Message for Feb.

Epiphany 5, February 6, 2011, Matthew 5: 13-15
When Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth…the light of the world…” a person can hear the distant thunder of creation, when God declared , “let there be” and it was. A person can certainly hear the authority of that one who declared, “I am the Light of the world, I am the Good Shepherd” who could also declare to many a troubled sinner, “Go in peace, your sins are forgiven.”

There is something about a pronouncement that gets our attention. Even if it should come from a child, who knows little and has only a small amount of power, the words, “You are stupid” can get our attention and for another child can wound them deeply. Words of a pronouncement are so strong that we certainly to listen to them and half believe them even before we examine them. Pity the child on the playground that not heard other pronouncements that formed their identity such as “You are smart, “You are precious to me, You do things so well,” so that they are able to believe something other about themselves than what their playmate pronounces them to be. Later they will understand that what the teacher says about them, and especially what their mom and dad say is much more the truth, because they know more. The power of a pronouncement is depends upon the power of the one speaking it. If the words of people, people who have such limited power, knowledge and influence can have such a powerful effect on us, how much more should we be effected by the words of the One who knows and makes us. These words echo creation’s thunder and baptism’s blessing.

We should also note the position of these words in the Sermon on the Mount. These words along with the Beatitudes which we read last Sunday, come at the beginning of the sermon instead of the end. This position reminds us of some other words. The words of God’s covenant promises made to people like Abraham and Sarah and their descendants in the children of Israel. The position is the same, First God declares that they are his people, and only then tells them how to live. It is not the other way around, that if they strive hard and obey the commands that they might become God’s people. That is a strong indicator that these words are God’s, God pronounces first and then instructs. We call this Gospel. Jesus first telling the woman, that she is his daughter, and that he does not condemn her, and only then following it up with the words, go and sin no more. The Christian ethic is “Become who you are.” The ethic of the world is “Become what you should be.”

One of the things about such a pronouncement, is that you either believe it or you dismiss it as a lovely thought, but really only fanciful thinking. If you believe the words, they can have a strong influence on how you see yourself and live out your life. Let me tell you a story from Donald Miller’s book “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years.” It’s the story of Jason, who was concerned about his 13 year old daughter, because they had found pot hidden in her closet. She was also dating a guy, who smelled like smoke and would only answer questions with single words, like “Yeah,” “No” “whatever” and “Why.” Miller, the writer, happened to say to Jason that it sounded like his daughter was living out a terrible story. This got Jason thinking. He realized that he hadn’t provided a better role for his daughter. He hadn’t mapped out a story for his family, and so his daughter had chosen another story, a story in which she was wanted, even if she was only being used. “She’s not a bad girl,” he said, “She was just choosing the best story available to her.” Jason decided to provide a better story to invite her into. He remembered that story involves a character who wants something and overcomes conflict to get it. He searched the internet and read about an organization that build orphanges in third world countries for 25,000 apiece. So even though they didn’t have the money, and had a second mortgage on their house, he told his wife and daughter about the orphange and the terrible things that could happen if the kids didn’t have such a place, and that he had agreed to build it.
They were shocked and looked at him as though he had lost his mind. Neither his wife nor daughter talked with him but went to their rooms. That night he explained the whole thing to his wife as they lay in bed. He explained the whole story thing, about how they weren’t taking risks and helping anybody and how their daughter was losing interest. “If the salt has lost its tang, how can its saltiness be restored.”
The next morning his wife came up to him, put her arms around him and said, that she was proud of him. But more than that, after a couple of days, their daughter came into their bedroom and asked if they could go to Mexico. Jason and his wife looked at her and didn’t know what to say. But then she crawled into their bed between them like she had done when she was little and told them about how she could use her website to tell people about it and maybe they would help. Later she also told them she had broken up with her boyfriend. She told them he had told her she was too fat. “No girl who plays the role of a hero dates a guy who uses her. She knows who she is. Even if she forgot for a little while.”