Fifth Sunday After Epiphany
Donna Joy

Psalm 112:1-9, Matthew 5:13-20

The theme that I have gleaned from this morning’s readings is God’s expectation for us to live in a certain way, and why. We are called to live righteous lives because God has created us to live in this way. That is, we are to live good and decent lives with integrity, honesty, honour… we are called to live lives where justice prevails. In the central section of this morning’s Psalm, those who live according to these expectations are described as:

• The righteous person deals equitably and generously, lending money and giving to the poor. In ancient Israel, it was forbidden to charge interest on a loan. This prohibition against lending money with interest is found repeatedly throughout the Hebrew Scriptures. One should not make a profit by gaining from the misery of others’. This is largely about giving selflessly. Giving without the expectation that we are getting something back. At the same time, goodness is relational; it is what one does to and with others. Whether we are generous, kind, and loving will have a serious impact, negatively or positively, on those with whom we share our lives.
• The righteous life can withstand adversity and can confront adversity with serenity.
• The righteous person is strong hearted and firmly planted, unafraid. This is possible because the righteous person is rooted in God’s promises to be steadfast and faithful, so therefore knows that no matter what challenges may occur along the way, he/she is never alone.
• The righteous person will know that sufficient strength and wisdom will be provided each step along the way. This is why, by the way, anxiety disorders will always be on the rise at moments in history when faith is minimized.
• The righteous are remembered. Not necessarily the person, but the acts of righteousness are lasting.

So, this Psalm offers a helpful preamble to our Gospel reading this morning where we have heard Jesus say, “… let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” The kind of living espoused in Psalm 112:1-9 is further developed in this text.

Jesus is a radical new kind of leader: He is shouting from the margins that his followers must be rooted in love, and all their actions must reflect that core identify, so that this light may shine wherever they go. Jesus is that rare kind of leader in the sense that while he proclaimed this radical, revolutionary message, he was also willing to remain faithful to this mandate to the point that he was prepared to sacrifice his life to that end.

N.T. Wright, New Testament scholar, in reflecting on this morning’s Gospel text says, “We all know what happens when a revolutionary party suddenly finds itself in power. It’s one thing to shout angrily from the sidelines, but quite another to form a government and run a country (or, I would argue, any organization – church included). All sorts of things have to be organized and dealt with which a rebel movement can happily ignore.

When this happens, two questions are asked. First, can this movement really do the basic things that a government can do better than its predecessor? Was it just making a lot of noise which now turns out to be hot air, or can it really deliver the goods? Second, can it remain true to itself and its original ideals even though it’s now in power? Will it, in turn, become corrupt and just like all other governments, starting off in a blaze of glory and good intentions and ending up riddled with corruption and muddle?”

Jesus is that radical leader, speaking from the sidelines. He will live (and die) faithfully according to his initial good intentions, which are in fact a continuation of the Prophet’s and Psalmists’ vision for a peaceable kingdom. He is addressing a culture that is ruled by unjust leaders, where the powerful live in lavish luxury and the poor live on the margins. Where nothing is fair. He is making the point that (contrary to the norms of his day) the movement he is ushering in really is the fulfillment of all that Israel had believed and longed for. Also, he is emphasizing that he and his followers are called to live (and die) by the new way he is announcing. All this is reflected in that image of Jesus and his followers becoming the light that shines before others; a light that is born out of faithfulness, and love, and kindness, so that the world may see these good works which are born out of love.

Each time someone is baptized here at St. Peter’s, according to the Baptismal liturgy approved by the Anglican Church of Canada, that person is given the gift of a candle, as the congregation says, “Let your light so shine before others that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Prior to that, the congregation has renewed our commitment to this Covenant with words that remind us what it actually means to be followers of Christ. That is: 

1. to believe in the Trinity (the very foundation of everything); 
2. to worship together regularly… becoming nourished and empowered as we are fed by Word and Sacrament; 
3. to resist the evil forces of this world, and when we fall short of this expectation to repent and return to the God who always awaits our return; 
4. to proclaim by word and example the Good News of God in Christ [people often say that they don’t attend church because their experience would suggest that church is filled with hypocrites; that is, in the opinion of many non church going people, church people tend to commit to one way of living within the context of church, but behave differently (less stellar) elsewhere; we are called to be the followers of Jesus who model something different];
5. to seek and serve Christ in all person, loving our neighbour as ourselves;
6. to strive for justice and peace among all people, and respect the dignity of every human being [caring and responding to the needs of those whose quality of life is seriously compromised because of poverty; loving those who we find less than easily lovable; forgiving those who may have hurt us];
7. to strive to safeguard the integrity of God’s creation - get in there and care about the climate crisis; discover tangible ways to make individual decisions that can make a difference; do our homework prior to election time and elect politicians who will address, and lead us to address the climate crisis faithfully and effectively.

I worry we have heard these words so often, that the radical nature of this deeply challenging message has become lost. This Covenant is indeed radical in nature, and challenges cultural norms that desecrate human dignity; or desecrate God’s creation in any way.

So the images Jesus is using here are salt and light. Salt, as we know, is used to flavour or preserve food. True Christians will promote love, selfless generosity, kindness, and stand in the way of corruption (evil forces) in society. This is the flavour we are called to spice up the church and the world in which we live.

Light is utterly different from darkness. It shines – radiates – out to conquer despair and gloom. It reveals new, life-giving possibilities that can only be made known when God is the source of it all. Jesus says his followers give spiritual light to this world, that is, good deeds shining out for the glory of God.

N.T. write says, “This was truly revolutionary, and at the same time deeply in tune with the ancient stories and promises of the Bible. And the remarkable thing is that Jesus brought it all into reality in his own person. He was the salt of the earth. He was the light of the world; set up on a hill-top, crucified for all the world to see, becoming a beacon of hope and new life for the whole world, drawing people to worship his father, embodying the way of self-giving love which is the deepest fulfillment of the law the prophets.

That’s why these sayings, originally applied to Israel, now apply to all those who follow Jesus and draw on his life as the source of our own.”

As you leave here today with the words of the dismissal, I encourage you to spend some time this coming week to pray and reflect on one primary question: Where does the world need salt and light right now, and how can we, through following Jesus, provide it?