Salt and Light

Sermon Preached Tuesday, June 13, 2006
Year 2, Proper 5, Tuesday, Mass: Psalm 4, 1 Kings 17:7-16, Matthew 5:13-16

There is a tension in many homilies that I have heard or read about the life we are supposed to live as Christians. Often I think in an effort not to sound too preachy, sermons approach Christian living as something we are called to do, but of less importance than believing in Christ. I think the problem is in creating the tenision in the first place.

In today's Gospel our Lord speaks of his followers as salt. I've always had trouble getting my head around this image, but I think I finally see what Jesus is talking about and its much more simple than I would have imagined.

Through Christ we are not simply flavored like Christ in the way that something flavored with salt beocmes salty. Actually, we become Christ in the same was we might become salt, the flavoring agent. We are then able to flavor the world. Its really the same image as the light image. Jesus is the Light, through him we too become the light of the world. Its similar to passing a light by a candle to someone else holding a candle. Once the candle is lit, its lit and it has become a light, not simply brightened up by the other light,.

As Christians, the challenge isn't to become more salty or brighter or more Christlike. We have already become salt, become light, and put on Christ. The challenge for us is to find ways to flavor others with the salt we have become and put ourselves in a place where our light is acting as a beacon to the whole world.