Championship Team
Epiphany 5
Fr. Tim Nunez
May my spoken word be true to God’s written word and bring us all closer to the living word, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen
It’s Super Bowl Sunday. Any Patriots fans here? Any Seahawks fans? Any “anyone but New England” fans? And “I don’t care”? Be nice.
By 10:00 or so, one team will win the trophy, many of them will quickly put on hats and t-shirts. Soon, they’ll get rings. Usually the entire organization, players, coaches, support staff and front office people, get rings. They are the team behind the team, after all.
The fans will buy their own keepsakes. I was eleven when the Dolphins went undefeated in 1972. I bought a book about that season. I got a jersey with my name on it. That’s what fans do, if you’re into that kind of thing. I saw an Indiana shirt here a few weeks ago after they won their college championship. Fans become walking advertisements for their teams.
Or, you might say, we become salt and light for our teams. Some fans are a bit saltier than others. Some shine more brightly than others. Note how that loyalty and visibility come easily to people. Now let’s look at how Jesus instructed his followers in the Sermon on the Mount.
When Jesus tells his disciples and the crowd that they are “the salt of the earth,” what does that imply? Salt has two very important functions. First, it is a preservative. That was very important in their time with no refrigeration or other preservatives, but it is still the most common preservative worldwide, including commercial and non-commercial uses.
It prevents rot and decay. God instructed Israel repeatedly to include salt in their sacrificial offerings; a covenant of salt, as a symbol of preserving their relationship with God and preventing the corruption that can come through temptation and inattention.
Salt is also the most commonly used seasoning, then and now, around the world. That may be because we actually need it. Too much salt is bad for us, but too little is bad as well. Our body chemistry ideally keeps it around four tenths of one percent.
And it’s not just that salt tastes good to us. It opens our taste buds to enhance other flavors. I’ve known people who put salt on grapefruit. That’s not my favorite, but it does actually enhance the flavor of the grapefruit. It follows that God wanted that covenant of salt in our relationship with him to flavor every aspect of their lives.
But Jesus takes it a huge step further. He doesn’t remind us to use salt in our offering, he says, “You are the salt of the earth.” You are the preservative against corruption. You are the preservative against sin. You are the preservative against rot. You are the seasoning that enhances the world around you.
The same principles work with light. Sunlight is essential to life, plant and animal. It is the essential source of all energy. And we see by light. The metaphor of light and darkness is throughout scripture, New and Old Testament. It’s in our passage from Isaiah. When we follow God’s Word and loose the bonds of injustice, free the oppressed, feed the hungry, shelter the homeless and cover the naked, “Then your light shall break forth like the dawn…”
Or, in Psalm 112, verse four, “Light shines in the darkness for the upright; the righteous are merciful and full of compassion.”
Jesus isn’t just giving us light. He says, “You are the light of the world.” The light we are to shine is not our own, but to point people back to the Father, as we represent his son in our community.
Being a Christian isn’t a matter of being a fan of Jesus. It isn’t just a matter of thinking he was a really neat guy. It isn’t a matter of celebrating certain days because we celebrate them. It isn’t a matter of merely adopting a moral code. It isn’t a matter of voting a certain way.
Jesus said you are the salt of the earth. He said you are the light of the world. This means that he has called you to a very special purpose. He promised that when 2 or 3 were gathered together in his name he would be in the midst of them. Here we are. Here he is.
You’re on the team. By his grace, Our Lord has invited us into this fellowship with him to bear his Word, his grace, his truth and his love for the singular purpose of bringing this broken world to know him and to be saved by him. And we know through sad experience that people are quite capable of messing that up, royally. We know through sad experience that we are quite capable of squandering our opportunity by becoming too comfortable just being with each other.
Being on the team means we have to get out of the stands and off the sofa and do the things that team members do. In church language we call this discipleship and stewardship. We have to exercise our faith in prayer and service. We have to study our playbook, watch film and listen to our coaches. We have to show up to practice. We have to get on the field and give of ourselves and our resources.
Like any team, we come together. We put in the time and effort while focused on our goal. The call is the highest and the stakes are the greatest. You have the opportunity to make a tremendous difference as part of the team, to be salt and light.
This is where my sports analogy breaks down, as every analogy must when we are talking about God. We may see our faith as something like a coach driving the team and individual players to train and practice to pursue a championship. Our Lord wants our best efforts and he wants them out of the conviction and conversion of our heart.
But we know that if it depends on us, we’re in big trouble. We cannot succeed by our own strength. We may do some good, but not nearly enough and we will muck it up some way or another. But it doesn’t depend on us, it depends on him. Do your best, and remember that he will use you – even your failures – to his great purpose. And that’s the good news: it doesn’t depend on us—it depends on him. We don’t create the salt. We don’t generate the light. He does, and it all points back to him.
And here we sit, in a wonderful old Florida town and a historic church approaching our 100th anniversary. We are on the edge of some of the fastest growing zip codes in the country. I’m certain there are many who dearly want to preserve what Good Shepherd is, and what it has been. And we should. There is much to value in that.
And we must respond to our opportunity to share the Gospel in our place and time, practicing, studying and disciplining our lives to conform to him. Always looking ahead to thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Trusting him to use us as salt and light to his children. People are hungry for meaning, belonging, and grace. God has placed us here, in this time and place, to be the salt and light they need.
AMEN!