Reflection on Matthew 5:13-20

 

Matthew 5:13-20

[Jesus said:] 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 People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it 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.”

Reflection

The friend knelt next to the young woman with tears drawing lines of mascara down her cheeks.  “He said terrible things to me,” the young woman with tears said.  “He said he didn’t love me.  He said that he had completely wasted three years with me for nothing.  He said I was worthless.  He said I was worthless,” she repeated again and again as the friend drew her into a comforting embrace.  They hugged for a long, long time. 

Finally, the friend whispered into the young woman’s ear, “You are light.  You chose to make friends with a freak like me.  You are light.  Little children love being around you.  You are light.  The elderly are comforted by your presence and by your stories.  You are light.  You are far from worthless.  When I was in the ditch, you were the one who picked me up.  You are light.  You will always be light.  He cannot blow out your light.”

Friends have the ability to reframe reality in a way that touches our hearts and sets us on a different, better course in life.  And it starts by remembering who we are.  “You are light.”

The young woman was encouraged by the same words that encouraged a whole group of people who were poor, sick, overrun by demons, struck by chronic illness, grieving, and just genuinely at the lowest you can get in society and in life.  Jesus healed all these people who gathered around to feel his divine touch, yes, but he also told them who they were.  Seeing that it is these ones who will follow him, Jesus reframed their reality from identifying themselves as poor, sick, demonic, and lowly to seeing themselves as something more; someone more; someone created by God for a purpose. 

“You are the light of the world,” Jesus declares to them (Matthew 5:14).  “You aren’t worthless.  You are light” these people hear and it begins to transform their reviled and rebuked souls.  “You are light,” these people hear.  They are more than their problems.  They are more than their struggles.  They were created by God for a reason and a purpose.

“I am not a schizophrenic,” the patient corrected the young chaplain version of me as we sat in the group room of the hospital’s psychiatric center.  “I am not a schizophrenic,” the man said again.  “I have schizophrenia.  I take medication for schizophrenia.  But schizophrenia does not define me.  I am not a schizophrenic.”

“I’m not a schizophrenic either,” a man with a white bedsheet wrapped around him said as he walked by.  I’m not a schizophrenic.  I’m Jesus!  Can I heal you?” 

“You go heal someone over there Jesus.  I’m talking with the chaplain.”

“As I was saying, when you have a cold, you don’t go around saying, ‘I’m a cold person.’  No, man.  You say you have a cold.  That cold means nothing about who you are inside.  And I will not let my schizophrenia define me.  I am a big, loving guy who just happens to see a floating dead person right behind your left shoulder.  But you wouldn’t know that unless I told you.  You would just know me as a big, loving guy, because that is who I am.”

It was a good lesson for a young would-be pastor.  People ministered to me, shaping me, more in that hospital than I ever ministered to and shaped other people.  And because of that, I learned that we are not our failures.  We are not our illnesses.  We are not our weaknesses.  We are not defined by the names that bullies and those in power like to give us.  Instead, we are defined by the one who was with God the Father in the very start of the world, and through whom the Father breathed life into us all.  We are defined by Jesus Christ.  And this is how Jesus defines us:

“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.”  “You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.  People do not light a lamp and put it under the bushel basket; rather, they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.  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” (Matthew 5:13-16).

Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.”  He does not say, “You could be the salt, if you tried harder.”  No, he simply declares the truth.  “You are the salt of the earth.”

Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.”  He does not say, “You could be the light of the world if you would just stop being so negative and depressed.”  No, he simply declares the truth.  “You are the light of the world.”

That reminds me of my youth ministry teacher who declared the same thing to any group of adults placed in front of him.  He declared, “You are all youth ministers.  Every single one of you.  I do not care if you have taught kids in the past and you are now retired from that, or if you have been too scared to even try teaching and guiding kids.  You are all youth ministers.  This is not because you have been trained.  It is because children look up to the people around them.  You didn’t choose youth ministry.  Youth ministry chose you, whether you like it or not.  The question is not “if” you are a youth minister.  The only question is: ‘Are you a good one?’”

How is that for reframing?  But what he said is absolutely true.  If an adult has no time for children, the children learn that they are not worth the time.  They learned this lesson from their youth minister, the adult near them.  If an adult guides a child into a life of love and goodness, the child learns love and goodness.  They learned this lesson from their youth minister, the adult near and dear to them.

In the same way, Jesus says that “You are the salt of the earth.”  It is simply who you are.  You do not have a choice.  But that is a good thing because it means that the negative ways that others have defined you are simply not true.  You are not your struggles, illnesses, and failures. 

Instead, Jesus knows that you are someone who has been put here on this earth to preserve something.  Just as salt was put on this earth to preserve bacon until it goes straight into my belly, in the same way, the Lord put you on this earth to preserve the loving and good ways of the Lord.  The world does not love their neighbors as themselves, but you do.  You preserve the Lord’s way of life.  The world does not forgive over and over and over again, but you do.  You preserve the Lord’s way of life.  The world does not care if all of “us” get our daily bread, but you do.  You preserve the Lord’s way of life. 

After-all, the Lord ate with the sinner and healed the lowly and despised.  Drawing close to, not pushing away the sinner and lowly, is the Lord’s way of life (Matthew 9:10-13).  The Lord forgave all the world on the cross, even though we keep falling to the same sins over and over again.  Extreme forgiveness is the Lord’s way of life (John 3:16 and Matthew 18:21-22).  The Lord fed well over 5000 hungry people with five loaves of bread and two fish, and then did it again a little bit later feeding well over 4000 hungry people.  Feeding hungry people is the Lord’s way of life (Matthew 14:13-21 and Matthew 15:29-39).  And you are the salt that preserves that sort of life even today.

In fact, you do not just preserve that sort of kingdom life, you shine it.  Like a bright “city built on a hill” that “cannot be hid,” Jesus declares that “You are the light of the world.” 

Who lights a flame to light up a room and then immediately hides it under a flammable wicker basket?  Nobody!  You put that flame high up on a stand so that it lights every corner of the room.  Well, Jesus does the same to you.  “You are the light of the world” that is set high up on a hill so that everyone can see.  Your lives are like those who might live in the garden of Eden, high up on the mountain of God, so that everyone can see what living the good life looks like. 

That reminds me of the High School football team that elected their water boy as the team’s most valuable player at the end of the season.  The kid did not throw or catch a single football, but he encouraged all those who did.  The kid never set foot on the field during a play, but he was there to console and support those who did.  The kid was never trained in the secret plays of the team, but he was trained in the ways of Jesus’ kingdom.  He was a light to the team as they celebrated on the field and as they ran off the field in despair.  He was the salt that preserved all that was good from the very heart of Jesus, and he gave that goodness to the players on the team.  He was the team’s most valuable player, not because he played their game but because he played God’s game. 

Only Jesus can create that sort of salt.  Only Jesus can create that sort of light.  And Jesus declares that you too are that salt and light.  You too have been put on this earth and in this very place to share the story of Jesus with your voices, hands, and hearts. You too have been given the gift of walking with Jesus to make a difference at home, school, work, in the community, and around the world.

“You are the light if the world.”  So, “let your light shine.”