Matthew 5:13-16
You know
how on those daredevil shows they always give that warning: “We remind our
viewers that you are watching trained professionals. Do not attempt this at home.”? I confess that there are certain parts of the
Bible that give me the same feeling. One
of those, and no disrespect is intended, is when Jesus says,
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel
basket, but on the lampstand…”
Jesus is stating the obvious to make his point. It does, however, make me picture what might
happen. So here we go. Do not attempt this at home.
[At this point, those who are reading this instead of
seeing/hearing will need to use their imagination. It won’t take that much. An oil lamp will be placed on a table in the
center of the chancel. For safety, it
will be on top of a terra cotta plate – the sort that goes beneath a flower
pot.]
If you
go to the Farmers’ Market anymore for a bushel of potatoes, they empty the
basket into a bag and give you that, so I’m afraid I need to use a substitute
item that behaves the same way. [At this
point, a Kentucky Fried Chicken bucket is produced.] Watch and learn. [Placed over the lamp, the bucket catches
fire. Hence the terra cotta plate and nearby
pitcher of water.]
Well. There you are. That’s what happens when you put a lamp under
a bushel basket. No wonder nobody does
that. Even if you, for some inexplicable
reason, wanted to cover the lamp and throw the room into darkness, the result
would be an even brighter flame that you had to begin with.
“You are the light of the world,” said
Jesus. So what happens if somebody tries
to cover up the good that God, in whose image you are created, has put into
you? It cannot be done. “A city
set on a hill cannot be hidden.” It
seems so obvious, and it truly is.
Yet
there are those who set out to try to cover over the lights that God has spread
throughout the world, thinking that they can be smothered before the flame
bursts out. There are those who see
something good and blessed and get the idea that they have the power to undo
what God has done, to uncreate, as it were.
So they
start little whispering campaigns, putting thoughts and doubts into God’s
people. They try to make people hide the
light and cover over their best impulses.
Sometimes it takes the form of the personal put-downs that stay with
someone and stunt their ability to grow into the people they already are in God’s
eyes.
“You’re not
smart enough ever to amount to anything.”
“Who would
want to spend their time with you?”
“You’re a
loser.”
“Sad.”
Sometimes it disguises itself to try to appear like
practical wisdom, wrapping itself in fear.
“Don’t you
dare offer your help to that stranger.
He may be out to get you.”
“They speak
a different language so that you cannot tell what they are plotting.”
“Don’t
share anything unless you’re sure to get more in return. You may not have enough for yourself.”
“You have
no obligation to such people. You’ll
only encourage them.”
“You have to look out for yourself. Remember, only yourself first. Yourself first always.”
However it focuses its efforts, the goal is the same: to
extinguish the light within, to cover it over.
Hear the
good news. It cannot be done. What God has called good cannot be hidden for
long and can never be destroyed. Cover
it over, and it will flame up brighter and wilder than ever, giving light to
the whole house.
That is
because God’s gifts – all God’s gifts, whether given to an individual or placed
for awhile in the hands of a community or even, perhaps, a nation – those gifts
are not given to exalt a person or even to make a nation great. They are given so that the giver – God, and
God alone – will be glorified. Even as
great a genius as Johann Sebastian Bach would write at the top of his
compositions the letters “SDG”, for “Solo
Dei Gloria,” meaning “Glory only to God.”
Self-aggrandizement has no place and in the long run makes someone look
foolish and pompous and ignorant. Don’t
take what is good and by withholding the due humility toward God turn it into
something it is not. That ruins
everything.
“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 underfoot.”
How could that be the will of
God?
No, hold
onto what is good. Nurture it. Protect it, as you would care for a rare
plant that has to be pruned and tended, to be watered when the weather is too
dry and kept safe when storms arise. Hold onto the gifts of the Spirit, the
gentleness and the thirst for justice, the understanding that God has sent
Jesus for all people, that all alike need his grace and all alike can receive
it. Hold onto the idea that you shall
know the truth and the truth shall set you free. Hold onto the promise that the last shall be
first and the first shall be last. Hold
onto the song about peace on earth and goodwill. Hold onto the vision that the kingdoms of
this world shall become the kingdom of our God and of his Christ and he shall
reign forever and ever. Hold onto all
that and more, and live in the light that God has shone into the world, a light
that the darkness has never been able to overcome. Hold onto it, not as your own property, but
as a sacred trust put into your hands for a time, that it might be shared with
all the world.
“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.”
Let those who have ears to hear,
hear.
Amen.
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