Last week I mentioned how the location of the Sermon on the Mount tells us more about the theology of Matthew than it does about the geography of Jesus. This week we’ll start to see why that matters. Remember how the Gospel text started last week, “when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up the mountain. And after he had sat down, his disciples came to him, and he began to teach.” What this tells us is the Sermon on the Mount is insider talk. It is instruction for people who are already in the community of followers. The scene here basically is Jesus saw all these crowds forming, and he knew that as the movement got bigger, and especially after his resurrection and ascension, his disciples might be the only version of him some people ever saw. So before things got too far in, he pulled his disciples away to make sure everyone was running from the same playbook. We tend to think of the Sermon on the Mount as an introduction to discipleship, but it’s really a master class on discipleship. It’s for those who are already deeply enmeshed in the community of believers, so that when the crowds of newcomers start arriving, those closest to Jesus will know how best to share the movement.
Which means, the Sermon on the Mount sets some pretty high standards. Jesus wanted his disciples to know that the stakes were high. You know the expression, “you might be the only scripture someone ever reads.” Jesus knew that people would be watching his disciples and judging the success of the movement based on their actions, and he wanted them to be as prepared as they could be to be representatives of God.
But before Jesus got into how the disciples were to act, he grounded them yet again in who they were. “You, you are the salt of the earth… You, you are the light of the world.” That emphasis is not mine, it is in the text. If you’ve ever studied a language where you had to conjugate verbs, Greek is a language like that. The subject is implied in the verb itself, you don’t need to add one to tell the difference between you are, we are, or they are, like you do in English. But these statements have the extra you included to drive in the message, you, disciples, you and not someone else are the salt of the earth, you and not someone else are the light of the world. And like last week’s beatitudes, these are declarations of fact. Jesus wasn’t saying, be salt, be light, but rather you are salt, you are light. Salt is a preservative, it’s a cleansing agent, it’s a seasoning, it levens bread, it builds community. Light illuminates darkness, it reveals the things that are around it. But neither creates its own attribute. Salt does not generate saltiness; light does not create its own light. Salt is salty because that is what it means to be salt, light shines because that it what it means to be light. These are not expectations to strive toward; they are descriptions of characteristics inherent in members of the Jesus community. As followers of Jesus, salt and light is what you are. Just be that. Be the thing that you are.
Once that fact is established, then Jesus got into the teaching. One of the critiques leveled against Jesus was that he was trying to do away with the law. The Pharisees were always really concerned about this, like when Jesus went around healing on the Sabbath, and they were like, hey there, you’re not supposed to do any work on the Sabbath, there’s a law. Which, one hand, they’re right. There is a law, and it’s a good one. We need rest, and the law about resting on the Sabbath is to give us that rest. But, of course, there is also a law about caring for others, and that law supersedes the law about no work on the Sabbath. As he said in the text this morning, Jesus wasn’t about abolishing the law; he was simply about reorienting us to the purpose behind the law.
Now interestingly, because, again, nothing new under the sun, when Luther started preaching about grace as a gift from God, the church leveled actually an even more ridiculous critique against him. The church’s argument against grace in the time of Luther: if grace is free, and people can do anything they want and still get into heaven, then total anarchy will break out. The only thing keeping people in line is fear of eternal damnation. Which, fear of eternal damnation, certainly a good motivator, but here’s the question? If you’re only behaving a certain way because you’re afraid, are you really free? And, if you’re so convinced of your own freedom that you’re living without regard for anyone around you, are you really free? I’d argue in both cases, the answer is no. Fear isn’t freedom, but neither is isolated self-absorption. The only true freedom is in relationship with others.
And that, said Luther, is where the law comes in. Get ready friends, here’s your fun Lutheran theology lesson for the day. Luther described what he saw as three uses for the law. The first use of the law is to curb behavior. Law as club. Do this, don’t do that, or there will be punishment. Effective in keeping folk in line, but not really freedom.
The danger in using the law as a curb and a club is eventually, the area of right living becomes narrower and narrower, and it becomes increasingly impossible to always follow the law. When we read scripture, we see this in the Pharisees, who had a tendency to lift up some parts of the law and downplay others, so that, conveniently, they were always in the right and everyone else was always in the wrong. The first use of the law eventually draws the line around right living so tight that no one can get inside. This is the second use of the law, the law as mirror and judge. The law, God’s law, sets the bar so high for us that no matter how hard we try to live up to it, we fall short. The second use of the law shows us our failings and our frailties, shows us just how trapped we really are. Effective for inducing despair, but also, obviously, not freedom.
And this is where we would be, except, said Luther for Jesus. Because our freedom is not based on our ability to deserve it. Our freedom is based on God. The purpose of the second use of the law is not to trap us in despair; it is to open our eyes to just how amazing this gift of love and grace that God has given to us in the person of Jesus is. The law shows us just how much we need God so we can fully comprehend how vast is God’s love for us. You know how delicious a glass of ice cold water tastes on a really hot day. Or how great coming into a warm house is on a really cold day? The second use of the law is that heat that makes us appreciate cold water, that cold that makes us grateful for a heater. The second use of the law shows us our freedom.
And once we realize we are free. Once we feel the shackles lifted and we look around in the open expansiveness of this new relationship with God and with one another, then we get to the third use of the law. Then the law becomes not a burden, but a guide. It becomes instructions to the game, so we can have fun with our friends, or traffic lights, so we can get to where we’re going quickly and safely. And yes, we still mess up sometimes, we still fall short of how we should live. But because of the grace of God, our failures don’t hold us captive. Because we know we are forgiven, because we know we are loved, we can screw up, acknowledge our mistake, and try to do better next time. There are rules, but those rules are in place to show us how to live better, freer, fuller lives. That, my friends, is freedom.
I share this today because Luther didn’t just make this stuff up out of nowhere. He got this from scripture, he got this from Jesus. And what Jesus is doing in the Sermon on the Mount is he is teaching his disciples, teaching us, what Luther referred to as the third use of the law. Jesus doesn’t use those words, because, quite frankly, Jesus is a way better and less confusing teacher than Luther, but that’s where Luther got it from.
This section we heard today about Jesus coming to fulfill the law and the prophets, especially there at the end where he talked about how “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and the Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven,” sounds kind of hard to live up to. And I have to tell you, this is just the introduction to the section on the law. Once Jesus starts putting examples on this stuff, it’s going to get hard to see how we could ever live in the way God wants. Which is why I wanted to spend so much time this morning talking about the uses of the law. Because I want us to remember, as we’re hearing these things, that we are already forgiven, we are already loved, we are already free. That isn’t a license to do whatever we want because God has to love us, ha ha. Rather it’s confidence to try hard things, knowing we may fail, but taking a stab in the dark anyway.
And friends, this is the reminder, and the promise, that I have been clinging to recently. Because I don’t know about you, but I sure do feel powerless these days. The world feels big and ugly and scary, and it feels like it’s rolling away from me, and I don’t know how to do anything about it. Jesus said to his disciples you are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world. Those certainly seem like good things, but they also seem like big things, and I’m not sure how to begin. Jesus said you are salt, you are light, and I believe him, but I feel like maybe I am just one tiny grain of salt, one little candle of light, and those do not feel like enough to season the earth, to light up the world. But God made us into salty, light-bearing people. God created us in this way. We don’t have to be salt and give light for God, but rather because of God we are set free to be the glorious salty, light-giving people we are.
So here’s the challenge this week. One small thing you can do to be salt and light in the world. Have a conversation this week with someone who is different from you. If you’re younger, visit one of our members in assisted living, if you’re older, call a grandchild, or a neighbor, or the person who mows your lawn. Co-op has their mandatory meeting on Monday, come by and strike up a conversation with a Co-op member. Meet someone of a different ethnic background or religion or partisan affiliation, and just have a conversation with them. What are their hopes, their fears, what are your hopes, your fears. Will you say the wrong thing? Maybe? If you offend them, ask forgiveness, if they offend you, forgive them. Will you agree on everything? Not if you really found someone who’s different than you. But you know what will happen? The earth will be seasoned by your difference. And the world will be illuminated just a little more brightly by the things you learn from each other. Jesus says you are salt, you are light. So you are. So this week, just go out and do it, be it, let your light, the light that God lit within you to shine. You can’t help it, so you might as well embrace it. Amen.
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