Bland

Bland

 

Matthew 5:13-20

The teaching of Christ: salt and light 

 

5:13 "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.

 

5:14 "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.

 

5:15 People do not light a lamp put it under the bushel basket; rather they put it on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house.

 

5:16 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.

 

5:17 "Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill.

 

5:18 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.

 

5:19 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.

 

5:20 For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."

 

My dietitian wife decided years ago that I am what they call a “super taster.” Super tasters can discriminate countless flavors and nuances of flavors in anything they might eat. I am usually the first to suggest that the milk is on the verge of spoiling, or that something has “too much garlic,” or is over-cooked. Back when Dara was doing the cooking, my unusual tasting ability was a thorn in her side, especially because back in that time, I was a pretty picky eater. Believe me, being a picky eater AND a super taster is a very bad combination, especially when someone is trying to prepare dinner for you! For this reason, Dara was ready to give up fixing meals for yours truly, very early on. Our hectic schedule and my “food terrorism” led us to eat our meals at restaurants much of the time. This way, we could each order what we wanted, and I was free to pick establishments whose cuisine was both consistent and mildly seasoned. I had added to my future retirement agenda a desire to learn how to cook, myself, something I had never done, beyond frying an egg or flipping a flapjack. Highly-processed foods and the microwave had become my friends, when forced to dine alone at home. 

 

COVID and the Great Shutdown pushed my “learning to cook” agenda item up to “now.” Once cloistered at home, Dara had reminded me that she would not return to making food that would almost need to be prepared separately, in order to even marginally appeal to our divergent sense of taste. SO, I began to search the Internet for interesting sounding recipes, and SURPRISE! Most published recipes used a wide variety of seasonings and ingredients that I had heretofore eschewed in my picky, super-tasting culinary experience. I confess that, early on, I tried making some of those dishes and leaving OUT the “offensive” spices and foodstuffs, but, as you can guess, the resulting meals were bland beyond measure. I simply HAD to learn to eat a wider variety of things AND be willing to hit the spice cupboard. Then, not long after retiring, something else happened.

 

I FINALLY listened to the advice of both my physician and my M.Ed., RD, LDN spouse, and lose some excess poundage. My doctor suggested “10 or 15 pounds,” but when I looked at those BMI and “healthy weight for your height and age” diagrams, I knew that if I was to do this, we were looking at more like 50, not 15 pounds! Regarding the weight loss journey, by simply using a free APP on my phone and counting calories, I did succeed in losing almost 50 pounds over a year period (I set the APP to lose “a pound a week,” and it worked!) By continuing to use the APP to log what I eat, I have been able to maintain my “best weight” for almost three years, now, and I don’t see myself going back. But what really happened, between learning to cook (still a work in progress) and eating healthier, is that I am eating a much wider variety of savory food ingredients: onions, fresh garlic, natural flavors like lemon, lime, basil, parsley, dill, and an increasing palette of spices. Making flavors and mixing tastes (should have been natural for a super taster?) became the “game” of enjoying food, substituting for a bland diet of “consistent and familiar” tastes, supplemented by larger quantities of what I ate. Eating less, enjoying it more, and experiencing the pleasure of sharing a new recipe with my wife, who now can eat the same things I’m eating, has truly been a salvific revelation. And not once has my beautiful partner said, “I told you so!”, even though she certainly would be right to do so.

 

I’ve preached on this text from the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew a hundred times, but now it has so much more meaning to me. As I’ve shared here, I now UNDERSTAND his caution to the Christ follower about not being a BLAND witness, or living a life without “savor.” The Christian should “taste” different to the world, and not one that has a bad aftertaste, or the pungent, bitter shock of something that has spoiled. Salt that gets wet and dissipates its savor is worthless, even gross. As I’ve learned through cooking, things don’t taste better just because you add MORE of a particular seasoning, or throw a bunch of competing spices together. In fact, good recipes “work” because of the balance of flavors and tastes. This is exactly what Jesus is telling us in this metaphor of the “saltiness” of the Christian witness. It should not be bland, the way I used to eat my food, but neither should it be overly spiced, out of balance, or loaded up with what “ingredients” are free, cheap, or easy to acquire. Good cooking requires careful planning, quality ingredients, deliberate processes, and aimed at an “audience” with just the right appetite for what you are offering. A Christian life lived to glorify God and demonstrate the love and grace of Jesus Christ follows exactly the same formula, or “recipe.” 

 

[Sidenote: By the way, if you are interested in doing more cooking yourself, here’s a lesson I learned early on about seasoning—most of the best chefs in the world will tell you that the two most essential seasonings are basic SALT and PEPPER. Other herbs and spices should be used sparingly, but in any savory dish, they will ALWAYS default to “sea” or “kosher” salt and “freshly ground” pepper. Meats, potatoes, seafood, vegetables—start with salt and pepper and keep it simple.]

 

All of us preachers have probably fallen prey to the “salt and light” pairing in a sermon or two about this hallmark message from Jesus, haven’t we? Still, even as “saltiness” is essential for good cooking and effective witnessing, so is LIGHT essential as a metaphor for what we “project” onto the world around us. In an earlier message (or two) I shared about my life-long interest in astronomy, and my delving more seriously into it in retirement. I am the proud owner of two different “smart” telescopes, and one new-to-me HUGE Schmidt/Cassegrain reflector telescope that is just itching for nice weather to point heavenward. Of course, all of these devices are for viewing light sources of the cosmos that are nigh unto impossible to view without amplification. The smart telescopes use highly sensitive digital sensors to “stack” methodically acquired photos of deep space objects over time. It is this stacking that brings out the exceptional images of nebulae, star clusters, and galaxies. Most of you have seen some of these images I have posted on social media. We can likewise learn a “light of the world” lesson from this hardware, as well. The “light” our life and our witness gives off does not need to be blindingly bright, especially when our “audience” is our neighbors, family, friends, and others with whom we frequently interact. Their perception of us is like the methodical stacking of images accomplished by the smart telescope. They will be wowed not by our brilliance, but by the consistent “light” we shine over time. Our goal should be to be a consistent witness of the presence of Christ in our life, not dazzle them with some artificial “bling.” It doesn’t take much to get their attention, initially, especially when we profess to be a person of faith. It is our profession of this that will point them in the right direction, and believe me, they will know what to look for, in their quest to see how “genuine” we are. We don’t have to be perfect, just honest with our journey and transparent enough for others to “see in” to what is taking shape in our faith journey. The question is, “Can I live my life in such a way that someone else, looking in, would want to live like I do?” I am reminded that on more than one occasion, the Apostle Paul actually told his charges, “If you want to follow Jesus, follow me and do what I do.” I wish I could say that! I’m not there yet, but similar to my cooking expertise, I’m getting better at it!

 

We all know the church is just a “gathering of believers,” but again, the world is watching us. Some of our congregations have allowed themselves to become so bland that the “flavor” they offer to members, visitors, and the outside world is like the basic, poorly seasoned fare I used to call my “staples.” It’s no wonder that so many of our “members” are inactive, when we don’t offer much to grab their spiritual tastebuds. That old chestnut, “The church is called to be faithful, not successful” has bothered me. I think we are called by the Holy Spirit to strive for both. Faithfulness means we keep the main thing the main thing. “Successful” means we can still attract a crowd. Had Jesus not gathered a mob around himself, we might never have heard of the “Sermon on the Mount.” In my ministry, I told my staffs that my goal was to make what we do in the church “exciting” enough that people were afraid of what they might miss, were they absent. It’s a tall order in this day of so many options and choices, but God is a pretty good draw, if we can refrain from too much “old time religion” and always having to be “theologically correct.” And any church in our time that doesn’t have some foot in the work of social justice is putting their light under a basket. Period.

 

So, I’ll sum up my understanding of this passage thusly: as followers of the Christ, we are at our best when we are “tasty and bright,” not bland and dull. Go hit the spice rack and light a signal fire, Christian! Let them see what you are made of! Amen.