The Talk (continues from You Are the Salt)

Matthew 5:21-48

In recent days I have heard black and brown fathers and mothers speaking of “The Talk”. This is not a about the birds and the bees. It is a cautionary conversation of how to remain safe while driving. The talk is about how to behave in a way that will preserve their lives. I am embarrassed, saddened, and ashamed every time I hear that this conversation needs to take place, even as I know it is necessary.

When one is confronted with oppressive power structures that can imprison, injure, and even kill you because you are somehow different, extra care and caution is required if one is to have any sense of safety in the world. In some way, at some time, all people who are disenfranchised get to hear “The Talk”. For them, extra vigilance and extra effort is part of being “accepted” in society generally. It is a kind of detente that will hopefully lead to a more hospitable welcome in the future.

In 1960, after I first lost my eyesight, Saphronie Peterson, my fourth-grade teacher, herself blind, told me that I was going to have to put in some extra effort if I was going to keep up with my class. And if I were going to compete with the sighted world, I would need to work even harder because, as a blind person, I would always have to be better than my sighted peers just to be treated as equal. Somehow average was never going to be the goal.

As a blind pastor, I can tell you that I learned Ms. Peterson was right—average is not enough. When I again lost my sight in 2010 while serving a call to a congregation, I learned they no longer thought that I could be their pastor. I was asked to resign, take disability, and be satisfied. I refused to take permanent disability. Therefore, after several years, my continued roster status was in question, and I needed to all but beg for an active call to ministry. I certainly did not feel like my call to serve had ended, but I needed administrative confidence in order to even get an interview. I had some professional advocates and a new bishop who was willing to listen, but it was an uphill road.

Even with the professional support, convincing congregations that I could be a spiritual leader, that I could preach, teach, and administer the sacraments effectively, was questioned. Each interview had its challenges. But in the process, I have been blessed by some amazing people and served several congregations along the way. Still average could never be the goal.

Wherever the standards are established, I have always tried to surpass that mark. I have not always succeeded, but I have always made the effort. For those of you who are not part of the white, able-bodied, standard setting community, you know what I am talking about. Life and physical well-being may not be the only threat in an unwelcoming world. And so, we all need “the talk”. It is there to keep this newly formed community safe.

To this newly formed community created on the mountainside, to this newly empowered group of people, Jesus says, "You can’t be this new community and just live up to the standards of the past. That could get you killed, on crosses/trees along the way, in courts of Rome, by refusing the demands of soldiers/police, by following leaders that do not bring life to the living body of Christ. You have heard it said, … but I say, you’re going to have to be more circumspect than that if you are going to be treated as equals. The world is going to expect more of you because you are my follower.

“No longer is refraining from murder, enough, even nothing more than hateful thought and demeaning language will bring judgment on you. So, find ways of being reconciled before going to court because you know the consequences of putting your future in the hands of the oppressor.

 “You have heard it said, do not commit adultery, but for you, my followers, you will need to be more careful. Establish healthy boundaries. Don’t leer. Don’t use language with intentional double meanings. And in the midst of this new community, if those with vision lead you astray, be prepared to remove them. If the working hands of the new community offend, be prepared to remove them. There is a standard of purity that the world expects, and, if this community is to thrive, it is necessary that there is a singleness of purpose that all will witness.

 “The standards for divorce are to be seriously considered. Divorce affects not only the one who is being divorced but the whole community. Still, let it be understood, God does not intend for us to live in abusive, non-lifegiving relationships. God intends for us to not just survive in the world, God gives us gifts to share intending that we all should thrive.

 “The standard of recompense that has served in the past will not satisfy. Stand firm; do not let those who would strike you down succeed. Remain in the game; let the world know that you will not go quietly. Show the people how determined you are; carry the soldiers load farther than he demands. Resistance is not done in a single act but through persistently standing up again and again until God’s beloved aspirational kingdom of heaven becomes a reality. There will be days when you will not believe that you have the energy to go on, but those who will follow you depend on your faith, courage, and steadfastness.

 “It is easy to love the people who love you, but it is necessary to love those who oppose you, who do not want you to succeed. Yes, love them, pray for them. Heap coals of goodness upon their heads and prove that you are able to continue the struggle in faith, with hope, seeking wholeness in Christ.”

 Learning to live in God’s communion which we know as the body of Christ is going to require work if we are to keep up with our class, so we need to hear “The Talk” in order to be safe. And if we are going to compete in the society of the standards makers, we are going to need to be better in order to be regarded as equal. It can be exhausting, but that is the place we need to claim in the public square if we are to have a voice and room to participate in the world. Remember, God loves you even when the world does not. Keep the faith. Know who you are and whose you are. Resist in peace. Speak truth to power. Pray for your oppressors.

You are the salt

Matthew 5:13-20

There are times, when changing the way we look at one part of scripture, permanently changes the way we look at the rest of the passage. This is the case for me this week.

If the community of Matt. 4:23-25 is the discipleship crowd who is gathered before Jesus as the hearers of this sermon—those who are blessed/honored/recognized (Matt. 5:1-12), then these words in Matt. 5:13-20 are directed to these same people, the ones whom Howard Thurman claims as the “people with their backs against the wall—the poor, the disinherited, and the dispossessed”. The assembly is a community of the socially dead who have been raised up into the Jesus community of resurrection living.

These people are claimed by Jesus as honored/blessed: “the SALT of the earth”—the commodity that is essential for life. Jesus directs this statement to a group of people who have been beat-down, disregarded as being nothing, less than human, a burden on society, the people who have nothing to give, those shunned, and those relegated to begging for their existence.

The next words are important for us to consider, “On the other hand, when salt has become foolish/useless, how can one cause the salt to return? It no longer has force and value. It is cast out and treated with utmost disdain by humanity.” (my translation) These words are being spoken to people who know what it is to be considered as nothing—to be cast aside, declared unclean, treated with disdain and now have been offered/given the opportunity to reclaim their saltiness—to be valued, essential for the health and wellness of the world.

How do those who have lost their personhood in the world in which they live regain their vitality and value? They become followers of Jesus! They enter into the new beloved resurrection community.

Jesus continues to tell these same people, “You are the light of the world. A city/people of importance established on the hill cannot be hidden. No one, after lighting a lamp, puts it under a bushel basket, but on a lamp stand, and it lights all the house. In the same way, let your light before humanity shine so that they may see your good works and give glory to your father in heaven.”

These people who have been newly blessed, with their saltiness restored in the Jesus community, are now claimed as the light of the world. They are the foundation stones of a new community, created on the hill, that cannot be hidden. (Remember that it is the Sermon on the Mount.) Those who have lived under the bushel basket for so long, hidden away from the world, Jesus calls to the lamp stand, to give light to the whole house of Israel, those who wrestle with God. In the goodness of God’s own creation, these people are also called to let their light shine, let their valued place in the kingdom of heaven be witnessed by others so they too might know the glory of their father in heaven.

There will always be those who want the salt to lose its saltiness, who will always want to put the bushel basket over the light, but in this new Jesus community where those who have their backs against the wall are recognized as the new way forward, let us claim and listen to those who believe that Black Lives Matter, that people living with disabilities matter, that 2SLGBTQQIA+ people matter, and that the entire BIPOC communities matter. They are the light for today who can guide our feet into the new paths of righteousness and justice. Jesus makes it clear that Roman power has had it sway for much too long.

Yet let us not forget that Jesus has not come to abolish the law but to fulfill it. Torah community created so many years before, with its promise of harmonious living, still holds true. God’s law of love and concern continues, but, in these verses, we are reminded that the plan for beloved harmonious communities is for all people, and we are commissioned to model that for the world.

When we recognize that we are all created in God’s image, that there is no one idealized body but the collective of all of us, then God’s personhood is perfectly revealed, then all of us have been given a share in God’s good creation. Because we all have gifts to bring to the table for the good work that needs to be done, we all can hear these words and shine.

“You are the salt of the earth! You are the light of the world!” Do not let the world trample you, beat you down, make you feel useless. Cast off those things that prevent you from shining. Claim your place in God’s good creation. Break the yoke of oppression and enter the kingdom of heaven—of freedom and the possibility of resurrection living—not with the violence received but as the peacemakers of the world.

I continue to hear Tyre Nichols’ mom, RowVaughn Wells, speak of prayer and peaceful protest. “How honored the peacemakers, they will be called the children of God.”