On the low bar of faith
Epiphany 5A | Matthew 5:13-20
Last week, we dove into the Beatitudes: Blessed are the poor in spirit, the mourners, the meek, the hungry for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted. We heard Jesus speak of blessing in conviction, in alignment with the Way of Love, in neighborliness and support. And this week, the gospel continues straight from that moment. Hear it together:
“Blessed are you when people revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you. 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.”
If you were focused mostly on the first line about people reviling and persecuting and saying awful things, I don’t blame you one bit. That stuff is distracting. I mean, when people talk trash it shuts me right down.
And if you were focused on the salt part, I get that too because you might be on heart medication and your doctor is like “cut out the salt” and “stop eating the fried foods” and this is triggering because they may as well be telling you to stop tasting your food. I get it.
But if we’re focusing on the discomforts, we’re bound to miss the arc of what Jesus is saying here. He’s comparing all of these people to the prophets. All of them. Not the special, the elect — the ones who were picked to memorize the Torah. No, the crowds of nobodies and no-names; the fishermen, the women, the disabled and ostracized.
For a limited time, you may find the audio here.
