“Discipleship, Part 2: The Light and the Law” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, February 8, 2026, Year A / Epiphany 5 – Micah 6:1-8 ¨ Matthew 5:13-20
THEME: In the face of inevitable cultural opposition, disciples must move into the culture boldly and proclaim the Good News with courage.
Today is part 2 of our series on Discipleship focusing on Matthew’s Sermon on the Mount. We know from last week, that the people of Judah in Matthew’s day were struggling under the thumb of Rome. But the Romans were not the first to rule Judah. For 500 years, Israel had been ruled by foreign powers. The Romans were simply the latest occupiers. In all that time, God’s prophetic promise of a divine kingship remained unfulfilled. This made the people anxious and fearful. What did this mean? What does God want us to do? How does God want us to respond?
One radical sect of Jews called Zealots thought they should fight the Romans. The Sadducees, on the other hand, thought they should collaborate with them. The Pharisees also debated the question. They came to the conclusion that political independence was impossible. What they could do was to strengthen their Jewish identity as a chosen people, called and set apart by God. The way the Pharisees determined to do this was by emphasizing strict adherence to the Jewish law. That was the boundary line that determined who was in, and who was out. As we know, Jesus had a habit of transcending boundaries. That made him deeply suspect in the eyes of the Pharisees. This dynamic is behind Matthew’s gospel reading this morning. The religious authorities suspect that Jesus is teaching his disciples to deviate from the law. Jesus responds emphatically, using two powerful metaphors. He proclaims that his disciples are light and salt. Both of these were essential in the ancient world.
Light illuminates the contours and colors of life. It has the power to make plants grow. It lights the way in the darkness and shows us the path to our destination. Salt was equally important. It was used for enhancing flavor and preserving food. Salt was used for treating wounds and for religious rituals. It was so valuable it was even used as currency. So, both salt and light were essential to an abundant life. But light that is hidden and salt that is no longer salty are no good to anyone.
The point of the metaphor is that Jesus’ disciples have the power to lead others to abundant life. With regard to the concerns of the religious elite, Jesus is not teaching them to contradict or change the law. His purpose is to fulfill the law. In fact, he is teaching his disciples to go even further than the law requires. He says, “Unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." He then gives 6 powerful examples of what this higher righteousness looks like in practice. These are the passages that begin, “You have heard it said.., But I say to you…” He addresses murder, adultery, divorce, false oaths, vengeance, and hatred. Each teaching raises the bar far above the standard of the law.
This is Jesus’ master stroke. He is not just defending himself, he is encouraging his disciples, and he is also critiquing the religious elite. Faced with Roman opposition, they are choosing to retreat inward when they should be focused outward. They are emphasizing the law to keep others out, when they should be sharing the Gospel to gather people in. We know why this is. They fail to recognize that, in Jesus, God’s kingdom has come near. Divine redemption and the path to abundant life are already at hand, if they would only see it. That is what Jesus is calling his disciples to do. He is calling you and me to do it, as well. Like the people of his day, we, too, face an existential challenge. We live in a culture that increasingly opposes our message and our mission. We have to choose of how to respond.
By almost every statistical measure, Christianity is in decline in this country. For those of us who grew up during the era of civil religion in the 1950s and 60s, this creates a sense of loss, of grief. We got used to the prominent role of religion in public life. It was everywhere: in the classroom, at work, on weekdays as well as Sunday. We got used to packed Sunday Schools and overflowing worship services. These things were familiar to us. They were comfortable. We expected they would continue. But the culture changed. The influence of religious institutions – like all institutions – went into decline. Church membership and worship attendance hit generational lows.
Today less than 50% of Americans are church members. The percentage of those who attend church weekly is just 30%. This decline has been our lived experience. The question is how will we respond? We can circle the wagons, tighten the boundaries, and exclude those who do not meet our notion of holiness. This is what many of our more conservative evangelical friends have done for decades, if not centuries. The present movement of White Christian Nationalism is the extreme version of this. This is not the response Jesus wants for his disciples.
Alternatively, we can trust the Good News that the Kingdom of God has come near. We can choose to follow Jesus’ teaching and proclaim this Good News with boldness and courage. We can invite others into the new and abundant life we know in him. This is how Jesus wants us to respond to the cultural opposition we face. Let’s start by putting this challenge of declining church membership and attendance into perspective. Both these metrics, as low as they may seem to us, are nevertheless far above those of our nation’s early days. We tend to think of early American colonists as almost universally God-fearing and church-going, don’t we? This could not be further from the truth.
In 1776, only about 17% of Americans were members of a local church. Many of our prominent colonial leaders were deists – a far cry from orthodox Christianity. They include the likes of Thomas Jefferson, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, and Ethan Allen among others. All of which is to say that this is not a time to panic. Things have been worse – far worse. And in every age, God has used small groups of disciples like you and me to share his Gospel in word and deed. It has changed the world. That is how we bring others to trust in Jesus Christ as the source of new and abundant life. Yes, we are a minority, but we are not without hope, and we are not without power – not by a long shot.
Russell Moore, the brilliant evangelical Editor of Christianity Today, has written about this. He said, “If we see ourselves as only a minority, we will be tempted to isolation. If we see ourselves only as a kingdom, we will be tempted to triumphalism. We are, instead, a church. We are a minority with a message and a mission.” Friends, our mission is Jesus’ mission. Our Session has wisely interpreted his mission as the call to love and praise God, to love and nurture our members, and to love and serve our neighbors. Like Peter, Andrew, James and John, Jesus is calling us to shine our light and sprinkle some salt wherever we go.
That means reaching out to our neighbors. Historically, we have done a good job of this. The time has come to renew our focus. Who are our neediest neighbors in Silver Spring Township? What do they need? What about the neediest folks here in Mechanicsburg? Whoever they are and whatever they need, the starting point of our discipleship has to be getting to know them. So, this coming year, that is our theme. Reaching out to reintroduce ourselves to our community and reacquaint ourselves with them and their needs.
And then to do something about it. In doing so, we can take some advice from our wise friend, the author and pastor Brian McLaren. He writes about reaching our neighbors with the Good News. They don’t need or want a sales pitch, he says. Instead, they are open to a relationship – a real relationship. He calls this a spiritual friendship. It means listening to others to understand their hopes and joys, their struggles and their suffering. It means companionship – taking the time to walk with them in their day-to-day lives, sharing their burdens, and lightening them when we can.
It means an invitation – a warm welcome to consider the possibility of God’s love and to experience that love within a community of those who embrace it and live it. All of this requires that we reach out beyond our walls. Some of us are already are. Our CORE youth are doing this through their laundry ministry in downtown Mechanicsburg. Our Handy Helpers ministry of home repair does this, too.
Another good opportunity to reach out beyond our walls is our next Meal with a Mission in two weeks time. These are exactly the kinds of outreach ministries that we need to focus on. So, friends, let’s go out and shine some light and spread some salt. Not only to melt the snow. But to point the way to the Kingdom of God.
May it be so.
