Fifth Sunday in Epiphany Matthew 5:13-20
Jesus said, “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 hid. 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.
“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
Isaiah 58:1-12
Shout out, do not hold back!
Lift up your voice like a trumpet!
Announce to my people their rebellion,
to the house of Jacob their sins.
Yet day after day they seek me
and delight to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness
and did not forsake the ordinance of their God;
they ask of me righteous judgments,
they delight to draw near to God.
“Why do we fast, but you do not see?
Why humble ourselves, but you do not notice?”
Look, you serve your own interest on your fast day,
and oppress all your workers.
Look, you fast only to quarrel and to fight
and to strike with a wicked fist.
Such fasting as you do today
will not make your voice heard on high.
Is such the fast that I choose,
a day to humble oneself?
Is it to bow down the head like a bulrush,
and to lie in sackcloth and ashes?
Will you call this a fast,
a day acceptable to the Lord?
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin?
Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly;
your vindicator shall go before you,
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry for help, and he will say, Here I am.
If you remove the yoke from among you,
the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil,
if you offer your food to the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the afflicted,
then your light shall rise in the darkness
and your gloom be like the noonday.
The Lord will guide you continually,
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.
Your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to live in.
Sermon by the Rev. Carole Horton-Howe
We don’t often hear during sermons about our Old Testament readings but I thought we’d spend some time with Isaiah today. Biblical scholars date the last chapters of the book of Isaiah to the time that the people called Israel were returning from their exile in Babylon. So the text that we have from the Old Testament today is part of those eleven chapters that tell us what was going on in this community as the people return to their land.
It’s hard for us to imagine in our context what that life must have been like. These people who are called Israel who were exiled when Babylon took over their land, are coming back to a place some 70 years later that is ravaged. For the oldest among them, home is not the home they remember any more. For those born in exile, it is nothing like their elders described to them. The temple that had been the center of their life and their worship is gone. Communities have been destroyed. Friends and family may have resettled somewhere else and are unlikely to come back.
So they are beginning all over again on this land. And trying to figure out what the world will look like for them now that they’re starting all over. But one thing that is a constant for them is the practice of worship. Even coming back into this ravaged place, they begin to do the rituals of worship that have become the rhythm of their lives – not unlike they have a pulse and a heartbeat.
But something seems amiss for them. Because they step back into this rhythm of worship and it seems like God isn’t paying any attention. “Why aren’t you listening to us? Don’t you see we’re fasting, don’t you see that were doing what we’re supposed to do? That we’re giving ourselves to you in worship? It seems, God, like you’re not paying attention to us.”
And God has a lot to say in response to that. God says “Yes, you’re fasting. You are going through the rhythm of the ritual of worship. But is also seems like you’re quarreling and fighting among yourselves, it seems like you are oppressing your own workers.” That’s not what giving yourselves to God is supposed to be about.
What happens when these people start going through the motions, but they forget who God is and what God is?
I want to take a moment and go back to the first offering to God that is recorded in scripture. And how sometimes our best intentions don’t go the way we think they are supposed to go.
Remember the very first act of offering recorded in scripture is Cain and Able. Cain who is the one of the two brothers who grows things from the ground, of his own volition, kind of out of nowhere, we’re not told what his motivation is, he decides that he’s going to give an offering to God out of the things he has grown from the ground
So off he trots with the fruit of his labor to offer to God. And Able sees his older brother and decides to do the same thing. Able raises animals, so he takes a fatling and offers it to God. “Here’s my offering, here’s my act of worship.”
And what happens? It seems that God likes Able’s offering a little better more than God likes Cain’s offering. And God warns Cain not to allow himself to succumb to this darkness that is in his heart. “Don’t do it!” But he does. Cain gives in to the darkness, to his anger. And he takes his brothers’ life. All of this around an act of worship that somehow has gone all wrong.
Even from that very first offering, our own motivations aren’t always kept in check are they? So we go through our lives, we go through the ritual. We do what we are in the rhythm of doing but do we ever stop to ask consider how God might react?
God tells us in Isaiah, God isn’t really interested in how we go about the rhythm of our worship. What DOES God ask? To look around, to be aware. Do you see any hungry folks around you that haven’t been fed? Do you see any workers around you that are being oppressed? Do you see folks around you that need clothing? Do you see someone around you who is suffering from injustice. Do you see…? Because that’s the act of worship I’m looking for, God says, I’m looking to see how we love one another, how we respond to those around us who are in need. And God says “if you do that, well then you have honored me.”
Something else – God makes some very weighty promises around that. You will be the light. Your light will shine forever. People will know what I’m about. People will know my goodness, my love, my grace because they will see that light emanating from you. That’s what God says. God promises that the people called Israel. “I will be with you, I will guide you I promise that. I will make you the foundation for generations to come. I promise that. But I’m counting on you. I’m counting on you.”
I’m not sure that there has been a point in our world history where God is counting on us more than right now. God needs the light and love of God to be radiating throughout the world. It begins with every one of us. It begins with everyone of us every day. What have we seen that we knew down to our very core that was wrong and yet we fail to speak? What bad joke did we hear at the expense of marginalized people and we failed to say no, that doesn’t work for me. When did we see people who were being cheated, who were being pushed aside, when did we see that - and not speak up? When did we see someone in need around us and think next time...
What God wants from us is our hearts, what God wants us is for us is our commitment. What God wants from us is to see the world as God sees it – filled with God’s creation made in God image and likeness and worthy of God’s love. That is what God wants us to see. It’s what God implores us to see every single day.
Because we are tasked with being the light in the world. We hold so much in our hands and there is so much for us to do to show God’s love to everyone. And every day becomes a new day for a new commitment from us – individually, and as a community. Every day becomes a new day for us to say - we are standing with those in need. We are standing with those who have been pushed to the margins. We are standing with those who do not know the love of God. Because our light makes a difference. Our light draws them in. Our light brings them home.
So today I ask you -- think as you go out into the world about the faces of God’s children that you see. How can we be light? How can we be love? Because every day there is a new opportunity for us to show God’s love, to show God’s mercy, to show that God has been faithful and loving to us from the beginning of time. Someone you’ll meet today needs to know that. From us. Amen.