From the Daily Lectionary for Tuesday in the Fourth Week of Easter
Matthew 5: 13-16
‘You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.
‘You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 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.
This passage from the ‘Sermon on the Mount’ immediately follows the Beatitudes. It is important to recognize to whom Jesus is speaking. He is speaking to the poor, who comprise ninety nine percent of the population in the ancient world. The majority of the poor were slaves, doing the day-to-day work for wealthy absentee landlords in a largely agrarian society. These are the ones who live under the oppression of imperial occupation; the ones who mourn their low estate; the ones who yearn for justice. Their place in society notwithstanding, they are characterized as gentle, kind, and courageous. These are the ones to whom God offers blessing. These are the ones for whom Jesus advocated, and for whom Jesus gave his life.
Matthew calls them “the salt of the earth;” salt, an essential rudiment for life itself. They are often unseen, taken for granted, treated unfairly. Who are the salt of the earth in our own time, and particularly in this time of pandemic? Grocery store clerks, janitors, truck drivers, healthcare workers, first responders, food processors, employees of essential services. These are the salt of the earth, without whom our common life would be sorely compromised.
God’s “preferential option” is for those on the front lines of our common life; the ones who do the work that we would prefer not to do… the unsung, as it were. It seems that God is drawn to selfless sacrifice. Wherever the ‘good of the whole’ is served, God is there in intimate solidarity.
Lutheran scholar and theologian Warren Carter wrote an important book on the Gospel of Matthew entitled Matthew and the Margins. He is rearticulating what the Liberation Theologians proclaimed three quarters of a century ago; that God is drawn to the unsung, the neglected, those on the underside of the human family, the salt of the earth, in short. Without them our lives have no taste…. Matthew is saying that the light of God comes from the marginalized, is kindled on life’s periphery, conventional wisdom to the contrary notwithstanding. Pray for them, good people; our lives depend upon them.
A Prayer for Guidance (BCP p. 832)
O God, by whom the meek are guided in judgement, and light rises up in the darkness for the godly: Grant us, in all our doubts and uncertainties, the grace to ask what you would have us do, that the Spirit of Wisdom may save us from false choices, and that in your light we may see light, and in your straight path may not stumble; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
