You are the salt of the earth. You are a light on a hill. Jesus says these words just after those famous words of the Beatitudes. Telling the disciples that a certain responsibility lies within them. A responsibility to not lose their saltiness, to not become so stale and dull that they get thrown out.
Telling the disciples that they are like a light and a light should not be put under a basket and hidden.
He goes on to tell them that they are responsible for teaching the commandments AND obeying the commandments. That it is only in teaching AND obeying God's commandments that the disciples are called greatest in the kingdom. He stresses that righteousness is important.
We let a lot of 'word baggage' get in the way of absorbing the meaning of Jesus' words. We don't like the word commandment or the word righteousness in our sophisticated and secular world and so we ignore the clear call of Jesus in these words.
The band plays the music of The Beatles and Simon and Garfunkel this week. I would say it is modern music, but the truth is Nowhere Man is 50 years old next year. The Beatles debut in this country is 50 years old this year, after all. And Sound of Silence is also almost 50, written 50 years ago this month in response to President Kennedy's assassination and released in 1965. So, this is no longer the music of the young, right?
But we're not talking about youth, actually, we're talking about all people. This cry of Jesus to not be pointless in your endeavors is the theme of Nowhere Man. And listening for the voice of God nudging and perhaps shove of God to send us into directions that keep us 'salty' and 'shining' can only happen if we sit in the sound of silence.
Music that moves us. Sounds that moves us. Not just in a feel good sort of way, but move us into action. That is a lot of what early rock and roll did. And actually current rock and roll, too. We are moved to become better people. We are moved to follow a better way and become lights that shine and beacons on a hill. To be sassy and salty to a world that often looks, tastes, and feels stale.
But also to listen for that voice speaking in such unsuspecting places. through the sound of music, but also through so many other places. Paul Simon says it best in these lyrics:
And in the naked light I saw
Ten thousand people, maybe more
People talking without speaking
People hearing without listening
People writing songs that voices never share
And no one dared
Disturb the sound of silence
"Fools", said I, "You do not know
Silence like a cancer grows
Hear my words that I might teach you
Take my arms that I might reach you"
But my words, like silent raindrops fell
And echoed
In the wells of silence
And the people bowed and prayed
To the neon god they made
And the sign flashed out its warning
In the words that it was forming
And the sign said, "The words of the prophets are written on the subway walls
And tenement halls"
And whispered in the sounds of silence
How do you keep following the Way of Christ? How do you keep your lamp lighted? What do you hear in your sounds of silence?
No comments:
Post a Comment