5th Sunday After Epiphany

Connor Longaphie

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5th Sunday After Epiphany (Year A) RCL

St. Matthew’s Lutheran, Cornwall

Matthew 5:13-20, Isaiah 58:1-12

Catechetical Sermon on the Second Table of the Law (Overview)

You are to honor your father and your mother.

[8] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither despise nor anger our parents and others in authority, but instead honor, serve, obey, love, and respect them.

You are not to kill.

[10] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither endanger nor harm the lives of our neighbors, but instead help and support them in all of life’s needs.

You are not to commit adultery.

[12] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we lead pure and decent lives in word and deed, and each of us loves and honors his or her spouse.

You are not to steal.

[14] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we neither take our neighbors’ money or property nor acquire them by using shoddy merchandise or crooked deals, but instead help them to improve and protect their property and income.

You are not to bear false witness against your neighbor.

[16] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not tell lies about our neighbors, betray or slander them, or destroy their reputations. Instead we are to come to their defense, speak well of them, and interpret everything they do in the best possible light.

You are not to covet your neighbor’s house.

[18] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not try to trick our neighbors out of their inheritance or property or try to get it for ourselves by claiming to have a legal right to it and the like, but instead be of help and service to them in keeping what is theirs.

You are not to covet your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, cattle, or whatever is his.

[20] What is this? Answer:

We are to fear and love God, so that we do not entice, force, or steal away from our neighbors their spouses, household workers, or livestock, but instead urge them to stay and fulfill their responsibilities to our neighbors.

I don’t know if any of you have noticed, butsomething about our readings has... changed in these last couple of weeks, since the beginning of this Epiphany season.They’ve changed in tone, in nature, in function, and in direction.We went from texts with themes that were very recognizablyrevelatory, and “epi-phanic;” themes of grace and Gospel, of the divine mysteries being made known. Themes of revelations, and unveiling. Themes thatmake sense for the season of Epiphany. But just as the seasons in the secular calendar changed, and undergo transitions, and give way to new ones, so also do the seasons in the church calendar. And now,Epiphany is coming to an end, and it’s starting to give way to the Season of lent. And so, as we walk closer and closer to Ash Wednesday and to Lent, we go fromthe unveiling and therevealing of thehidden mysteries of the Gospel, andtowards calls of repentance, and instructions on fasting. We turn our eyes again toward the Law, toward our sins, and toward our need for the forgiveness. The season of Epiphany has shown us what is hidden in this man– this Jesus of Nazareth, that there in this unassuming carpenter, is God in flesh, come to save you – but, now as we walk together toward Ash Wednesday and through Lent, we see just how big our need for Him to save us truly is. In fact, so great is the connection between these readings and those for Ash Wednesday, that our O.T. reading today in Isaiah IS the O.T. reading for Ash Wednesday. Isaiah 58.

But today, I want to focus rather on Christ’s words to us, as we continue to climb upward through His sermon on the mount – and in doing so, I want us to reflect upon how it relates to our confession of God’s Law. So turn with me, if you will, to Matthew 5:13;

He says to us this; You are the Salt of the Earth. You are the light of the world.

Salt; it cleanses, it purifies, it cleanses, and it preserves. You are that, in this world. You are this thing, this salt. You are this cleansing, purifying, cleaning, and preserving force in the world. You are. Not you can be, not you must be, but listen, listen carefully – you ARE. Already, right now. As I speak to you at this very moment you are this, in the world, FOR the world. And I say for the world in this way, and for this reason; because what does salt do? What does salt exist for? What does it function for? Does salt – itself? NO. Salt is FOR the things around it. Salt is used for preserving food and preventing decay. It’s used for enhancing the flavours in our food. It’s for cleaning wounds and preventing infections.

So what has our Lord called you? He has called you something that is FOR others. He said you are the salt of the earth but let me say this in a North American way for you so that none of you misunderstand Him – you are FOR other people. He didn’t even say you must be, He said you are. But salt that loses its savour, salt that loses it’s saltiness (which was actually a thing in His context, as much of the salt in His day was impure, and mixed with lots of bits of earth or other minerals – which don’t have the same useful properties), well, then what use does it have? You can’t preserve anything with it, you can’t cleanse anything with it. You can’t purify anything with it. And so it’s cast away, it’s cast out, and it’s trampled under foot. Salt like that Jesus says, is “no good for anything.” But a salt that HAS its saltiness... nobody will throw that out, not in this context. That kind of salt saves lives. That kind of salt prevents disease, it prevents infections, it fends off death from our midst. That kind of salt is for us. In fact it’s necessary for us. My friends, YOU are that salt in this world. You have been called that salt, and in being called that salt you have been called to BE that salt. To be for others. To live for others. To serve others, heal others, to cleanse, to purify, to preserve the good. Do you see?

Let’s go for round two then shall we? Perhaps some of us still haven’t understood this yet. You have heard that you are the salt? Good. Now also hear from the lips of our Savior that you are the light of the world. This is no different. It’s the exact same. What is light for? Don’t over think this matter, simply look at the text, our Lord tells us exactly what He means here. We all interact with light, we all USE light, for light is that which is to be used, just as salt is. You turn on a light, why? Because you can’t see. What does light do for you? It allows you to see. It illuminates your path it shows you the way, but it’s so much more than that isn’t it? It allows you to really SEE. To see one another. To see the beauty of the world. To see the beauty of one another. Light is good. Light is necessary. We can think of these “little lights,” like those we interact with and turn on and off. In our day they're electric but in Christ’s day, these are lamps of oil, these are candles, these are little wood fires. But there are also big lights aren’t there? The sun it gives warmth, heat, and life. It gives vitamin D. – oh and even the moon and the stars. So that not even night is truly without light. For the moon illumines our path, even in the darkness, the light is shining. But imagine if they did not. And just so, as these are necessary for you, YOU and your good works are necessary for others. For God doesn’t need your good works. You don’t need your good works. But your neighbour does. And so Christ here says to you, just as nobody lights a lamp to put it under a basket. Rather thy put it up on a lamp stand for all to see, and to benefit from it’s light. We don’t turn on the lights at home just to cover them with blankets. We turn them on to be seen, that we might see the things that they illuminate for us. We light fires to give light, to give warmth, to give life. So we do good works to others for these very same reasons.

Do you understand yet? The law of God (the 10 commandments), what direction are they moving in? Are they about your personal purity? Are they about you? NO. Every single one of these laws is about your neighbour.Every single one of these commandments is a command to love those around you. To be FOR those around you. We don’t forbid murdering other people simply because murdering is wrong and a sin – but because it is contrary to the love we OUGHT to show them in Christ. Because just as we are to not murder them, so also we are to go so far beyond this, to reach out to them, to help them, to serve the, in every bodily need. We are not only to NOT commit adultery (“because its a sin”) but rather we are to live in faithful union, service, love, and devotion to our spouses. We are not only to NOT steal (“out of fear of falling short of some standard of sinlessness that we think we ought to meet”) but we are in fact to serve to help and protect our neighbours property and income. In every way, in every place, and in everything the law of God given to us is showing us how to love. How to be salt, and how to be light to those around us. It shows us that we do not live for ourselves. But that we live for others. That we live as Christ has lived, love as Christ has loved us, and pour ourselves out in service for the other as Christ has done so for us.

For commandments of God show us the outline of this love. But Christ has filled it in with His own flesh and blood given and shed for us, as He offered Himself up for us unto death on the cross the forgiveness of our sins, to give us His very own righteousness. The very righteousness of God. The righteousness that exceeds that of the Scribes and the pharisees. The righteousness that exceeds the masters and the experts in the law. We have the righteousness that the Law could only imperfectly reflect. And we have it in Christ. The fullness of the law. The fulfillment of the law. The fullness of love. In Him, through Him, and by the preaching of Him and His love, His grace, and His mercy, given freely to all and for all, we live into what He has said of us this day, about our being Salt and Light.

In Him, through Him, and by preaching of Him, we loosen the chains of wickedness,tear apart the ropes of a yoke, release the oppressed so they go free, and tear every yoke to pieces. From preaching the Gospel, and from living into the self-sacrificial way of the gospel. It’s from this Gospel and our preaching of it. that love flows out. It’s from the giving of love that love is produced. From the giving of grace that we become the givers of grace, and from the forgiveness of sins that we are made into those who forgive the sins of others. For as Paul says, we love, why? Is it because God told us that if we didn’t He’d roast us in Hell forever? NO. Is it because it’s “the right thing to do?” No. But BECAUSE HE FIRST LOVED US. Because His love has transformed us into those who love others. That as He gave Himself for us now we have been made into those who offer ourselves to others – FREELY., and as gift. Because that is what we are in Christ. Thatis what He has made us through Word and Sacrament. That is what He has raised from within us, from out of the Baptismal Waters. That is what He has named us. That is what He has proclaimed to us. And that is what He is continually forming us into through His grace.

In doing this, and in being this, we embody the gospel of Christ Crucified that we have believed. By doing this we give WEIGHT to the Gospel of Christ crucified that we preach. By doing this, and by being this, we become increasingly conformed to the image of Christ as He is crucified, for you, and for me.

So let it be, according to His Word, and by the power of His grace,

In the Name of the + Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit,

Iforgive you all of your sins. I assure you of all of God’s Love. and I give to you now through these words the very holiness and righteousness of God. Nowgo forth in peace, and do likewise. For you ARE the salt of the earth, and the light of the world.