Being Salt and Light to the World - Matthew 5: 13-20

Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The text is the Gospel reading from Matthew 5.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth… You are the light of the world.”

I made mashed potatoes for dinner the other evening. I boiled the potatoes and, when they were tender, I dumped the water off, let them steam a bit to dry, then added butter and milk and smashed them. When I tasted them, I realized what I had forgotten: salt. It didn’t take a whole lot - I probably used less than a teaspoon of salt. Had I dumped in a whole handful, the potatoes would have been ruined, but the right amount was the difference between “meh” and “delicious.”

When I was a boy, the darkness bothered me. Well, to be honest, it scared me. I had a little night light that sat on the dresser, a Raggedy Ann and Andy lamp. I looked on Ebay the other day; both my wallet and I wish I still had that, but for different reasons. As I prayed, “Now the light has gone away, Father listen while I pray; asking Thee to watch and keep, and to send me quiet sleep,” the soft glow of that small bulb provided tangible comfort and assurance that all was right. Had Mom left the room light on, it would have been too much; the small glow was all I needed. I could go to sleep in peace, the light aiding mom and dad’s comforting words “Mom loves you; Dad loves you; Jesus loves you most of all. Sleep well. See you in the morning” into being believable.

Jesus isn’t giving cooking instructions. He’s not giving home decoration tips. He’s speaking about what it is to be His disciples, His followers, to the world. A little bit of salt makes a big difference in food. A little bit of light makes a big difference in the darkness. When disciples practice faithfully living in service to others in the name and in the joy of the Lord makes all the difference in the world in which we, as God’s people, find ourselves in a day-to-day place and time.

The word for that is “vocation.” The Latin root word is vocatio, which means “calling.” Vocation is the place where God calls us to serve one another in the name of Jesus. In the time of Martin Luther, it was taught that the only vocations that were truly pleasing to God were the church vocations – priests and nuns. If you were a farmer or a mother or stable-boy, your work was outside of God’s favor. It wasn’t a holy task; it was just work. Luther changed that, teaching that all of a Christian’s work is declared holy by God’s grace through faith. Let me say that again: the doctrine of vocation teaches that even your work, whatever it is, is covered in the righteousness of the cross of Jesus so God sees your work as holy and good. Further, Luther taught that in your vocation, God was at work through your service. The Christian, the person, was the means, the vehicle, through which God worked. Vocation was no longer an inverted me-to-God vertical relationship under Law where you served God; vocation was a vertical-to-horizontal God-to-me-to-neighbor relationship where the Gospel is delivered.

Suddenly, every vocation was a holy one and every vocational task, no matter how unpleasant or difficult or unpopular, was God-pleasing because in and through that vocation, God is serving those around you. A Christian mother who changes her baby’s loaded diaper is doing a holy and good work as she serves her child. A Christian septic tank pumper is doing a holy and good work as he serves the client. A Christian surgeon who removed a cancerous growth is doing a holy and good work for her patient. A Christian engineer who designs bridges for safe travel is doing a holy and good work for those who travel over it. A Christian student who struggles and fights to correctly solve math equations, or grasp subject-verb agreement, or who remembers the Alamo and Goliad, that student is doing a holy and good work, even if the grade book doesn’t show it.

For most of us, we have multiple and varying vocations. We have vocations in which God has placed us to provide for ourselves and our families. Nurses, pastoral ministry, teachers, office administrators, technicians, ranchers, farmers, sales, grandparent – all are vocations where the Lord calls us to serve our neighbors and, by extension, ourselves and our families. But don’t just think “job” or “career.” That’s how the world thinks. Your minds are set on something higher. Vocation is calling into service for others in the name of Jesus, remember, and we hold many such vocations of service: spouses, parents, children (yes, that means adult children, too), sibling. Think outside of the family, too: you are a neighbor to those in this community, a citizen within the government of the county, state and country. Each of those are special vocations, special callings of the Lord for the baptized child of God.

You notice, I said that these are Christians in their vocations and that a Christian’s works, life, and efforts are all made holy through faith in Christ. The same cannot be said for a non-Christian, someone who lacks faith or who denies Jesus. Their works in their vocation might be morally right and good and pleasing to their neighbors, but they stand alone under the holy and divine judgement of God. Non-Christians are able to serve in these vocations, oftentimes very well. While the Lord places non-Christians in those same vocations, they serve others neither recognizing the Lord’s hand nor serving others in His name.

So, what does all of that have to do with being salt, being light. There is one vocation that is unique, a vocation that only someone who is part of the body of Christ can fulfill. That is the vocation of discipleship. We are called by Christ into the vocation of discipleship, following Him so that as we act and interact with others, God is at work in and through us to those around us, in particular with those in whom He places us in contact. In other words, only Christians can be salt; only Christians can be light. The earth needs to be salted with the Gospel; people need to be brightened by the Word of the Lord that both calls to repentance and proclaims forgiveness in the name of Jesus.

This is no secret: we live in a world that is evil, corrupt and deficient. It was true when Jesus walked the earth 2000 years ago and it is true still to this day. We see it every night on the news. We read it on the internet. We hear the stories of things that happen like in Minneapolis, where violence is excused under the pretense of protesting the violation of civil rights. We see people joyfully speaking lies and destroying the reputations of others, all in search of power. Civilians are blown to pieces because a oligarch wants to change national boundaries. The stories the fallenness of man are enough to break anybody's heart. It'd be very easy to stick our heads in the sand, wring our hands, and moan, “Oh goodness somebody had better do something. The world is going to hell in a handbasket just as fast as it can.”

But if we do that, or rather, if that’s all we do, we're missing out on one of the gifts and the opportunities that the Lord has given to us, his church, his disciples. He's called us to discipleship. He's called us to act and to interact in a world that is dying and broken and in discord and disharmony with the will and word of God. Jesus is calling us to be salt and light to the world in both our acting out the Gospel and our speaking the Gospel. Don't overthink the metaphors. This isn't about whether salt purifies or cleanses or burns or helps or flavors. This isn't about whether light is an LED, or solar, or has too much UV light, or is a soft glow. It's about how salt changes things, and how light brightens in the darkness. In short salt and light do exactly what they do because they are salt and light. If salt isn’t salty, it’s worthless; if a light is hidden, it’s not able to shine. The same is true of disciples. Disciples disciple by daily living out the faith into which we have been baptized, so that in our good works (which have been made righteous by faith in Christ, remember) others see Christ in us and through us. By nature of being Jesus’ disciples, we are salt, we are light to the world around us and the world we live in.

You know, and I think this is interesting: the blander the food, the greater a difference that a little bit of salt makes. The darker the room, the more a little bit of light illuminates things.

Your good works, even the seemingly little ones that are done in faithfulness to Jesus, have one overall, singular purpose: in serving your neighbor, you glorify God. It’s not about you. Your good works aren’t for attaboys and attagirls, for attention, for gold stars and blue ribbons. It’s so that others who see your good deeds give glory to God through their own repentance and faith and then thank God for you and your faithfulness.

In our vocations, there will be times for action and there will be times for words. Every moment does not have to come with a three-part witnessing statement, a handful of Gospel tracts, and an invitation for baptism. But we are called to be prepared to speak, so that when asked, or when the Lord provides opportunity for conversation, we are bold to speak of the Father’s work in creating, the Son’s work of saving, the the Spirit’s work of creating the very faith that saves. We share the same Word that was shared with us and as the Holy Spirit worked in us, so also He works through us. It's who we are, it's what we are, because we are called by Christ to be that very thing.

So, be salt and light in your vocation. On the one hand, be your ordinary self. You do not have to be Mom of the Year contender to be faithful in your vocation of motherhood. You don’t have to be Employee of the Month with your mug shot above the water cooler at work. You don’t have to convert dozens of heathens to saving faith in Christ. Be who you are as a baptized child of God. But, on the other hand, you are not ordinary. You are extra-ordinary because you are in whom and through whom Christ does great and wonderful things. So do not live as an ordinary person, that is, as someone who is not a Baptized child of God. You are called to be extra ordinary: extra-ordinary husbands and wives, extra-ordinary sons and daughters, extra-ordinary citizens and church members, extra-ordinary neighbors and employees, extra-ordinary in all that you are as children of God.  You do so with the unique gifts and talents that the Lord has given you.

There are over a dozen different salts at the grocery store, each with a slightly different taste or texture. Regardless, salt does only one thing: it salts. At the Big Blue Hardware Store, there are two full rows with lights and light fixtures. Regardless the light you get, light does one thing: it enlightens. That’s the point of comparison with discipleship. Just as salt salts and light lights, disciples disciple. Our identity is in Christ – we are His. With Christ in us and Christ working through us, we disciple. As St. Paul says, “In Him, we live, move and have our being.” As Jesus’ disciples, we “salt” those around us with the Good News of Jesus. Having received His blessings, enlighten those around us with the Word of He who is the Light of the World.