SALT AND LIGHT

You  are  the salt of  the earth. You are the light of the world

 Matthew 5

You are salt! You are light! The celebration of baptism is one of the most beautiful, and least understood, ceremonies of the church. Some of the time, young couples, under pressure from their parents, are more eager to “get it done” than to understand its meaning.  That’s too bad because baptism has some very powerful, if not always understood, symbols.

The main symbol, is of course, water – plain old water. Water is a powerful symbol because it both gives life and kills.  (1) Water gives life. Ask any farmer. Baptism is first of all an adoption ceremony. In baptism God adopts us as his own children. The pouring of water symbolically seals the adoption deal, like the signing a contract or a shake of the hand. (2) Water also kills. Ask any sunami suvivor. The pouring of water symbolically kills sin.  So the water of baptism both gives life and kills. That is why the baptism fountain has been called a “womb” (new life) and a “tomb” (death).

              You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Historically, the church had two more important baptismal symbols taken from this gospel: salt and light, the symbolic giving of salt and the symbolic giving of a candle.  In the baptismal ritual, right after the water is poured over the head of the baby, the priest can put a few grains of salt into the baby’s mouth with a prayer that he or she would grow up to add some “seasoning” to the world, to make a difference in the world. The priest hands the parents and godparents a lit candle, a candle that got its light from that big Easter candle that represents Christ. So in baptism, we all get a small share of Christ’s light to take into a dark world.

              You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Most people, even people who have been through this baptism ceremony, think that their job as a Christian is to “be good” and don’t screw up too badly so that you can get to “go to heaven.” Yes, God adopts us as his own child, with all the rights and privileges of an heir, but we are adopted as “ambassadors” so that we can go out and take  Christ’s “salt” and “light” to the world.  That’s why Jesus makes the point in today’s gospel that a lamp is not lit to be put somewhere out of sight, like under a bed or a basket, it is lit so as to give light to all in the house. “Just so,” he says “your light must shine before others,” not to draw attention to yourself, but to God. Your good deeds are meant to point people, not to yourself, but to God. We not here to simply save our own hide, but to help other people save theirs! We save our own hide, through helping others save theirs.

This is especially true of married couples and priests. The Catechism says that two of the sacraments are geared toward the salvation of others –they are sacraments of service -  marriage and ordination.  Contrary to all that has been pumped into you by TV and film, people do not get married for their own good, but for the good of their spouses and children. That, my dear friends, is the difference between a civil wedding ceremony and the Sacrament of Marriage. A wedding is all about what you can do for me. The sacrament is all about what I can do for you. (By the way, forget that 50-50 stuff that is so popular. That came from Hollywood and they have proven in spades that it doesn’t work.) Jesus says love is about giving 100%, no matter what you get back.)  Marriage is not only about offering service,  it is permanent. It is for better or worse, rich or poor, sick or healthy until death!

Likewise, I wasn’t ordained for my own good, but for your good.  As a diocesan priest, I have been called from the laity, to live among the laity, so as to serve the laity. My priesthood has no meaning without my relationship to you.  If my priesthood is not about giving service, then I am a fraud. Like marriage, it is not only about offering service, it is also permanent. Like you married people, I am a priest “for better or for worse, for richer or for poorer, in sickness and in health, until death do I part.”

At our baptisms, we accepted our commission to be “salt” and “light” to the world – we were called to make a difference in the world.  Your marriage and my ordination merely adds more intense ways to serve to that basic commission we all got at baptism:  to be “salt” and “light.”

You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Lent is coming up in two weeks. Lent is about calling ourselves back to the basics of our faith – being salt and light to our families and friends, to those in our professional world, to our neighborhoods and communities and even to our enemies.

                     

You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.

Lent is a time to remind ourselves to look beyond the ends of our own noses, to look out of our own little worlds to the bigger world and to take our focus off our own needs and wants and focus on the needs of others. Lent is not so much about “giving up” stuff as it is about “remembering again” to be “salt and light” for the good of others.