Start from the Beatitudes.
For Sunday
Epiphany 5A
Collect
Set us free, O God, from the bondage of our sins, and give us the liberty of that abundant life which you have made known to us in your Son our Savior Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Reading
From Matthew 5:13-20
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Reflection
We began Jesus’s great sermon last week. This Sermon on the Mount begins with the Beatitudes, a collection of blessings which remind us of God’s priority.
The Beatitudes introduce an interesting challenge for us—to see God’s blessing where we’re used to seeing a curse. Poverty in spirit, loss, timidity, being on the wrong side of the law, forgiveness, innocence, making peace rather than war, and in persecution.
Whether we’re willing to admit it or not, the stuff culture favors: like power, prestige, fame, revenge, security: this is often associated with blessing. This is the stuff we say we’re blessed with. I am blessed with a big family or I am blessed with a good job.
We never say, I am blessed with the death of a loved one.
But the Beatitudes turn the idea of translating present power into a reflection of God’s favor and toward a blessedness that comes, not with wealth, but from poverty. Blessing comes when we are low, not when we’ve done everything right. Blessing responds to a need. Doing things right is just us following commandments.
This sense, of blessings coming to us when we are soft, vulnerable, and compassionate, is what begins the Sermon on the Mount. This is what leads Jesus to refer to these crowds as the salt of the earth.
Saltiness
Don’t take this as a compliment (though we use it as one—and in the exact wrong way). Because blessing is a response to lowness. We are the salt of the earth because we start as the means of seasoning the world. Our generosity and proximity to grace. That is what we offer. Love, hope, mercy.
What our culture would have us reject: from softness to naïveté: is precisely what leads to blessing. And if we lose that, how can we be that for the world?
The gospel passage then concludes with a teaching that challenges us with the same oppositeness and generosity as the Beatitudes. Jesus’s teaching doesn’t oppose tradition, but fulfills it. With eyes of generosity and mercy, compassion and gratitude, and embodied by a life lived as makers of peace who hunger for justice, we are able to embody the commandments and live out the Kin-dom.
While it is easy to suggest that Jesus is attacking the Pharisees and scribes here, that makes little sense given the context. Jesus is simply saying that these groups embody greatness by cultural standards. And the children of God are poor in Spirit. So, to embody the Kin-dom, we live by its standards. Which start with those Beatitude blessings.