Sermon 2-8-26

Sermon 2-8-26 Mt. 5: 13-20

I spend a lot of time every night at my desk at home. It's usually covered with open books piled so high I can barely see over them, and an index card. On the index card I have four words underlined with hand written notes of definitions behind each of them. The hand written notes get marked through, changed and written over all the time. I keep changing the definitions for each word as I get a better grasp of our life on earth, our religion and our God.

When the index card gets to the point where I can hardly read what I have scribbled there, I get a new one, write and underline the four words. Then I transfer the last definitions I put down. Like I said, they keep changing.

The four words are: Salvation, Sanctification, Justification and Righteousness.

Our Gospel reading for today is a continuation of what is commonly called the Sermon on the Mount. This section is divided into two parts, nearly in the middle.

Jesus starts by saying “you are the salt of the earth”. Both the Aramaic and Hebrew words for “earth” translated into English also mean “earth oven”. You've seen pictures of them. They are mounds of clay, hollowed out, in which you build a fire and bake things.

They've been around for ions. They're still used today, mostly in third world countries and hippie-want-to-be subdivisions of big cities. I was going to build one for practice in my back yard when I was trying to get on the TV show Survivor. My goal for the show was to gain weight while I was in the wilderness.

In Jesus' time every family had an earth oven. And lining the bottom of the oven was a flat block of salt. The salt block acted as a catalyst for the fire inside. In the Mediterranean region wood is scarce. The fuel of choice is dried donkey or camel dung mixed with salt. You've all seen cowboys and Indians cooking their meals over buffalo chips in the movies, same thing. Only the Hebrew people of Jesus time had more permanent homes and could afford the luxury of an earth oven.

Salt has a melting temperature of 1473 degrees Fahrenheit. It can withstand a lot of fires. Eventually though the salt block will loose its catalytic properties and has to be replaced. “It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot”. They would use it as a stepping stone.

Jesus is using everyday objects to make His point. He is telling the people they are the catalyst that makes the fire burn. Fire is a chemical reaction that produces four things: heat, light, smoke and ash. Heat and light are the most important. Heat for warmth and cooking, and light for seeing in the dark.

“You are the salt of the earth”, that means you are the catalyst that starts the fire and keeps it burning. “You are the light of the world, let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”

A part of the definition I have on that index card for righteousness is proper and honorable relationships with other people.

“Let your light shine before others, so they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven”. He is telling them to be walking, talking examples of righteousness. To act according to God's divine and moral law.

Then Jesus begins the second part. “Do not think I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.”

The Hebrew Bible of that time, and today, is made up of three parts: the Torah, also called the Pentateuch, is the first five books of the Old Testament, written by Moses. The second part, the Prophets, is the combined books of eight major and twelve minor prophets. The third part, called the Writings, consist of the Psalms, the Proverbs, the Book of Job, Song of Solomon, etc.; eleven Hebrew books; thirteen in our English Bible.

These were all written down, hard copies, you can hold them in your hand. That's what Jesus came to fulfill.

But there was another part. The oral laws. There are thousands of them. First there is the Mishnah, that's commentary on the Torah. Then there is the Talmud, that's commentary on the Mishnah. They started out simple enough. The Jews were afraid someone might accidentally break one of the written laws. They came up with an oral definition to help people understand a law.

Commandment number four for example. “Keep the Sabbath day Holy”.

What does keeping it Holy mean? Well, one thing, don't do any work. What constitutes work? Well, picking up a stick. What constitutes a stick?

You see what I mean? It goes on and on, like the Blob that ate Cincinnati. That's what happens when you get lawyers involved. They called them scribes. The Pharisees were a small group of lay people who dedicated their lives to following all the Jewish laws whether written or oral. That would seem to me to be the impossible dream.

In one of my books William Barclay says, “The scribes and Pharisees were right in seeking God's Will, and right in dedicating their lives to obeying it; but they were wrong in finding that Will in their man-made hordes of rules and regulations”.

Jesus was a devout Jew. He teaches as one who holds the law in the greatest respect. He came to bring out the real meaning of the law, to penetrate below the surface to the fundamental principles, to show the spirit behind the law.

“Not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished.

In the rabbinic tradition a teacher would name his authority, “I learned it from my teacher Rabbi so-and-so, he learned it from his teacher Rabbi such-and-such”.

Jesus says, “I say to you”. He learned it from His teacher as well.

Another part of the definition of righteousness I have on that index card is: accepting God's requirements. Those requirements are written down, we can hold them in our hand, we can go back and look them up again.

We can use them to become a catalyst for the fire that is the light of the world. The salt that makes the fire burn.

You folks sitting here are the salt of the earth, keep your fire burning.

Amen.