Called to Be Salt and Light
9 February 2020 –– Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany
We are not the light of the world by ourselves. We are the light of the world when we assemble as the body of Christ. We are most dazzling when we hear the Lord’s call in his word and respond by breaking bread and sharing the cup at his banquet. Our worship rehearses and forms us in the art of hospitable living. –– Blair Gilmer Meeks
Matthew 5:13-16
This passage is the transition between the beatitudes and the discussion of the law. Jesus proclaims that the disciples—the “poor in spirit” described in the beatitudes—are in fact the salt of the earth and the light of the world. The sayings are proverbial contrasts. If salt, the essential seasoning, loses its savor, nothing can rescue it. Only fools kindle a light in order to hide it. The sayings come from a source common to Matthew and Luke (see Luke 8:16; 11:33; 14:34–35), but Matthew has added the statement to the disciples, “You are the salt, the light,” along with verse 16.
The point of the sayings is that discipleship is for the sake of others. Salt is not eaten alone but enhances other flavors or preserves other foods. Light is not self-contained but makes other things visible. The disciples are not called for their own sake but for the sake of others.
The disciples’ commission is to fulfill and teach the law. They are to live from the heart of the law, the law that gives life because its essential command is to be like God (5:48). In that way their righteousness will exceed that of persons who abuse the law by observing only its outward form. –– Blair Gilmer Meeks
Isaiah 58:1-9a [9b-12]
The prophetic message is that God alone controls our lives. Our fasting cannot compel God. Instead, we must act like God, compassionately freeing others from oppression, and we must trust God to achieve our own deliverance. This is the meaning of being enlightened, of being the light of the world. –– Blair Gilmer Meeks
1 Corinthians 2:1-12 [13-16]
Here Paul protests that he is doing what a true disciple does, namely, acting in the interest of the Corinthians rather than his own. Even though they are sophisticated city people, much impressed by Greek philosophy and new ideas, Paul has come to them preaching the absurdity of the cross. He does not want the Corinthians to follow him because of his eloquence (a problem that seems to have created factions among them; cf. 3:1–9); rather he wants them to follow Christ who is the wisdom of God (1:24). Their faith, then, rests not on human wisdom but on God’s power and wisdom.
God’s wisdom is beyond human understanding—so far beyond it, that God’s wisdom seems to be absurdity from a human perspective. Only the spirit of God understands the wisdom of God. In the power of this spirit does Paul preach, and through this spirit God reveals this wisdom to human beings. –– Blair Gilmer Meeks
Blair Gilmer Meeks, was at the time of this writing, a pastoral minister, writer of worship-related resources, and leader of workshops on worship living in Brentwood, Tennessee. Among her four books is Standing in the Circle of Grief: Prayers and Liturgies for Death and Dying (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002).
Homily Service 38, no. 3 (2005): 5-13.