Epiphany 5A’26
8 February 2026
Matthew 5. 13-20
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone <+>
O Lord, grant us your grace, to take up our calling to be salt and light in a tasteless and darkened world, that your name may be glorified. Amen.
Today marks the 60th anniversary of the Super Bowl where the New England Patriots will face the Seattle Seahawks. I intend to be a passive observer. I’m going to make myself comfortable in my climate-controlled house on my cozy couch with all the snacks my wife bought. I won’t be upset if they fumble and I won’t have to gripe when I think the call by the referees was wrong. Regardless of the outcome I will go to bed and sleep like a baby – and why? Because quite frankly, I don’t have any skin in the game. Neither team is my team, I like Kansas City and they’re not playing today. It’s really easy to simply be a spectator.
I’m sure there were lots of observers and even admirers of Jesus that’s why periodically he would say something quite peculiar, “For those who have ears to hear, let them hear.” ‘Why, doesn’t everybody have ears?’ For those with ears those who were paying attention realized that he was issuing a call to participate. Jesus had the most skin in the game and he called those who would follow him to get off of the literal and metaphorical couch and to join him on the field and get their skin in the game.
Last week we were introduced to Jesus’ most famous and greatest sermon his sermon on the mount. This week we are given more from that sermon where we learn that Jesus not only wants us down on the field but he has real positions so we can play an active role. Jesus tells us, “You are the salt of the earth…You are the light of the world…” Notice he didn’t say try harder to be salt and light he said you are the salt and the light.
What’s all the salt and light about. Both of these things seem to be abundantly available and in the case of salt it’s cheap and easily accessible. But this was not always the case. Back in the first century salt was much harder to come by and was a vital element and it was very expensive. So much so that part of a Roman soldiers pay was paid in salt rations. Thus, the English word “salary” has the same Latin root as salt and why employers have referred to some of their employees as “not being worth their salt.” And of course we have all used the phrase, “they are the salt of the earth” to describe someone’s good character.
So, what is Jesus telling when he says we are salt of the earth? Salt is an element that doesn’t exist for itself alone, but is designed to go with something else, to enhance flavor, retard spoilage, and preserve and purify foods and even to heal wounds.
Salt makes things taste better – just ask anyone who has ever had to be on a salt-free diet. There are many salt substitutes but none of them really come close to the flavor of real salt. Just a small amount added to a pot of stew or chili will make it come alive with flavor. Salt enhances, purifies, and preserves; and that is what the life of a real Christian out in the world is supposed to bring. Anglican author and theologian N.T. Wright noted that Christians are to, “bring out the “God-flavors” in the world, serving as a preservative and a refreshing influence in a broken [and unsavory] society. Salt is a strong element but it is vulnerable to losing its flavor. Jesus warned, “but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored?”
Salt is vulnerable to being diluted by moisture. When Christians have the same morals and values of the culture around them and allow themselves to be ‘watered down,’ then they can lose their ability to make a difference. Rather than influencing the world, the world is influencing the Church. When people say the church is irrelevant this might just be the reason, the salt has lost its zest and has ceased to be an influence upon society.
A second position Christ calls his followers to is that of being the light of the world. Jesus is the ultimate Light and as his followers we carry his light out into the world. Rather than cursing the darkness we are called to light a candle and set it high on a hill where it can be seen. When the world shows hatred and spews venom, we show love and practice kindness, when the world is in the doldrums of despair, we raise the standard of hope, where darkness flourishes the light of Christ shines through his people. But the light we are given is also susceptible to being hidden out of our fear of being different and not wanting to stick out from the majority.
But as one author put it, “the world doesn’t read the Bible but Christians do, and Christians are the only bible some will ever read.”
Let us not lose our saltiness by watering down the gospel truth or hiding our light by fitting in with the culture around us. Let us stope admiring, and watching from a distance but may we step down from the bleachers and join Jesus on the field where the world needs us to be actively bringing the salty God -flavors of hope, truth, and light to our fractured world.
St. Francis that great 13th cen. saint shows us the way by his life and prayer:
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace:
where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy.
O divine Master, grant that I may not so much seek
to be consoled as to console,
to be understood as to understand,
to be loved as to love.
For it is in giving that we receive,
it is in pardoning that we are pardoned,
and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.