This Matters
First Presbyterian Church of St. Petersburg · 701 Beach Dr NE, St. Petersburg, FL 33701
Scripture Readings (NRSV)
58Shout out, do not hold back! Lift up your voice like a trumpet! Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments, they delight to draw near to God.
3 "Why do we fast, but you do not see? Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?" Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day, and oppress all your workers. 4 Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to strike with a wicked fist. Such fasting as you do today will not make your voice heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day to humble oneself? Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush, and to lie in sackcloth and ashes? Will you call this a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? 6 Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
8 Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly; your vindicator shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am. If you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, 10 if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, then your light shall rise in the darkness and your gloom be like the noonday. 11 The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your needs in parched places, and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters never fail. 12 Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to live in.
13 "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. 14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. 15 No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, 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. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
Our sermon scripture reading this week comes from the Gospel according to Matthew. It's part of Jesus' Teaching called The Sermon on the Mount. These three chapters from Matthew's Gospel outline Jesus' recipe for being righteous—which is to say living in Right Relationship with God and others.
This set of teachings, if followed, brings humanity RIGHT with God. This set of teachings creates justice and peace in the world. This set of teachings makes God's forever Kingdom manifest here on Earth.
But it doesn't look the way one might think. Right Relationship with God and Others calls us to live in an upside down world.
Jesus begins The Sermon on the Mount with the Beatitudes, which are immediately preceding the passage we're going to read today. In it, Jesus tells his followers that the Kingdom of Heaven belongs to the poor in spirit, that comfort will come to those who mourn, inheritance of the Earth is for the meek and on and on. Right Relationship with God does not yield an ordinary Kingdom filled with ordinary kings and courts.
And yet as followers of Christ, we are called to embody righteousness—Right Relationship with God, and to live into this upside down reality.
On to today's scripture, it's in two parts. The first part, verses 13-16 could be viewed as an extension of the Beatitudes. Then verses 17-20 really begin to unpack what it means to be in Right Relationship with God.
Matthew 5:13-20
17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. 18 For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. 19 Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, 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. 20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
O God may the words of my mouth and the meditations of each of our hearts be acceptable to you, Our Rock and Our Redeemer. Amen.
Intro
Fulfilling the Law. Exceeding the righteousness of the Pharisees.
Being Salt, Light.
Seems easy enough to understand. Big concepts that highlight simple truths but are so hard to embody.
What we do… matters. And what we do is a direct reaction to how we were created. Righteously. Created to be in Right Relationship with God.
But do you believe it?
Do you believe there is a Light within you? A Light placed there by God? A Light that you are called to let shine before others? A Light that when viewed will turn people to your creator, your God?
After 27 years in prison, Nelson Mandela wins the election of President in South Africa. During his inaugural address, Nelson Mandela reminds us that false humility hurts us just as much as false pride.
Mandela is speaking to a country that has finally voted to end Apartheid and to those citizens he says: "Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light not our darkness that frightens us."
Does your light scare you, a little? That much potential. That much power. That much promise.
How much easier would life be if it weren't true.
But fear not. In this passage, Jesus tells us not to become salt, light. But that we already are.
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Let your light shine before others.
[Matthew 5:13-14, 16]
It's true. And what we do matters. And that scares us.
But now what? Let's turn to the prophet Isaiah.
Isaiah
Isaiah is an important book:
We read from Isaiah at Christmas: "And his name will be Wonderful, Counselor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace."
And Isaiah marks the start of Epiphany: "Arise, shine; for your light has come" (Isaiah 60:1).
BUT Isaiah is also a book that speaks deep, hard truths to power. Isaiah is told by God to bring word of God's judgement. Isaiah prophesies the fall of Israel to Babylon as a result of the sins and wrongdoing of the Israelites.
That message, however, is accompanied by a profound message of Hope. Isaiah believed deeply in God's faithfulness and that God would one day fulfill all his covenant promises. Isaiah trusted that God would send a King to establish God's new Kingdom on Earth. That hope is what allowed Isaiah to speak up and speak against the hypocrisy he saw.
Isaiah's prophecy did not come true in his lifetime, or even that of his followers. It took a hundred years, 6 kings, to go from Isaiah's teaching to the prophesied Babylonian exile. Then hundreds more to get to the life and times of Jesus.
On the surface, this week's text is about people doing everything right. They are very religious; they claimed to be seeking God, and doing what they could to know God's will and to draw near to God (verse 2). And yet, as the first verse proclaims, God announces not deliverance but judgment to the people (verse 1).
The audience Isaiah is addressing probably looked a lot like us. They were church tending people. Scripture reading people. Practice following people.
They were doing the "right" things. But God saw their heart and God saw it lacking. "If salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?"
In that time, fasting was meant to be a physical hardship and a self-inflicted oppression. It was a spiritual practice meant to restore humility. Yet as it was being practiced it served instead as a false pride, elevating those keeping the fast, and not instilling in them compassion for those who have less, those who are systemically oppressed.
This parallels Jesus' message in Matthew:
Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.
[Matthew 5:20]
Because Right Relationship with God and Others requires more than an outward execution of some Righteousness Playbook.
Leaders in Isaiah's time and in Jesus' time and some even still today were doing the right things but getting the wrong results.
Practices that are intended to draw us close to God and put us in Right Relationship are vulnerable to hypocrisy — identical actions can be carried out but with drastically different motivations.
For us, today, we may pray earnestly for our enemies, even as we act out contempt. We may "love" our neighbor while inadvertently encouraging them to continue patterns of self-harm for our own gain or comfort.
Or, as Isaiah puts it, we may fast in a way that "serves our own interest," even as we ignore the interests of others around us. This kind of fasting, the prophet insists, may appear to be faithful to the law, but actually violates it.
Walking the walk is not enough. What really counts is to "fulfill" the law from the inside out, to embody its meaning, spirit, and substance — and doing so may not look like we were taught.
Isaiah is calling us to remember the fast we choose, one that embodies the spirit of the law while being open to its outward substance.
Salt and Light
But HOW?!
Jesus' words from the Sermon on the Mount are both affirmative and challenging. "You are the salt of the earth…you are the light of the world…SHINE light." In these passages, Jesus is declaring a truth about our collective nature and reinforcing one of the first truths revealed in Scripture. We were created by God, in God's own image. Jesus is the Light of the World AND our deepest nature is enlightenment, the revealing light of God.
In these passages Jesus is not prescribing how we are to act—that will come later. In these passages Jesus is describing who we are. We are created by God as the salt of the earth. Salt that can transform the very earth around us. Salt that can purify and preserve sustenance for our very bodies. Salt that can flavor and transform a meal.
That is what we already are through our creation by God.
And the same is true for our Light. Even when Jesus implores Light to Shine, in the original Greek, Jesus is speaking to the light that already exists and imploring the Light not the Light Bearers to shine more brightly.
Friends, this is our truth. In God we are created as the Salt of the Earth. We are created as the Light of the World. God is imploring that light to shine, ever more brightly.
What's ours to do, then? We must not allow ourselves to be made small; we are shining God's light, doing God's work.
We cannot allow internal struggles, external environments, the work of negativity in the world, to dim God's Light within.
We must let our light shine … not out of ego or a quest for notoriety—after all our intentions matter—but to give light and direction to the world and to proclaim God's glory. If we do this right, all shall see the Light within us and turn and give thanks to God.
That is who you were created to be. And the only reaction to that creation is be salt and bear light into the world.
So what is the fast that you choose? What fast is God asking you to keep?
As Salt and Light—wherever you are being called to action, please act, now.
Maybe God is calling for action in your personal, spiritual development. Calling you to introspection. The fast you choose is doing the hard work of identifying where you are just going through the motions or maybe going through the motions with wrong intention. It takes a great deal of bravery to choose to do the work identifying the hypocrisies or corruptions in our walk of faith.
Maybe God is calling for action in the life we share as Christ's church here in St. Petersburg. Calling you to get up, stand up, and lead. The fast God is choosing for you is one of sacrificing ego to lead as a servant, or turning from well intentioned judgement to supportive action. Maybe you are called to step in and support the work of discipleship, worship, mission or fellowship in the life of this congregation.
Or maybe God is calling for action in the world. The fast God is choosing for you is to bring Salt and Light outside of these doors to a world hurting, grieving, crying. A fast that doesn't bring social standing or instagram likes but truly embodies Right Relationship with God and others.
May this be the fast you choose: to embody and fulfill the law, enlightening everyone around you, and practicing the radical act of being who you were created to be—Salt and Light.
And when your light scares you, remember this—Jesus did not say, follow these instructions and you'll be blessed. Rather, he said, You are already blessed with gifts for blessing the world — so go and bless! Spice and shine!
Thanks be to God.
