Sermon Tone Analysis

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.