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Years ago, my son and I (he was about two) were checking out at a Home Depot and the cashier who seemed to be of Hispanic background just started to go on and on about how cute William was (and he was). Then, in the middle of her praises she said, “God bless you”. You don’t hear “God bless you” too often anymore except from insincere politicians using the Lord’s Name to their own advantage. So, I found this blessing quite touching and I said, “And you too.”
Oddly, just days after that happened, I was down at Mississauga area mall donating blood. You folks know that routine. They drain you and then walk you over to the cookie table to fill you up. The volunteer at the table that day was an elderly woman of Indian background. She didn’t talk much. When I finished my snack, she said, “Thank you” and made sure I knew to pull the straw out of my juice box so the box could be recycled. After I garbaged my trash I turned to her and told her bye and then she unexpectedly and quite loudly and in a very serious tone of voice exclaimed, “God bless you.” Once again quite touched, I said, “And you too.”
Though many years ago those two blessings stick out to me as powerful examples of what we the followers of Jesus are about in this world. We are to be a blessing to people, a blessing to our communities. That simple desire and, indeed, prayer and the act of saying “God bless you” in my opinion embodies the heart of what Christian presence in a community needs to be about; indeed, what we Christians need to be about - blessing. We are those whom Jesus has blessed with his presence and his favour so that we might bless and be a blessing to this world. That’s the way God works. God blesses people so that they might be a blessing to others. God’s blessing does not end simply with the well-being of an individual. The blessing comes to a person and through that person to others. Therefore, blessings are meant to be shared.
If we look at the Old Testament to the father of Biblical faithfulness, Abraham, we see this “blessed to be a blessing” motif spelled right out. God called Abraham by inviting him to leave his father’s house and land and go to a land that God would show him. If he did, God would bless Abraham by giving him that land and numerous descendants to fill it. God’s promise to Abraham was, “I will make of you a great nation, and I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. I will bless those who bless you, and the one who curses you I will curse; and in you all the families of the earth shall be blessed (Gen. 12:2, 3).” Those God blesses are to be a blessing to others.
This should really make us think about what we mean when we say we have been blessed with wealth, a home, family, friends, or health. For those things to truly be a blessing from God, we must share them with others that they might be blessed as well. Maybe God means for our wealth to be shared with the poor, our homes with the homeless, our families with the widowed and orphaned, our friendships with the friendless, and our health with the disabled.
Today’s passage comes immediately following the Beatitudes, which are Jesus’ “God bless you” to his disciples. They are Jesus saying to his disciples, “You are blessed by my Father, our Spirit, our presence and favour are upon you, so that we, through you, may bless others”. This idea of being blessed to be a blessing is behind what Jesus meant when he said to his disciples, “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world”.
How? It is through the working of the Holy Spirit who makes us hear God’s call to us to be Jesus’ disciples and who awakens in us the awareness that we need God’s Presence and help deep in our hearts. The Holy Spirit reveals God’s very self to us as an unseen presence of loving-kindness by whom we are beloved. Encountering this love changes everything. The Holy Spirit compels us to be peacemaking Kingdom-bringers manifesting Jesus’ reign in love even if it means persecution. God’s Presence and working among us and in us each is a blessing of personal healing resulting in a new sense of purpose.
But, we need to also not be naïve, this blessing is a gut-wrenching revelation of ourselves as sinners and moreover the result of living in God’s blessing is so often persecution. (I wonder how long it took for both of those women to be told by their employers to stop blessing people.) Nevertheless, the intent behind the blessing that Jesus gives to us is that since we are being blessed with coming to know God the Father through the Son in the presence and working of the Holy Spirit and are being changed by him, we will and must in turn become a blessing to others. We must live to reveal God’s loving-kindness and mercy to others. We must do this not only as individuals who show the love of God, but also as an authentic community of faith, a gathering of people made new in Jesus Christ. Our life together as a congregation will and must be a blessing to others.
Let’s look briefly at being the salt of the earth. Most commentators will define what it is to be the salt of the earth by describing how we use salt: seasoning, preservative, cleansing agent, or medicinally. But if we look at how salt is used in the Bible, we find some interesting things. Salt was a required ingredient in the incense that they burned in the temple to represent the prayers of the people. They also sprinkled every sacrifice offered to God with salt. In both these cases salt was an anti-corrupting agent. If we are the salt of the earth, then we are what God has given his Creation to keep it a pure and pleasantly good offering of praise in God’s eyes. Our prayers in the name of Jesus are the salt mingled with the pleasant aroma of the prayers of all peoples.
There was also something called a “covenant of salt.” Two friends when making an agreement would eat salt together as a symbolic gesture of the desire that nothing would corrupt the friendship and nullify the agreement. That in mind, we, as the salt of the earth, are the anti-corrupting agent God has given to keep the bonds of human community authentic. Unconditional and sacrificial love made real in the on-going work of healing and of forgiveness and reconciliation is the evidence of our saltiness. If we lose that love and find some other reason to exist than healing and forgiveness and reconciliation, quite literally we are good for nothing. Sorry to say that so bluntly.
Moving on to light, in the Bible you will find that more often than not light means something more than just plain light. Light is what makes God and his actions see-able. Light is knowledge of and also the knowing of God. In the Psalms, the psalmists often speak of the light of God’s countenance, the felt brightness of his smiling upon us. In other places, light is God’s salvation, God’s acting for our deliverance, shinning out to those who live in darkness. In the Gospel of John Jesus refers to himself as the light of the world. In him we see God and we see how we ought to be.
The light we share in our fellowship is Jesus himself abiding in our midst in the fellowship of the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the light of the world in and through us. Those who live in the darkness of this sin-broken, sick, and hurting world should be able to look into our fellowship and see that the God who is the loving communion of God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit has blessed us with his own loving kindness. People should be able to look at us and see authentic human fellowship that shines forth the forthcoming of the new heaven and new earth that Jesus is bringing with him. This world needs precisely what God has blessed us with – newness of life filled with God’s very self.
God is blessing us. God is blessing us to be a blessing to others. Let’s take this God-indwelt fellowship forth and give it to the community around us; unselfishly and expecting nothing in return. This will require that we stand in faith on the knowledge that God is in our midst. This will also require patience and the expectation that the results may be quite different than what we expect, hope for, or even dream of. God is moving in us producing fruits from us that are evident in this profound love we have for one another. Let’s take the risk of letting our little light shine. After all, it’s God’s light and it is brighter than the sun. Finally, let’s not be so timid and make it a point to say “God bless you” to people. Amen.
