Why are we here?

 Scripture Matthew 5:13-20.    The Message.   

3 “Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage.

14-16 “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.

17-18 “Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.

19-20 “Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom. Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.

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Why are we here?   Seems like a silly question, doesn’t it?  In meetings I attend we have a number of readings at the beginning of each meeting.  One is titled “Why are we here?” Inevitably, some smart aleck will pipe up with, “Because it’s Sunday!”  Which, of course, is not the point of the reading at all.  But, really, when you think about it, we’re all here because it’s Sunday.  Some of us are here off and on during the week, but for the most part - it’s Sunday morning, and this is what we do on Sunday morning. 

This week I chose to use the Message version for our Scripture reading.  As many of you know, it is not my favorite because it is paraphrased and I tend to prefer a more nearly accurate translation from the original language.  But sometimes Eugene Peterson way words a passage or phrase that resonates strongly with me, and then I want to share that with you all.  

He begins, of course, by answering that question.  “Let me tell you why you’re here.”  “You’re here to be the salt-seasoning that brings out the God flavors of the earth.” And “You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world.”  Preachers tend to get carried away expounding on un-salty salt and lamps covered up by buckets, but we could just pay attention to these two phrases.  God brings flavor to the earth.  God brings color, beauty to the world.  And these make sense.  Homemade soup is wonderful just as it is.  It is better, tastier, more satisfying with salt added.  And while the night time is lovely, the beauty of the earth, the colors of nature, can best be seen and experienced in the light of day. Even the night sky is beautiful only because of the lights that we can see in it - brightly shining stars and planets.   Life without God in it, that is to say, a life in which we do not pay attention to God, can be very nice.  But life with God in it, a life in which we allow God to be an active participant, changes what was very nice into something amazing.   We are here to let other people know that . . . in words if necessary, but mostly through how we are with others, in the example of our lives.  If we are cheerful and kind, generous with our caring and our time, if we speak well of others, and work at kindness even in the face of rudeness and anger . . . if through our lives people can see God’s hand, then we are doing what we are here to do.  Bearing God’s light-bearers, bringing God’s light into the world, is why we are here.

The salt and light portions of this passage are significant and important parts of this passage, and like many preachers I have devoted entire sermons just to these two things.  But wait, there’s more!  There’s the whole “completing God’s law” part.   Jesus says, ““Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete.”  This part can be problematic because Jesus kept fussing at the Pharisees for their insistence on adhering to the letter of the law even when that kept them from fulfilling the intent of the law - like saying it is unlawful to heal on the Sabbath, thus forcing someone to suffer pain or illness longer than necessary. So why on earth would he say (according to the New Revised Standard Version) “… whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. . .” .   It seems a bit of a contradiction and a problem for us.  Because you know, there are a lot of those 613 laws that we definitely do not follow.  We break dietary laws at pretty much every meal.  We do not stone people to death for blasphemy.  We don’t stone people to death, period.  We work on the Sabbath all the time.  We believe slavery is immoral, so we just ignore all the laws that tell us how to treat our slaves.  Women are no longer considered property, so many of the laws regulating the behavior of women are likewise ignored.   This present reality makes the whole “whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments” bit worrisome.

In the Message Version Peterson chose to phrase it this way.   “Trivialize even the smallest item in God’s Law and you will only have trivialized yourself. But take it seriously, show the way for others, and you will find honor in the kingdom.”

This is helpful. This is really very helpful.  Scholars - Christian and Jewish alike -  break the 10 Commandments into 2 parts.  Commandments one through four deal with how to love God.  Commandments five through ten tell us how to love one another.  This is why Jesus spoke of the greatest commandment and the second greatest, because all of the other laws relate to one or the other of these, providing details on how one should do these things.  So when Jesus fussed at the Pharisees for their rigid adherence to the letter of the Law, it was not because the Law shouldn’t inform their lives, but because they had forgotten the purpose of the Law.  They were obedient, but not necessarily living right.  It is better, for example, to heal on the Sabbath than to allow one of God’s children to suffer even one more hour.  This honors God’s intentions for us to love one another.  Healing on the Sabbath does not in any way trivialize the Law, although it does break the literal commandment to do no work on the Sabbath.   So Jesus said to his followers, “Unless you do far better than the Pharisees in the matters of right living, you won’t know the first thing about entering the kingdom.”  

When we look at all those Laws from this perspective we come to realize that it is not a matter, as some would argue, of choosing which laws to follow and which laws we can safely ignore as not relevant to today’s society.  It is more a matter of determining in what way we should perceive any specific law when seen through the lens of the two greatest commandments upon which all of the others depend - Love God and Love One Another.  Some laws were written to protect the nomadic society from illness - don’t eat shellfish or pork or carrion eaters.  Some laws were concerned with the just treatment of people who could easily become oppressed - slaves, resident aliens, widows and orphans.  Some specify how those who could not live within society should be punished - thieves, adulterers, murderers, blasphemers.  The proper treatment of wives and concubines is spelled out - the Hebrew people were not monogamous.  We might have a problem with that, but it was the best solution for women and children who needed the support and protection of a family unit.  It was one of the ways in which the weaker members of society were protected.  The intent of so much of the Law is protecting the weak from those who would oppress, keeping the people alive and well, keeping the people working together as a community, caring for and about one another.   

Jesus said, “Don’t suppose for a minute that I have come to demolish the Scriptures—either God’s Law or the Prophets. I’m not here to demolish but to complete. I am going to put it all together, pull it all together in a vast panorama. God’s Law is more real and lasting than the stars in the sky and the ground at your feet. Long after stars burn out and earth wears out, God’s Law will be alive and working.”  

In Matthew 22 Jesus put it all together.  “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ This is the most important, the first on any list. But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”  The Law, all of it, is about relationship with God and with one another.

Don’t trivialize the Law, not even the smallest item, for to do so is to trivialize yourself. Although the world has changed in the 3,400 or so years from the time the Laws were written, each and every one of those laws is important in that each and every one speaks to relationship.  Don’t worry so much about the fine details of this regulation or that one, but concern yourself with living rightly, being in right relationship with God and with each other.   If we are, in fact,  the city on the hill, the light-bearer, the salt-seasoning then the reason we are here is to bring God’s light, God’s colors, God’s flavor into every thing we touch, every action, every word.  

This instruction is not only for individuals, although Jesus was addressing his words to individuals.  It is also for the Church.  If we as church have lost our saltiness through tiredness, through being weary of the struggle just to keep going, it will be difficult to continue with our mission, which is to carry the Gospel to everyone, all the world. For the church, being the salt and the light means allowing everyone to see that, in our relationship with God and with one another we are agents of God’s love.  Being the city on the hill doesn’t mean we get to stay on the hill.  For Jesus said, “We’re going public with this.”  We are to go out, shining that light on the suffering around us. We are to be God’s hands and feet in the world.  We are to be the means by which others get to taste Godliness and open themselves up to God, our loving and generous Father.   May we be renewed in our purpose, that we may regain our saltiness and let our light shine brightly from the hilltop on which Christ has placed us.