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Matthew 5: 13–20
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Lord, may we hear your voice in the words spoken in your name. Amen.
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Like lots of other people around the world these days I have been
reading Spare, the autobiography of Prince Harry. And I
have to admit it’s been fascinating to catch a glimpse of his
royal life – a life most of us could hardly have imagined. For
what he describes is not the privileges of that life – the fancy
dress, the elaborate ceremony, the gilded coaches and fine
cars — so much as the myriad constraints, the many expectations
and responsibilities the British monarchy places on its royals.
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One of those constraints was that he was never – ever – to
leave the company of his bodyguards. Though their constant
presence with him sometimes made him feel like he was living in what
he describes as a surreal fishbowl, he understood that he needed them
to protect him — maybe from the paparazzi, always jumping out in
front of him to get a photo for the tabloids, or worse, from someone
who wanted to do him harm. Being a royal meant you had certain
responsibilities as well as privilege. You were to serve the
people who supported you by agreeing to those responsibilities.
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Another thing that surprised me was his admission that he was
never — ever — to hug the Queen – even if she was
his beloved “Granny” and he felt like giving her a
hug. For she was also his Sovereign – and, as such, was
always granted a respectful distance. In fact, that sense of respectful
distance was to prevail with nearly everyone he met. Since the
British people supported him in all kinds of ways, he was to show them
deference and respect. He was to care for them as respectfully as
he cared for the Queen. Once again, being a royal meant you had
entered into a kind of contractual agreement with the people you
served. And in those relationships, there were duties as well as
privileges.
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Well, this morning Prince Harry is not the only royal we are asked to
think about. For Jesus too was a royal. When the angel
Gabriel told Mary she was to have a baby, Gabriel promised her that
this baby would grow up to be royal. “The Lord God will
give him the throne of his ancestor David. He will reign over
the house of Jacob forever, and of his kingdom there will be no
end.” And anyone in first century Galilee who heard this
promise probably began to think not just of King David, but of King
Solomon too, with his great wealth, his fine palaces, his many
wives. For Solomon was the last king of any substance they could
remember.
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But Jesus, sovereign ruler of the Kingdom of Heaven, won’t behave
anything like King Solomon of old. For his is not a kingdom born
of human effort, human strength or human power. No, the Kingdom
of Heaven – as Matthew calls it – is all about mercy and
justice and compassion – for the little people of the world as
well as for the rich and powerful. So, when Jesus invites people
into this kingdom, he doesn’t promise them worldly wealth and
power. He offers hope for the hopeless, comfort for the bereaved
and God’s abundant love and mercy for any who will acknowledge
their need.
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But these blessings don’t exist outside of relationships with
people God has created. Each person God has created can then be
an agent of his mercy or his justice or his compassion. And this
morning Jesus is preaching to a crowd on a hillside in Galilee, trying
to get this idea across to them. Trying to explain that entering
into the Kingdom of Heaven is not about what they will get –
like streets of gold or huge mansions – so much as what they will
then be able to give. They will be able to give to others
what they have just received – mercy and justice and
compassion. It’s about relationship, you see, relationship
with a God whose name is Love. And relationship with those who
know him and resemble him. These are the blessings people often
can’t seem to find on their own. These are the blessings
of the Kingdom of Heaven.
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But it is also, he tells them, about responsibility. For even
though admission to the Kingdom of Heaven is free, once inside, people
find out there are certain requirements, certain responsibilities.
And this morning Jesus is explaining some of those responsibilities to
them. In fact, he wants them to focus on their responsibilities rather
than on their privilege. He wants them to focus on how they can be
useful, on concern for others rather than concern for self.
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As a way of illustrating all this he tells them that they are
salt. Now everyone knows that salt is valuable. But it
isn’t much good in and of itself. No one sits down to eat a
whole bowl of salt. But sprinkling a little salt on a piece of
raw meat or fish has a way of preserving those proteins. And salt
scattered on an icy sidewalk can melt that ice, making it safe to walk
on. Or salt added to an otherwise tasteless stew can bring out the
flavors in that stew. Salt’s purpose, in other words, is
to bless other things. And that is what Jesus is trying to get
his listeners to understand in this sermon we have come to call the
Sermon on the Mount – that they are blessed to be a blessing to
others. Their presence in someone else’s life, their
compassion or their mercy, perhaps, can bring out the best in that
other person. And that is what he wants them to do.
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Or, he tells them, they can think of themselves as light. Just
like salt, light, in and of itself, doesn’t do much good. But
when it shines on something, when it illumines something that
has been in shadows, has been in darkness, it can be a wonderful blessing.
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Think of yourselves, every morning when you wake up. You don’t
focus on the sun in the sky. None of us do. We could do some
real damage to our eyes that way. Instead, we focus on the beauty
of whatever the sun is shining on, whatever it is warming
up, whatever it is causing to flourish and grow.
That’s the beauty we appreciate. That’s what gives God
glory. And it’s the same way with us. When we shine
the light of our compassion, our mercy, our justice on others, we
ourselves become blessings in God’s Kingdom.
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For that’s what the Kingdom of Heaven is all about. It’s
about passing along the blessings God has granted us — by focusing
on others and blessing them. That, in fact, is what the Law was
all about. It was to show the children of Israel, the royal
children of Israel, how to live with others – all the others
around them.
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For after all, in the eyes of God, we are all royals, blessed to be a
blessing.
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Amen.
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