Dark Chocolate

Charlotte Collins Reed
Christ Church Episcopal
February 5, 2023

5 Epiphany A 

          Imagine my utter delight at finding out that February 1, last Wednesday, was National Dark Chocolate Day.  Seriously.  How have I lived almost 64 years without knowing this?  Quality dark chocolate, and I’m talking really dark here-70% cocoa or more, is not only delicious, it is also full of antioxidants, minerals and other healthy things.  But what is even better than dark chocolate is dark chocolate with just a touch of sea salt.  The sea salt does not call attention to itself so much as it enhances the depth of the chocolate in a luscious way, taking something that is already amazing and escalating the flavor to something quite exquisite. 

          So, I cannot help but think about chocolate when I hear Jesus say “You are the salt of the earth.”  Jesus also tells the disciples that they are the light of the world and says “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.”  The point of salt is not to draw attention to itself, but to enhance another flavor.  The point of light is not to draw attention to itself but to illuminate something else. In telling us to be salt and light, Jesus is telling us that our work as his followers is to enhance, give flavor, give depth and richness, to the work God is already doing in the world.  Then the world will see what the followers of God do, know something of God and be able to give God glory. So far, so good.

          Then Jesus says that he has come not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.  In Matthew’s gospel, Jesus is portrayed as the new Moses, the one whose parents had to flee to Egypt to hide him from Herod when he was an infant, and the one who went up on the mountain to teach.  Today, as part of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus encourages the doing and the teaching of the commandments that Moses received on Mt. Sinai.  I wonder if we have more salt and light going on here.  First, perhaps Jesus is the salt that comes to give new flavor and richness to the law and the prophets, not to abolish or overpower them.  But also, perhaps the law and the prophets are themselves salt and light-a gift from God that illuminates the values of God and the identity of God’s people.

There is another side to both salt and light, however.  Anyone who has ever gotten salt in a wound knows the burn of salt, and in Northeast Ohio, we are well aware of the corrosive powers of salt.  We all know that light illuminates both things that we want to see as well as things we would rather not see.  In the reading from Isaiah, we hear these words “Announce to my people their rebellion, to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet day after day they seek me and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that practiced righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God.”  Isaiah is being both salt and light here, using burning language to shine light on the ways the people fail to please God with their fasts because those fasts are not accompanied by action.  Likewise, Jesus’ work was to fulfill the prophets and do the same, being salt and light to show us where our words are not accompanied by our actions and we can better live as God’s people.

Lastly, Jesus says “unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”  Jesus challenged his newly minted disciples and Jesus challenged us when he told us that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  He states this as fact, calling us to be the salt and the light that we are.  Jesus challenges us when he tells us that he has come not to abolish the law and the prophets but to fulfill them.  Our behavior, how we treat our fellow human beings, really does matter to God.  Now Jesus challenges the disciples and us once more, telling us that unless our righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, we cannot be part of the Kingdom of heaven that Jesus is ushering in.  Could we please just go back to being salt and light?

The scribes and the Pharisees get a bad rap in much of the New Testament for reasons that are largely polemic to the times in which the books were written.  The reality, which we know from parts of the New Testament and other first century writings, was that the Pharisees and Sadducees were deeply faithful.  They loved God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. They sought to live a life that was holy and pleasing to God by following God’s commandments in gratitude for all that God had done for them, especially but not exclusively for delivering them from Egypt in the Exodus.  At their best, they were faithful in worship, resisted evil, worked for justice and peace….sound familiar?  At our best, we do the same as we promise in our baptismal covenant.  When Jesus tells us that our righteous living must exceed that of the scribes and the Pharisees, he is setting a very high bar for his followers.  In fact, he has raised the bar to an impossible level.  So what are we to do?

Just as our Jewish forbearers relied on God to do the impossible, delivering them from Egypt, sustaining them in the wilderness, guiding them through their exile in Babylon and their return to the Promised Land, Jesus calls his followers to put their trust in him.  When we are asked in baptism if we will be faithful in worship, resist evil, proclaim the gospel, work for justice and peace and respect the dignity of every human being, we are not so bold as to say “I will.”  We say “I will, with God’s help.”  The only way we can live the lives Jesus calls us to live is with God’s help, which God freely promises to give.  Like the sea salt on dark chocolate, Jesus expects his followers to live our lives as salt and light so that those around us can taste and see the exquisite richness of the Kingdom of Heaven here on earth. 

                                                                             Amen.