whining to Confirmation class. It was preserved that you might be called to repentance for you sins and hear your pastor proclaim you forgiven. It was preserved that you might taste and see the Lord Jesus in His body and blood and know that He is good.
This is the high place and honor to which God the Father has called you in Christ. He has kept the whole world around that He might call you children, saints, disciples, salt. This is the Gospel of the Lord, the good news for you, the high place you hold in the Father’s heart. This honor is not your doing. It is His doing. Your sin would forever keep you apart from God the Father, but in Christ He has reconciled you to Himself. By your own reason or strength you have no “salt” in you. By your sinfulness and unbelief you should be thrown out and trampled under foot, but God the Father has made you into something you were not. He has declared you sinners righteous, you rebels children, you damned forgiven, you saltless salty.
When Jesus declares us to be the “salt of the earth” He also warns us against losing our “saltiness.” “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.” (13)
There are two warnings in that verse. The first warning is for you – if salt has lost it tastes. In Christ God has restored to you what you lost through your sin. He has made you salt (again) in Christ – a good and pleasing child, a disciple, but that new nature can be lost. Since God makes you “salt” and keeps you “salt” being apart from where the Holy Spirit is at work is dangerous to your saltiness. Where are you peppered with the Law of God? Where are you seasoned with God’s mercy and love and forgiveness? During the Olympic coverage has NBC proclaimed the Law and Gospel? Does the Saint Cloud Times lift high the cross of Christ as the only way of salvation? Have you ever been baptized or absolved or heard God’s name proclaimed (not sworn) at a hockey rink or in a fish house or on a basketball court? We are made and kept God’s disciples (His salt) by His creative Word at work in His house, making us new in the waters of baptism and preserving the faith in us by the preaching of repentance and forgiveness. The salt of the earth is created by God’s Word poured on our heads, preached in our ears, placed on our tongues. To be apart from God’s Word, apart from His church, is to risk losing your taste, your saltiness, what God has made you to be.
The second warning is for you, but not about you. Jesus continues, “if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” To understand Jesus’ words we need a language arts lesson (which should be fine since we have some extra 4th-8th graders with us today). There are two identical possessive pronouns in Jesus’ sentence, “if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?” A pronoun refers to some other word in the sentence called an “antecedent.” What are the antecedents of these pronouns? The first antecedent is obvious – if salt has lost its taste – its refers to salt. But what about the second, “how shall its saltiness be restored?” I believe there the antecedent is the earth, so here is how I would interpret Jesus’ words, “You are the salt of the earth. If salt loses its taste, how will the earth’s saltiness be restored?” If the church loses her salt the world also loses, so Jesus warns the teachers and preachers of the church not to relax even the least of His commands.
Salt because it is salt has unique work. Salt preserves – it keeps things from spoiling. Salt seasons my sirloin and enhances its flavor. Salt melts snow, except in really, really cold temperatures (or in other words Minnesota this winter). Salt by the very nature with which God created it has unique work.
The world has been preserved until today because of the church, but the church (the salt of the earth) also serves to preserve and save the world – that’s our unique work as salt. By the deeds and good works of Christians the world is seasoned with Christ. When we season the world with deeds of love and mercy, the Lord often gives us opportunity to scatter God’s Word. By that Word of Christ unbelievers are salted with faith and forgiveness and restored to God. Let your salt so season others that they may taste your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven. Christ has made us salt to season and preserve the world – if we lose our faith, if we lessen God’s Word, ignore His commands, don’t live under Him, if we lose our saltiness then the world has no hope of being seasoned for salvation.
It’s this simple – salt preserves and salt seasons. Salt does what it does because it is what it is – salt. You are the salt of the earth. You have been brought to faith in Jesus Christ. You have been flavored with forgiveness and seasoned with salvation. Because of Christ you will be preserved by Him forever. Because of who you are – salt – you do what you do – salt the earth, season it with good deeds, with true faithfulness to your wife or husband, with exceptional honesty in your business, with great charity toward your neighbor, with gracious words and merciful deeds for your enemies and those who persecute you. You are the salt of the earth through faith in Christ to season the world with mercy and forgiveness that the world also might be preserved unto salvation. In the name of Jesus. Amen.
Pr. Bruce Timm
8 February 2014 anno Domini