by Fr. Bill Garrison

Please note that the following sermon text was provided prior to the audio recording. The two versions may differ substantially.

Jesus said, “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.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. 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.

“Do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets; I have come not to abolish but to fulfill. For truly I tell you, until heaven and earth pass away, not one letter, not one stroke of a letter, will pass from the law until all is accomplished. Therefore, whoever breaks one of the least of these commandments, and teaches others to do the same, will be called least in the kingdom of heaven; but whoever does them and teaches them will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

—Matthew 5:13-20 (NRSV)

Do you ever wonder why we love other people? I want to talk about that today if you don’t mind. We may have a number of reasons that come to mind as we answer the question inwardly but I wonder if what we are thinking is entirely accurate. Let’s find out together.

I want to start off with a story from my childhood if you don’t mind. I hope you will find it entertaining. I haven’t told it for a few years so maybe if you remember it you will enjoy it again.

Have any of you ever been fishing for catfish? More specifically have you ever been limb-lining at night for catfish? We used to do this all the time whenever I went back to Oklahoma. It’s not for the faint of heart. Let me describe the process for you.

Limb-lining is just what it says. You tie fishing lines to limbs and brush sticking out of the water or off the bank, put a hook on the end of the line, and put some bait for catfish on the hook which ends up a couple of feet below the surface of the water. You need a boat, a white sheet, fishing line, a bright light, some pretty large hooks, and some bait, along with all the other normal stuff you need to go fishing such as insect repellent.

You need to get to the fishing spot before sundown because this type of fishing is done on a river, or where a river empties into a lake, and there are a lot of old trees and brush in the water. Normally about thirty to fifty hooks are put out and this needs to be done while it’s still light.

Now anywhere you put a line with a hook on it you need to put a “flag” so you can find it after dark. This is what the sheet is for. You tear strips of sheet so that you can find the lines after dark when a strong light is shined on it from the boat as it cruises along.

Now let’s think about insect repellent. I have seen grown men lose their minds because of mosquitoes. I mean lose their minds. First they begin to beat at themselves, then they begin to dance around, and finally they begin to holler and curse and run up the bank if they are not in a boat. The mosquitoes come in swarms and they begin to look huge, sort of like buzzards. There is an old story about two mosquitoes talking to one another. “Should we eat him here or take him home?” Going limb lining without insect repellant is not a good idea.

So at this point you are getting the idea. This is not like other things you do in life. And it all comes down to the bait. What are the catfish in the mood for tonight? Everyone has a favorite and most folks will insist it is the best. Some like stink bait. This is just awful stuff. Some like minnows. Some like crawdads. There are all kinds of favorite baits.

Well one afternoon we were getting ready to go and my uncle was insisting on minnows. He was positive they were the best. I like minnows too. I hate stink bait although some swear by it. Sherry said, “How about some frozen shrimp?” Both my uncle and I looked at her as if she had lost her mind. We didn’t even bother to discuss it with her. Whoever heard of such a thing? Frozen shrimp indeed! Well we bought a bunch of minnows and Sherry bought a package of frozen shrimp.

And off we went. Well you already guessed the end of the story. We tried minnows for hours and caught nothing. Finally, desperate for our luck to change we tried the shrimp. The catfish loved them. We could have used a couple more boxes. My uncle and I had egg all over our faces. We were both a lot more ready to listen to suggestions in the future will tell you.

Now I went limb-lining with both my uncles, my dad, and a couple times with Sherry. Sometimes we caught fish. Sometimes we didn’t catch any or very many. One time my uncle lost the catch by dropping it in the water. But whether we caught a lot or none at all we always had a great time. Our success or lack of success had nothing to do with whether we had fun or not. What mattered was that we were together. We enjoyed being together whatever we were doing. Why? Because we loved each other and the reason was just because we did. Our love was not earned because somebody did something. Our love for each other didn’t need to be earned. It just was because we were, we existed.

If you were listening to the gospel read by Kay a few minutes ago you heard some diverse passages. I want to address the first two. Jesus said we were the salt of the earth and Jesus said we were like light. These are great images.

Salt in the first century was used for a number of things. It made a fire brighter. It was in some places used as money. It was used to season food. I am sure there were other uses. We still use it today.

But Jesus didn’t say we were like it. Jesus said we were it. There’s a difference. In one way of thinking, salt as a metaphor, we are being asked to become something, to be useful. When we recognize we already are the salt of the earth we see that we are already the seasoning of the planet, we only need continue to do what we already are.

Jesus also said to let our line shine. Nobody covers up a light with a basket, you let it shine. Jesus is telling us we are already a shining light. We don’t need to become anything other than what we already are. Just let it shine. Don’t cover it up. Be who you are. Be who you have been created to be.

We listen to so many voices shouting at us in our lives, telling us how we should function. The voices come at us from every direction. We all hear them. It seems to me they boil down to telling us what to want, what to have, and what to do. They are giving us instructions about living from the outside-in and asking us to internalize these instructions as our belief structure.

There’s a huge problem with outside-in thinking. It doesn’t take into account who we are, our individuality, our very being. Inside each and every one of us exists our very being. Down below everything else is that person we have always been and always will be, our very essence created by God and in partnership with God.

When our interaction with the world begins from inside-out, things change in a dramatic way. What emerges is who we are, the salt of the world, the light that should never be hidden under a basket. That doesn’t happen outside-in.

And so I think our invitation is to recognize that the joy we find in loving others is to recognize that we see their light shining no matter whether we catch any fish or we don’t. We love them for who they are, not what the world would have them be. We love their very being. Isn’t it time once again for each of us to seriously consider our being, the essence of who we are that is in partnership with God?

And recognize once again that we are the salt of the earth. Let the light shine. Uncover it. Just let it go what is already there.