Biblical Text: Matthew 5:13-20
As we dig a little into the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), the real start of the sermon after the poetic beatitudes opening, begins with the juxtaposition of salt and light. Standard parallelism would hold that these two images are supposed to mean the same thing. But I’ve honestly never really liked that, or at least I’ve felt they contained a bit more contrast. And the entire Sermon on the Mount to me is weaving of contrasts. What always made me think deeper is the note about salt losing its saltiness, while you can’t hide a city on a hill is part of the expansion on the light. There is a built in contrast. As it turns out, Luther’s reading is one of contrast. Now I can’t explain either why I never read Luther’s thoughts prior, or if I did why I dismissed them. It might have something to do with modern interpreters, including those I highly value, more or less dismissing Luther. But then that in itself is common. Over and over you find people dismissing Luther, but then he just resonates.
This sermon preaches salt and light as Luther would have it. The salt being the stinging but preserving function of the law while the light is the proclamation of the gospel of free grace. Both are good. But as Luther would say, we are often in trouble of losing our saltiness. And when we lose contact with the truth of the law, the gospel is placed under a bushel.
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