Let us pray: Come Holy Spirit, draw us closer to you and to one another. May the light of Christ shine through these words. Amen.
As we examine the epiphanies of this season, these stories about Jesus’ teaching and actions, we can start to form a clearer picture of what it would like to be his followers, to live as Christians in our world.
In today’s gospel, we continue the story of Jesus teaching his disciples on the mountain. Jesus began his public ministry with the call to metanoia, a changing of heart, mind, and action. And he declared that God’s kingdom, (which remember for Jesus this kingdom is in contrast to the kingdoms of the world, whose ways of ruling emphasize power over others, in this kingdom that Jesus proclaims, governance is more equal, more relational, more connected, with everyone working together as kin, so Jesus’ kingdom is more of a kindom), and this kingdom slash kindom that he declared, was very near, and in fact, was being created in their midst through Jesus’ works of healing and love. And Jesus invited everyone to help create this kindom.
Change your hearts and change your lives. Heaven is here and now, among you and within you! And Jesus continued this new way of thinking, as we heard last week, by pronouncing blessings on those who were poor, mourning, meek, hungry, merciful, and persecuted---the beatitudes.
The very people who were not held up as blessed, powerful, or successful in the eyes of the world, were invaluable, beloved, assured of God’s loving presence in the midst of their sufferings.
Today, Jesus continues his teaching by telling the disciples that they are the salt of the earth and the light of the world. Salt, that great preservative that maintains, that seasons, and adds flavor. Just a few tiny grains or flakes can make such a big difference! And light, like a city on a hill shining in the distance, like a lamp on a stand, or single candle flame that can light up the whole room.
I wonder, by our life and works do we preserve and care for people? Do we bring flavor, adding something that improves the quality of life? Do we shine, beacons, helping others to see, bringing warmth and clarity.
In Jesus’ call to change our hearts and lives and join him in creating heaven on earth, he carries the message of the prophets who came before him. Last week, the prophet Micah told us that God didn’t want offerings of calves, thousands of rams or tens of thousands of rivers of oil, or even our firstborn sons. No, what God desires from us are three things. To do justice, to love kindness and to walk humbly with God. As our baptismal covenant puts it: to strive for justice and peace among all people, to respect the dignity of every human being, to seek and serve Christ in all persons, loving our neighbor as ourselves. And through the prophet Isaiah, once again, today we hear that God is not pleased by big attempts at showing we are holy or righteous, or that we know just the right ways to worship to get God to notice us and reward us. No. This isn’t the kind of fasting that God desires.
“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of injustice, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover them, and to not hide your face from your own kin? Then your light shall break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up quickly…” (Isaiah 58: 6-8).
Jesus continues in this line of the prophets, speaking God’s desire for our world. Elsewhere, in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus takes his turn reading in the synagogue in his hometown of Nazareth and he reads these words: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has appointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor. (And then he said:) Today this scripture has been fulfilled in your hearing” (Luke 4:16-21).
In Jesus’ words echoing the prophets, we see how we can be salt and light. By advocating for the release of the oppressed, by noticing and working to undo systems of injustice in our society, by working together to feed the hungry and to find solutions for the unhoused, the mentally ill, and those suffering from substance use disorder. By providing food, clothing, shelter, and health care, we are salt and light. We follow Jesus by acting out God’s love for the world in how we care for others, by NOT hiding our faces from the problems of our world, from our own kin, humans created in the loving image and likeness of God. By noticing, interacting, sharing and caring for them, by advocating and working for change in the systems that oppress them, we can be salt and light. And in this way, we let our lights so shine before others that they see the good we are doing, our co-creation of God’s kindom here and now, and give glory to God.
This revelation, this epiphany, is that Jesus’ mission is to bring good news to the poor, to free people from whatever holds them down, to help people see that they matter, that they are valued and loved, to let everyone know that a good and loving God created them and promises to be with them always. And this mission of Jesus is OUR mission too! Let this be our epiphany, what we are called to do and be as followers of Jesus is to act out God’s love for the world in how we care for least, the last and the lost. So be it. Amen.
