Wearing a clerical collar can lead to some interesting encounters but it does also leave you very much on show. As I walk around the parish wearing my collar people smile more at me, they start conversations and request prayers and sometimes even blessings.
Now before you think that I spend my week swanning around the parish dispensing blessings, I should warn you that this is not always sweetness and light- particularly if you are having an off day. I remember one day, coming down to church when I managed to trip up over my spaniel, Oscar. As I hit the deck I let out several choice Anglo-Saxon phrases. The passing commuters seemed unimpressed and I felt very far from being and exemplar of Christian virtue, a pillar of the community. Very far indeed from being salt and light.
I therefore approach our Gospel reading today with a degree of trepidation. For in it we are informed that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Nevertheless, I would like to explore these four verses with you this morning and how one contemporary theologian applies them to the church today.
Salt and Light
The first and most important thing that we need to know about this passage is that it is addressed not to individuals but to the disciples as a group. The Greek world for 'you' here is plural. As such, Jesus is offering teaching on the life of the disciples as a community and as the beginnings of the church.
Our first metaphor is that “You are the salt of the earth”. Now salt was an important commodity in the Roman empire, traded across the Mediterranean. So why did Jesus choose this image? Well, salt is valuable. However that value is not intrinsic but rather it is valuable in so far as it is a benefit to other things, specifically for flavouring and preserving food. So if the disciples are to be salt of the earth, then it seems that they are to be for the benefit of others.
Second metaphor, “You are the light of the world”. Here again there is a sense of light being for the benefit of others. Light allows us to see things as they really are. To see things in their true light. So if the disciples are light then they need to stand-up for the truth.
Our third metaphor develops this, “A city built on a hill cannot be hidden” This picks-up on old testament idea of Israel, and Jerusalem in particular, being an example to the nations of their need to turn to God. A job which Israel failed in and one which the disciples have now inherited. So what can we draw from this? We as a group are to be for the benefit of others, we are to show things in their true light and we are to be an example to the world.
Now if you are feeling a bit uncomfortable by now, I’m not surprised. This is a pretty tough call! It is one thing to be good as an individual, it is quite another to be good as a group. Indeed there are periods of Church history when we have been very far from being an example to the world.
Hauerwas
I wish therefore to turn for some help to a contemporary theologian who has explored these verses; Stanley Hauerewas who is an Americanm Episcopalian. Time magazine recently put him on their front cover suggesting that he is America’s best theologian. His dry response was that ‘best’ is not a theological category.
Hauerwas picks up on these ideas of salt and light and says that the church needs to be a community of truth whose life together is moulded and shaped by the Gospel story. Nothing too novel there. He goes on to suggest that through the way we behave and organise ourselves as the Church we should be a moral example to others, “The Church must be a social ethic.” What he means by this is that we are here not to DO good to the world but to BE good in and through our relationships as the church.
Thus when we as a Church, follow Jesus’ example, by being joyful, loving, peaceful and forgiving and we present to the world radical, alternative way of being. In this way we become in Hauerwas’ words 'a social ethic', an example to the world that shows the world to itself in its true light. Now you will be relieved to know that the theology lecture ends there.
Hauerwas is a radical and controversial theologian and you might want to debate these points over coffee. But for now I want to finish with the text and with my own experiences of tripping-up over my dog.
We can spend quite a lot of time trying to be good people and that is no bad thing but when Jesus called people to follow him he called them to live as a community and said that the Kingdom of God was amongst them. Christianity is not a course in self improvement rather it is a journey into becoming a community. A community shaped by the love of God, that was revealed in Christ and which now exists for others.
So let me finish by rephrasing our Gospel reading: ‘Brother and sisters, we together are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. St Stephen’s is a city built on a hill that cannot be hidden. Let your love and forgiveness be seen by your friends, so that they may see your joy and wonder from where it comes.’ Amen.
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