I spoke last week of a qualitative difference between the
secular soul of society and the Christian soul of the church.
Jesus expands on this theme in this well known sermon and
calls his followers to be the salt of the earth. What does salt do? Well salt
both flavours and preserves, so He wants us to alter the flavour of society by
our difference. We also know that it
doesn’t take too much salt to alter the flavour of something so even as a
minority we have the enormous potential to preserve, alter and enhance society
together.
To do that we need to be distinctive – we need to have a
different flavour to the prevailing culture. If we are not distinctive or as
Jesus puts it, if we “have lost our flavour” we are not fit for purpose and
need to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
It stands to reason that if our values are simply a mirror
image of the values of society then we have no capacity to change anything. So
even if we are a voice crying in the wilderness, we need to ask for the courage
to stand there nevertheless and have the confidence in our beliefs.
The next parable talks of the church being the light of the
world. We are used, perhaps too used
to calling Jesus the light of the world, but here Jesus calls us the light of the world. It is much
easier to see Jesus as the light of the world because that means we don’t have
to do anything or change anything, but if we
are the light of the world then we have responsibilities and everything becomes
a little more uncomfortable.
Jesus tells us that in being different and acting in a
different way we will do good works and we should do them openly and unashamedly
and let people see that we have done them. Don’t shy away from doing things
publically or be too shy to let people know that good works are being done. Not
arrogantly or rudely in a condescending way, but in a way nonetheless that
allows our light to shine before others, “So they may see your good works and
give glory to your Father in heaven. “ The Church of England does so much good
work but is almost ashamed to say so or draw attention to the fact.
Lastly in this three part teaching session Jesus gives us
today Jesus states that He came not to abolish the law but to fulfil the law. He then says “that
not one letter, not one stroke of a letter will pass from the law until all is
accomplished”.
This is problematic for us for the very obvious reason that
we don’t follow the law and Gentile Christians never have done right from the
start. Indeed in Mark’s gospel in direct contrast, Jesus appears to overturn
the dietary laws in a stroke by declaring “all foods clean”. St. Paul is an advocate for gentile converts at the council
of Jerusalem when he wins for us an exemption from nearly all laws except that
we should eat no meat with blood in it (which we ignore completely) and abstain
from sexual immorality.
So what is going on? Christianity from its very early days
was a religion of Grace where the Jewish laws no longer apply so why does here
Jesus advocate even stricter adherence to the law?
The clue comes when Jesus says “I have come not to abolish
the law but to fulfil the law.”
There are always two parts to religion. The outer shell, the
buildings, the bureaucracy, the hierarchy, the Holy books, the rituals, the
creeds and dogmas and then we have the inner life of that same religion, the
spiritual heart to which the outer shell of our religion all reflect.
Jesus discerned and revealed to us that the outer written
laws were all a reflection of the beating heart of the faith which was Love. The fulfilling of the law to
which we should adhere to with a righteousness that exceeds that of the scribes
and the Pharisees is this;
“Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your mind and with all your strength, and love your
neighbour as yourself”. There is no
other commandment greater than these. On these two commandments hang all the
law and the prophets.
The outer written law in the Bible, like all the outward forms
of religion, is an attempt to reflect the inner law, the spiritual law, to
which Jesus invites us to give total assent.
The law without the spirit is a dead hand. As Paul himself
writes “The letter kills. It is the spirit that gives life” (2 Cor.3:6)
With our lives illumined by the spirit of Love – the source
and beating heart of the law we can do good works and be the salt that keeps
society fresh and healthy. The heart of the faith is Love and as John writes in
1 John 4:7, God is Love.
If we lose our
flavour and refuse to shine, we may as well be thrown out and trampled
underfoot.
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