Matthew 5:13-20
For most of her adult life…the author Anne Rice was an atheist.
- She became famous as the author of a number of novels about vampires and stories about witches.
- In 1998…however…after nearly 40 years of denying God…
- Rice returned to the Catholic Church of her youth.
- She produced two excellent novels about Jesus…
- And wrote an autobiography that described her journey back to Christ…
- Along with her decision to become a Christian.
But then…12 years later…Rice announced that she had “quit being a Christian.”
- Yup…she was done with the church.
- She said that she was not leaving Christ…and that her faith in him remained central to her life.
- What she was abandoning was the church…which she had come to see as a “quarrelsome…hostile…disputatious and deservedly infamous group.”
Quarrelsome. Hostile. Disputatious.
- Yes…the Christian church is sometimes like that.
- We can understand why people would not want to join such a group.
- The challenge for us is to focus on being “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.”
- Jesus said: “That when we act as salt and light…people will see our good works and give glory to our Father in heaven.”
- The church is attractive…not repulsive…when it is salty and bright.
Jesus said: “You are the salt of the earth…but if salt has lost its taste…how can its saltiness be restored?”
- In this passage…Jesus is speaking of salt as a preservative.
- In the ancient world…long before refrigeration…salting was the prime method for preserving food such as meat…fish and olives.
- Without salt…food would go bad quickly.
- The same is true for the church…if it does not have salty disciples.
- Jesus said: “When salt loses its power it is no longer good for anything…but is thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
Did Anne Rice quit the church because it had lost its saltiness?
- Hard to say…since she died in 2021.
- But a novelist named Michael Rowe believes that Rice fully intended to continue following Jesus…
- Even though she no longer gave herself the title “Christian.”
- He points to the words of Jesus in the Gospel of John:
- “By this everyone will know that you are my disciples…if you have love for one another.”
- Rowe says that the “title ‘Christian’ is meaningless without love.”
Christians are salty when they are loving:
- Not just loving toward family members and friends.
- But loving toward enemies and willing to pray for those who persecute them.
- Loving toward people on the margins of society…as Jesus was toward the tax collectors…sinners…lepers…women and children of his day.
- Loving enough to forgive those who hurt them…not just seven times but seventy-seven times.
Jesus said: “You are the light of the world.”
- You are a person who bears the light of Christ.
- A light that glows with humility…gentleness…patience…
- Love…unity and peace.
- Jesus said: “No one after lighting a lamp puts it under a bushel basket.”
- There…it will go out quickly.
- Instead…put it on a lamp stand…so that it can give light to your home…your congregation…your community…your world.
- Jesus said: “In the same way…let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
The Church gets into trouble when it loses its way in the dark.
- When the church ceases to focus on living as children of light.
- We look around…see darkness in the world…and become anti-this and anti-that.
- But Jesus never said that our job is to curse the darkness.
- Instead…it is to let our light shine.
- Our sin is that we have failed to bring light into darkness…
- Pointing people toward Jesus…the one who is the light of the world.
When missionary E. Stanley Jones met Mahatma Gandhi…he asked him” …
- “Mr. Gandhi…though you quote the words of Jesus often…
- Why do you adamantly reject becoming his follower?”
- Gandhi replied: “Oh…I don’t reject your Christ. I love your Christ. It’s just that so many of you Christians are so unlike your Christ.”
Why did Gandhi feel this way?
- It had nothing to do with theology…and everything to do with personal experience.
- When he was a young man practicing law in South Africa…he became attracted to the Christian faith.
- He studied the Bible and the teachings of Jesus and began to explore becoming a Christian.
One day…he decided to attend a church service.
- As he came up the steps of the church…a white South African church elder barred his way.
- “Where do you think you’re going?” the man asked.
- Gandhi replied: “I’d like to attend worship here.”
- The church elder snarled at him:
- “There’s no room for [blacks] in this church.
- Get out of here or I’ll have my assistants throw you down the steps.”
It would be nice to say that this kind of racist attitude existed back then…
- But…sorry to say…it continues to exist.
- And continues more alive and well as ever.
- White supremacy and antisemitism are on the rise in our beloved country.
From that moment on…Gandhi resolved to adopt what was good in Christianity.
- But never to become a Christian if it meant being part of a church.
As Christians…our mission is to be like Christ:
- To bring light…not darkness.
- To bring welcome…not rejection.
- To bring love…not hatred.
- To bring grace…not judgment.
- To bring humility…not arrogance.
- To bring gentleness…not violence.
- To bring unity…not disintegration.
- To bring saltiness…not blandness.
We are like Christ when we are part of a bright church…one that acts in ways that are good and right and true.
- Martin Luther King said:
- “Darkness cannot drive out darkness.
- Only light can do that.
- Hate cannot drive out hate.
- Only love can do that.”
When we are salty and bright…people around us will see our good works and give glory to God.
- They will observe that we are acting in ways that are gentle and loving.
- Not quarrelsome and hostile.
- And they will see the powerful brightness of the light of Christ.
- Reflected in what we say and do.