Stream services online at www.sjlc.com/live

February 26, 2023

Promised Treasures - Salt

Preacher: Rev. Jack Meehan Series: Lent 2023: Promised Treasures Category: Biblical Scripture: Matthew 4:1–11

The First Sunday in Lent

Matthew 4:1-11

February 26, 2023

 “Precious Treasures – Salt”

We have a lot of choices when it comes to salt: sea salt, kosher salt, pink salt, black salt, gray salt, flake salt, smoked salt, coarse or pickling salt, table salt. Who knew? We mostly think of salt for seasoning and flavoring food, but previous generations used it for preserving food. In the days prior to refrigeration, this was about the only way to keep meat from spoiling and have it available for extended periods of time. In our own time, health experts tell us that we consume too much salt in our diet due to processed foods, which then leads to health issues like high blood pressure and other things. But we all produce salt in and of ourselves. Whenever we work up a sweat, that sweat includes a certain amount of sodium, or salt. And guess what? The more salt we consume, the saltier our sweat is going to be as the body tries to get rid of excess salt in order to keep the sodium in our system at the proper level. Bottom line: we all sweat. It is part of being human. All of this may be a whole lot more information about salt than you wanted to hear, but salt is before us today on this First Sunday in Lent. Our Lenten series, “Precious Treasures,” which began on Ash Wednesday, continues today as we focus on salt. May the Lord’s rich and abundant blessing rest upon the preaching, the hearing, and the living of his Word for Jesus’ sake.

As we journey toward Easter, this Lenten series, “Promised Treasures,” will lift up ways in which the Gospel is conveyed through physical senses of sight, smell, and touch. Each Sunday in the Lenten season, we will see, touch, smell, and feel things like ashes, salt, water, light, bread, and palms. Then, during Holy Week, the focus shifts to elements like water and blood (wine) for Maundy Thursday, wood for Good Friday, and finally, milk and honey for Easter Sunday. The purpose of focusing on these earthly elements is to make the eternal love of God more memorable, tactile, and meaningful for the people of God. Living as we do in an anxious and sinful world, these elements are memorable footholds for renewed hope and strength in our journey of faith.

The Gospel lesson for the First Sunday in Lent is the same from year to year: the account of Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness. In our 3-year lectionary cycle of Scripture readings, we are in Year A, which follows Matthew’s account of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, and that is what we hear today. As Matthew records it, Jesus’ temptation in the wilderness was forty days (Matthew 4:2), which is the origin of our own 40-day Lenten season. As Jesus grappled with the reality of temptation, so do we. Matthew records how Jesus was tempted when hungry to transform stones into bread; tempted to put his heavenly Father to the test and deliver him by throwing himself off the temple; tempted by power to worship and serve something other than the Lord God. But what Matthew does not record is Jesus sweating while being tempted. The only reference we have for Jesus sweating is in the Garden of Gethsemane, when under great duress before his suffering and death, he sweat great drops of blood (Luke 22:44). But the wilderness where Jesus is likely to have gone for these forty days after he was baptized (Matthew 3:13-17) is the Judean wilderness, which is really more like a desert with searing temperatures in the daytime and freezing temperatures at night. In this physical place, with the terrible temptations he was facing, can we assume that, in his humanity, Jesus, who is true God and true man, sweat and perspired as we do? I think we can.

Usually, when we’re sweating, we’re uncomfortable. “Sweatin’ like a sinner in church,” as the old saying goes. I guess that would be all of us, since we’re all sinners. We hear about sweat in today’s Old Testament lesson (Genesis 3:1-21) with Adam and Eve’s fall into sin. They had everything they needed there in the Garden of Eden, but it wasn’t enough. They wanted more – much more. In listening to the same voice of the tempter who came to Jesus, it all came crashing down and so sin and death came into the world. We live with the reality of that to this very day. Those haunting words that we heard on Ash Wednesday, “you are dust and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19), are preceded by these words: “By the sweat of your face you shall eat bread, till you return to the ground, for out of it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return” (Genesis 3:19). In the salty sweat of hard work and labor, Adam and Eve now had to make their way in the world, as do we. But it is still a world that God dearly loves, and for which he sent his only begotten Son.  Jesus came on a rescue mission to save the world from a downward, deathward spiral to certain destruction. That rescue mission would involve reversing the curse brought about through Adam and Eve. As Paul the apostle describes this in the Epistle lesson: “For if, because of one man's trespass [Adam], death reigned through that one man, much more will those who receive the abundance of grace and the free gift of righteousness reign in life through the one man Jesus Christ. Therefore, as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of righteousness leads to justification and life for all men. For as by the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, so by the one man’s obedience the many will be made righteous” (Romans 5:17-19).

In the ancient world, salt was such a valuable commodity that it was not uncommon for people, including Roman soldiers, to be paid at least in part with salt rather than money. Our own word salary comes from the Latin word salarium, the root word of this meaning “salt.” But Jesus paid the price for our salvation with something far more valuable than salt. As Paul wrote, that one man’s obedience, that one act of righteousness, came through much blood, sweat, and tears. Beginning with his own temptation in the wilderness, Jesus rejected the way that we often choose. In the weakness of our human nature, we often listen to the voice of the tempter and give in to the temptations that are all around us. The enemy knows our weaknesses and what is most tempting to us. We need help, and that help comes from the One – the only One – who has defeated the power of the tempter. That’s where our help comes from – Jesus. The Word of God reminds: “Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need” (Hebrews 4:14-16).

Many years ago, a French cleric, Michel Quoist, wrote a devotional book entitled, Prayers. The book is a series of conversations between an individual and God. One such conversation is entitled, “Sin.” It begins like this: “I have fallen, Lord, once more. I can’t go on, I’ll never succeed. I am ashamed, I don’t dare look at you. And yet I struggled, Lord, for I knew you were right with me, bending over me, watching. But temptation blew like a hurricane, and instead of looking at you I turned my head away. I stepped aside while you stood, silent and sorrowful… All of a sudden I found myself alone, ashamed, disgusted, with my sin in my hands…” (Prayers, by Michel Quoist. New York: Avon Books, 1963; p. 135). And here is God’s reply: “Come, son, look up. Isn’t it mainly your vanity that is wounded? If you loved me, you would grieve, but you would trust. Do you think that there’s a limit to God’s love? Do you think that for a moment I stopped loving you? But you still rely on yourself… You must rely only on me. Ask my pardon and get up quickly. You see, it’s not falling that is the worst, but staying on the ground” (Ibid, p. 137).

The Lenten season is about realizing anew that there is no limit to God’s love. Lent is about asking God’s pardon and trusting in it for Jesus’ sake. Lent is about getting up from the ground where we have fallen. Lent is about the precious treasure of God’s amazing mercy and grace to help in time of need. Amen.

other sermons in this series