Today, Jesus tells me that I am the salt that is needed to add flavor to the bread that he offers, a light that allows others to see the abundant goodness of creation.* To make the point more emphatically, he says that I need to be even more scrupulous about following the rules than the notoriously legalistic scribes and Pharisees, lest I lose my chance at living in heaven. This insistence on righteousness seems completely opposite to his paradoxical insistence that people at the bottom of society should be the most honored, and that even when the world seems to be falling apart the heavenly realm is already within me and around me, as close to me as my very breath.
As with many confusing things that Jesus says, I want to demand, “So which is it, Jesus?” Am I supposed to keep all the rules perfectly even when perfectionism feels more like hell than like heaven? Do you expect me to keep on cranking up my light so other people can see even when I feel empty and depleted? Is it my job to make life taste rich and delicious and satisfying for others even when everything tastes like ashes in my mouth? Or are you promising me that my life will be filled with blessings, even when doing the best that I can means making lots of mistakes and heartbreak along the way?
As usual, the answer is not one or the other, but just “yes.” Jesus says, Yes, do the best you can. Yes, you are blessed even when you are deep in fear and grief and mourning. Yes, you can plug into my energy and love and substance when you have used up everything that you have. Jesus says, “I have not come to abolish anything, but to fill everything up with joy and peace. Come, join me in heaven, right here, right now.”
Questions:
- Do you believe that you have to be perfect in order to be loved?
- Do you believe that you are blessed when you are weary or grieving?
- What is Jesus telling you today?
–Deborah Sokolove, Seekers Church
