Salt, Light, and a Grain of Wheat

Two of the most popular metaphors for the church come from Paul. When you ask people what the church is, most of them will respond with "Body of Christ" or "Bride of Christ."

There are actually more metaphors and three of the most powerful come from Jesus. Salt. Light. And a grain of wheat. The first two come from Sunday's Matthean lection. The third is Johannine. We have heard so many homilies about these three. We are the salt of the earth, we give flavor to life. We are the light of the world, we push away the darkness. We are a grain of wheat, we need to bear fruit... We feel good about being salt, light, and a grain of wheat.

We are so comfortable with these interpretations we miss what those metaphors demand from us: all require self-sacrifice, all require emptying, all require death...

Salt dissolves. Light burns out. And "unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains just a single grain; but if it dies, it bears much fruit."

We should never forget what Jesus commands us: "No one has greater love than this, to lay down one's life for one's friends." We should never forget what his earliest disciples remind us: "We know love by this, that he laid down his life for us—and we ought to lay down our lives for one another."

We should never, ever, forget that we follow a Crucified and Risen Lord. There is no Resurrection without the Crucifixion.

When Christ calls us, he bids us come and die.+

*art, "Shine," by Mike Moyers (from the Vanderbilt Divinity Library digital archives).  
+Deitrich Bonhoeffer