Be seated please.
As today’s passage begins, Jesus proclaims, You are the salt of the earth.” As both a seasoning
and a preservative, salt was a necessity in the ancient world and an extremely valuable
commodity. [At Job 6:6 we find, “Can that which is unsavory be eaten without salt? or is there
any taste in the white of an egg?”] Roman soldiers received a salt ration, the salarium, from
which comes our English word “salary.” However, if salt became contaminated and lost its
capacity to season and preserve, it would be thrown out. (Synthesis, February 6, 2011)
Consider the following interaction:
Marie:
Me:
Marie:
Me:
I’m sorry but we are having the pasta again.
That’s okay. Why are you apologizing?
I didn’t think you liked it.
It was okay, but I should have sprinkled some salt on it. It really needed some salt to
bring out the flavor.
That is the essence of a conversation I had with my lovely wife in the past when she had made a
new dish.
We did have the new pasta dish she had made for lunch the next day, and I did use some salt on
my meal. It made the dish taste much better.
When I eat baked potatoes, I eat the whole thing. Usually when I have eaten much of the potato,
I add some salt and then I eat the peel and all, finishing off the potato. For me, that would not be
possible without picante sauce or just plain old salt.
Now that I spend some time in the kitchen cooking and baking, I have learned a truth. That is,
salt is a necessary ingredient for so many dishes. Even in baking, salt is necessary. Salt is an
ingredient in my world famous sweet potato pie. On Culture Sunday or Heritage Sunday, which I
instituted to be observed on the Day of Pentecost, some former parishioners have experienced
the joy of eating this delicacy.
Not picking on my wife but she has been guilty of doing the same thing one of my brothers does,
(i.e., She often times salts her food without having tasted it first). My query is always, “How do
you know that salt is needed if you have not tasted it?”
From my experience, salt seems to retain its property to bring out the flavor of other foods for a
very long time. I cannot say that I can recall having experienced salt that has lost it saltiness.
Jesus gives us the impression that salt can somehow lose its saltiness. I can imagine what that
might be like.
Followers of Jesus are called to do that salting thing, (i.e., to be the agents that bring out
important things in other people). Perhaps the best way we can be salt to the world is in our
everyday way of living. Leading by example is a perfect way to be salt to others to bring out in
them their abilities to be salt to others.
Disciples are also [called] to be “the light of the world.” Similar to a city on a hill that cannot be
hidden, the followers of Christ are to let their “light shine before others.” (Synthesis)
Not sure that I have mentioned this before, but it is good enough to repeat. A priest was teaching
a class of little ones, and he asked them what saints are. Kids moved about, looked down, looked
away, as we all do when we do not know the answer or may not be sure. Finally, one brave soul,
referring to the stain glass windows that depicted saints said, “Saints are the people that the light
shines through.”
In so many of the renewal programs in which I have participated, we often have sung that
favorite,
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine.
This little light of mine,
I’m gonna let it shine.
Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine!
As Christians, we must shy away from some of the adages we have adopted in this life. Have you
ever heard — perhaps even said — “Do as I say not as I do.” That has got to be one of the worst
admonitions we could ever utter. Mixing metaphors: “Little pictures have big ears.” What the
little ones in our company and under our oversight do is exactly what we do.
In our house, these adult years of our children have become times of confession. Although at the
onset of such confessions, we have cringed, Marie and I were thrilled to hear this particular one.
Scott, our second child told us that he would have done anything that our oldest, Richard, did. If
Richard had used marijuana, for example, he would have done likewise. Fortunately, our oldest
did not succumb to the use of recreational drugs, and neither did the brother who attempted to
mirror his older brother.
Even those of us that like to claim we do not parrot others, do attempt to follow in the footsteps
of some. When I was a sub-freshman, Hamilton Holmes and Charlayne Hunter were seniors.
These are the two young students from my high school that integrated the University of Georgia.
Hamp was captain of the football team and, obviously, a scholar. I looked at how he lived, and
because he was a very good student, I thought him to be wise as well. Whatever he might have
done, I might have considered following suit.
Salt for its own sake is pretty useless. So is faith. But how is salt or faith to be used? Cardinal
Suhard suggested: “To be a witness does not consist in engaging in propaganda, not even in
stirring people up, but in being a living mystery. It means to live in such a way that one’s life
would not make sense if God did not exist.” (Synthesis)
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Today’s gospel lesson focuses on light and salt. It describes how we are to live our lives out in
the world. Not the way we are gathered here in this moment as a worshipping community. Not
the way we gather together in the living room or family room or around the kitchen table. In the
text for today, we are invited to live our discipleship out in the world.
In our schools.
In our places of employment.
In our neighborhoods.
In our circle of friends.
Out there in the world which is often dark. Out there in the world which is often not so godly.
In the baptismal covenant, which we have proclaimed many times over the years, we promised to
proclaim by word and example the good news of God in Christ. What is the measure of your life
as depicted in the example of the life you are living? Are you using the saltiness of your lives to
spur others on?
Jesus is counting on you. Adopt the mantra that this little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine.
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