Mid-Lent 1
Matt 5:13-16
3/12/14
In order to fulfill his own personal
ambitions for power and glory, Julius Caesar led the Roman legions into Gaul and conquered it.
After the Roman civil wars that
followed Caesar’s assassination, Augustus began the process that would turn
Gaul into three different provinces of the Roman empire. He sent his trusted friend Agrippa to set
things in order.
Agrippa turned his attention to developing
a road network in Gaul. Now there were already paths that people used
to travel, but they were not anything like what we would call roads. Agrippa planned and organized the
construction of a road system. The
primary purpose of these roads was to enable the easy movement of troops and
supplies as Rome looked toward future military
operations on the east side of the Rhine river and in Britain.
Of course these roads also helped trade to
develop and fostered the establishment of towns and cities at key junctions,
river crossings and other sites. Where
before there had been nothing, the arrival of roads spurred on the development
of civilization.
Roads have always done this. For many of us, it’s hard to believe that
there was a time when the interstate highway system didn’t exist. In many areas it has been in place for fifty
or sixty years now. During that time, development has occurred along these
highways at the exits. As you drive along at night, the trip is punctuated by
the lights of towns, gas stations and fast food places.
However, those things weren’t always
there. They had to develop over
time. I was reminded about this fact on
recent trips to visit my parents in Bloomington,
IN. A new stretch of highway was recently built
from Evansville, IN
to just about twenty miles south of Bloomington.
This new section of road has allowed us
to take I-64 and has cut off almost forty-five minutes off from the trip.
While I appreciate this fact, I must say
that driving this stretch of road at night is an eerie experience. Unlike established highways, there are not
yet any businesses at the exits. The
highway cuts through the country side and you are surrounded by pitch black. You
don’t see the customary lights of towns, or even a gas station or a McDonalds.
In our text for tonight, Jesus talks about
the light given off by a city. He says
that the light of a city on a hill cannot be hidden. Instead it is seen by everyone. As we listen to our Lord tonight in our
Lenten meditation, we find that he uses the metaphors of salt and light in
order to describe the lives of Christians.
Our text tonight is found in the first
chapter of the Sermon on the Mount – Matthew chapter 5. The sermon begins with the Beatitudes as
Jesus says, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of
heaven.” Likewise, Jesus concludes the
Beatitudes by saying, “Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness'
sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.”
Jesus begins by declaring the blessing that
is yours because of the reign of God that is present in him. The Son of God entered into the world in the
incarnation in order to bring God’s reign to a world held captive by Satan and
sin. Jesus says you are blessed – which
in biblical language is the same thing as saying you are saved.
He describes you as the poor in spirit –
the spiritually poor. And you know that is exactly what you are. You know that you have no spiritual resources
of your own. Your natural tendency is
not to think about God and instead to think about yourself and your
desires. Your natural inclination is not
to think about the welfare of others and instead to think about yourself and
your wants. This is what comes
naturally. You don’t have to work at it.
Because this is what sin had done to us,
Jesus Christ came into the world. He came to bring God’s reign – to free us
from the slavery of Satan and sin. During Lent we are following our Lord as he
makes his way to Good Friday. There he will die on the cross. Normally, the death of a leader means
defeat. But in this case, death was the
means of victory as Jesus carried out the Father’s saving will to give us
forgiveness. And then on Easter we will celebrate his resurrection from the
dead by which he defeated death itself.
The celebration of our Lord’s resurrection
will begin on Saturday night at the Vigil of Easter. Saturday is the day that
Jesus was buried in the tomb. But in the
Jewish reckoning of time used by the liturgy, sundown on Saturday is also the
beginning of Sunday, and so it is the beginning of Easter.
This service that has one foot in Jesus’
burial and the other foot in Jesus’ resurrection has, from the early years of
the Church, been focused upon Holy Baptism.
For in baptism you have died and been buried with Jesus, and you also
have the resurrection power of the Holy Spirit at work in you. Paul told the Romans: “Do you not know that
all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his
death? We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, in order that,
just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too
might walk in newness of life.”
This is how you have received the reign of
God. Through baptism you have received forgiveness and have been born again
through the work of the Spirit. By this
action, Jesus Christ has changed you.
Forgiven and reborn, you are now salt and light in this world. Salt was associated with a whole range of
important outcomes in the ancient world such as ritual purity, adding taste to
food, and serving as a preservative. Yet
note the question Jesus asks in our text: “You are the salt of the earth. But if that salt has become tasteless, by
what means will the earth be salted? It
is still good for nothing except, after it has been thrown out, to be trampled
underfoot.” You are salt, but if you
cease to act like salt in the world what use are you? You are not being what God has made you to
be.
In a similar manner, Jesus goes on to say, “You
are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do
people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, 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 who
is in heaven.”
Jesus says that you are the light of the
world – the light that gives light to a world darkened by Satan and sin. Now remember, this is not something you are
on your own. Of yourself you are poor in
spirit – spiritually poor. But because of the reign of God that you have
received in baptism you are now a light in the world. You are a light sharing what Jesus has done –
what his salvation means for us in what we say and do.
And this Christian life that flows from
baptism has a purpose. Jesus says, “In
the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your
good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” As those who live in Christ through baptism,
the things you do aren’t about you.
Instead they bear witness to what God is doing in and through you. And so they bring glory to God as they bear
witness to the reign of God that has entered into the world in the person of
Jesus Christ.
Now let’s be clear. If there weren’t forces opposed to this light
shining in the darkness, we wouldn’t have to be here tonight talking about
it. The sad truth is that the devil, the
world and our own sinful nature seek to prevent us from being salt and light.
And they do succeed.
Because this is the case, our Lord’s words
call us back to the source of our new life.
They call us back to the reign of God that we have received in Christ
through Holy Baptism. They call us to forgiveness of sins that is ours and to
the Spirit who is now at work in us, joining us to Christ’s death and
resurrection. This alone is what makes
it possible to let our light shine before others, so that they may see our good
works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven.
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