Not Going to Heaven

Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 5:13-20

I may have some bad news today, my friends. I don’t think we’re going to heaven.

I’m going to be in a lot of trouble if you stop listening after that one line, so bear with me for a few minutes.  It’s about that last thing that Jesus said in the gospel story we heard this morning:

“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”

That’s right.  Unless your righteousness, your daily practice of your faith, is greater than that of the most publicly faithful people you know, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.

That’s you and me both, because I know I’m not more righteous than the scribes and Pharisees were. The Pharisees were the people in Jesus’ time who clearly dedicated their lives to living according to God’s will and law. 

We don’t have any exact equivalent today, but you can think about monks and nuns – or anyone else whom you respect and would just automatically assume does a really good job of being Christian.

Going above and beyond that, above and beyond the law of God, is a very tall order. 

And there’s plenty of evidence that as a society, as a culture, even as a church, we are not living up to God’s will in the world.

There’s a pretty good description of the problem in what we heard from the prophet Isaiah this morning.  God says to the people: You’re wondering why I’m not impressed with your religious observances, and don’t seem to be listening?  Well, it’s because those religious observances don’t change your heart, and they don’t set people free.

The religion I’m interested in, God says, is actions that feed the hungry, protect the vulnerable, and free those who are imprisoned, literally and metaphorically.

How do you think we do on that scale – not just at Calvary, but Christians in general – here in our time and place?

It’s good to remember that our gatherings for worship often do remind us and guide us about how to feed the hungry, care for the vulnerable, and set people free, but I believe that God also wants us to look around at a bigger picture.

Hungry people in our country are getting hungrier as food stamp benefits are cut and pantries struggle to keep up.

Prison populations go up and up - a trend that’s as much or more about prison-heavy laws as it is about crime.

You and I get more vulnerable every day as more and more data moves silently to the NSA and to hackers (who are only sometimes the same).

The news is full of vulnerability, oppression, and shame.

No, if you look around the community, and the country, and the world, we’re definitely not headed for the kingdom of heaven.

That’s bad news. Seriously bad news.

I’ll soften the blow a little bit by pointing out that Jesus was not talking about whether we go to be with God when we die.  I do believe we do and will.

No, Jesus is talking about heaven that matters here and now: the kingdom of God.

And Isaiah, Jesus, NPR and Fox News agree on one thing, even if it’s for very different reasons: we’re not on the road to heaven on earth, or a whole and holy world.

And a healing and whole society is incredibly important to God. 

The whole Bible tells us that a culture and society reflecting God’s will is far more important than our individual sin or righteousness. We can’t be well with God, you and I, if our world is sick with sin.

Are you mired in the bad news now?

Because there is good to go along with it.

One of the most important things our faith can do for us is to show us, clearly, when we’re headed in the wrong direction.  That’s what Isaiah is talking about this morning. What Jesus talks about, today and so often in the gospels.

And both of them point out that God has already chosen us not to go to heaven, but to bring heaven here.

If you set people free, Isaiah says;

set people free, and share the shelter and the food that you have; when you take anger and hate and fear out of the public debate in favor of trust and generosity and kinship, when you do these things light shines in the darkness.

Light shines, and God builds you up with abundance and refreshment and you become a source of healing for the whole world.

It’s not an if/then bargain, but a promise of what happens when we live God’s will.

And Jesus doesn’t mince words either:

You – yes, YOU (all, plural), not someone else – you are the salt of the earth.  You are the light of the world.

Salt changes things.  Light guides and directs.

You, - us, you and me – we are the agents of inspiration, the examples for the world, and the catalysts, the agents of change.

This isn’t an opt-in program.  God has already determined that it’s us, you and I, who are the light of the world, the salt of the earth.

We don’t have a choice – we are the ones who shape the world.

Whatever we do, we do shape the world.

When we take small actions – bringing food for the pantry, offering care to a neighbor, helping one person to justice – we’re a good example in a small way, and we offer healing in a small way.

But there’s also that bit about being a city built on a hill, unable to hide, and that means that we don’t have a choice either, but to stand up for whatever it takes in funding or political will and cultural change to feed all the hungry people. 

We don’t have a choice but to work to set people free – everything from really good employment and recovery programs to changing laws about drug sentencing and immigration. 

We don’t have a choice but to protect the vulnerable, to stand together against phone taps and witch hunts and discriminatory laws and policies and any erosion of basic human rights.

Salt and light.  Changing things, and showing the way.

There’s action for you and me to take among the businesses we deal with, the organizations we help, and yes, the government we live with, every day.

It’s one heck of a tall order,

and it definitely exceeds the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees.

But one thing more is absolutely clear from Jesus in today’s gospel: God believes in us.

God believes you are the salt of the earth; you are the light of the world. So when you heal and nurture and shield and free, you shall be, Isaiah says, like a watered garden, abundant and refreshing, and the restorer of the world.

The world we live in doesn’t look much like God’s will right now, and that means that Jesus is right, and we are not on our way to heaven. But the good news, the really big news of the gospel today, is that it’s our privilege and our job to bring heaven here.

You are salt, and you are light. God believes in you.

Are you in?