February 8 2026 Epiphany 5
Isaiah 58.1-9a Psalm 112 1 Corinthians 2.1-13 Matthew 5.13-20
Our readings today are political, spiritual and trans-partisan. They challenge us to listen for God’s voice in our challenging times. They challenge us to be light-bearers in our communities and in the world, and set our feet on a higher and healthier path for the planet and its diverse and wonderful communities.
Isaiah tells his community that just because they are ‘following the rules’ and fast, because they do not have a ‘mind for God’ and for those in need in their community, they will not be rewarded by God. Paul’s words contrast divine and human wisdom. He contrasts those who scoff at sacrificial living and those who have a politics of compassion. He tells them having ‘more’, ‘winning and bullying’ by silencing the voices of the vulnerable, is not the way of Christ. He notes the mind of Christ is having a soul large enough to embrace the pain and joy of others and it looks beyond instant gratification toward the well-being of others and the generations yet to come. He tells them that the way of the cross may look like death to those who see weakness in any form of sacrifice or word of confession, but sacrificial love is the way of life for us and our future generations. Jesus forgave the foolishness of the powerful from the cross, he identified with the suffering of the vulnerable and the tears of the forgotten.
And in his continuation of the ‘sermon on the mount’, Jesus’ words to the disciples are wonderful words of promise. Jesus is not telling them they should be light and salt, but that they are light and salt. He is promising them that even if they don’t know it, they already are light of the world and salt of the earth. And that is sheer blessing. Like we explored a couple of weeks ago, it is about identity, our very being, which leads to our doing.
So let’s explore that for a minute. Think deeply about what has been happening for you and to you over the last couple of weeks, and think about the multitude ways God has used you as salt and light. The words of encouragement you may have given someone. The volunteering you have done. The prayers you have offered or promises you have made and kept. They may seem like ‘small things’, maybe even insignificant things, but God often uses small things to change the world.
Ok, so now that you know that you are light and salt, not just hope to be or wish I was, but actually know that you are, continue to do those things, continue to be light and salt, let your light shine so that others will benefit from your light, keep adding seasoning to the situations around you so that they will flavour the communities, and the world around you. Even if your idea of what light and salt means differs from what the people around you think it means, it doesn’t matter because God is using all people to build the wonderfully diverse world in which we live and God is using all those different ideas and viewpoints to bless the world through all of us being light and salt in the very best way we know how.
But the problem is, self-doubt has often left many of us ‘hiding’ our light, or even extinguishing it altogether. We have not really believed that we could be light, that we have what it takes, so we don’t even try. Maybe we are frightened of adding ‘too much salt’ to a situation and ruining it so we don’t add any and it remains tasteless and bland. We all know that if you tell yourself you can’t, you usually will not be able to. So if you tell yourself your light isn’t worth shining, or your salt is not really salty, it will come true. But if we can believe this promise from God, if we are really able to live into the identity Jesus is giving us, and be salt and light, then there will be nothing to stop us lighting up the world and flavouring everything we touch and say with God’s salt. And you will also be more able to see God in the world around you as you see others being light and salt too.
Last week we looked at how God calls blessed many people the world don’t think of as blessed. Those who mourn, the poor, the meek, those hungry and thirsty for righteousness, all these people are blessed by God, and we are called by God to bless them as well.
In assuring the disciples, and the crowd, that he is not there to abolish the law, but to ‘fulfil’ it, Jesus challenges his listeners to take the moral high ground and exceed the religious teachers in their righteousness and morality. He picks up where Isaiah left off and warns them that external compliance with the religious codes are not enough, there is a deeper level of interior transformation needed. In the current political climate of the world where environmental law and human rights are at risk, Jesus challenges us to remember to set our moral compasses in alignment with God’s vision of peace. We are challenged to be the change we would like to see in society, in our world; to look toward ways to live more simply, to meet and exceed the Paris Accords in our lifestyles, to reach out to all no matter what their faith background, and to provide hospitality to the forgotten and traumatised and sanctuary to those at risk.
Our world is in a dicey place at present, one look at our news cycles and social media posts gives us lots of bad news and almost no good news. So the world needs people who are light and salt, God needs you. God loves you. God blesses you. God has already affirmed you are light and salt, and God will continue to bless the world through all the wonderful actions and prayers and words from you. This promise from Jesus is real, you are light and salt and through you, God will change the world.