A Church Built on a Hill - Sermon for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany Year A

A Church Built on a Hill

Epiphany 5A

February 5, 2023

Christ, Preston, MN

Matthew 5.13-20

The spring of my freshman year at Gustavus Adolphus College found me rushing a fraternity, Epsilon Pi Alpha, also known as the “Eppies.” Back then, though hazing was officially frowned upon by the administration, it proliferated with inglorious abandon. One such practice was kidnapping pledges, blindfolding us, and dumping us far away from campus. With no cell phone then and few students had cars, it was not a joy ride. On one occasion when I could escape being caught, after we were hauled out of the car and had our blindfolds removed, one of the upperclassmen unexpectedly pointed us toward two distant radio towers. The towers had bright, red lights and showed us the way to campus, to “The Hill” as Gustavus is also known.

“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid,” Jesus tells his followers. We continue our foray into the so-called Sermon on the Mount, the first of five long discourses by Jesus in Matthew’s Gospel where Jesus is shown to be a teacher par excellence. The Sermon on the Mount outlines the way of Jesus, that is, what it means to be a follower of Jesus, the kingdom way. The reading this week is Part 2 of the preamble to Jesus’ discourse, Part 1 being the Beatitudes we heard last week. Here, Jesus wants to make it clear that his way is not only consistent with the Hebrew Scriptures, but his interpretation is also God’s original intention to interpret the law through love. All rabbis, including Jesus, have a very high view of Scripture, but they can disagree vigorously about how it’s interpreted. Jesus insists that the interpretation be done through the law of love, to love God and love neighbor.

It’s wonderful we have this text with a baptism as we give the charge to Kolby to “let your light so shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Of course, as with every baptism, all of us are reminded again to let our own lights shine. But there’s more to this text than meets the eye as hinted by Jesus’ analogy of the city on the hill. When Jesus says, “You are the light of the world,” the “you” is the plural you: “y’all.” “Y’all are the light of the world.”

I think that building Christ Lutheran Church on this spot 60 years ago was a stroke of genius by the congregation. Not only did two congregations, one German and one Norwegian, join together for the sake of mission and ministry, they built a church that would be a visible sign of God’s presence in the Preston community for years. Whether you are a local or driving by on Hwy. 52, Christ Lutheran is readily visible. Like the lights on those two radio towers at Gustavus, Christ Lutheran Church is a beacon of light to a dark world.

My siblings in Christ, y’all are the light of the world, reflecting the light of Jesus, the true Light of the World. We are reminded today that our good works do not earn us merit but flow from our identity as light. God’s light shines in, with, and through us to be agents of God’s love and healing to a broken world. This is not about getting to heaven but rather living into God’s kingdom here on earth. I continue to look forward to seeing what this means as we walk in the light together. Amen.

My sermons often preach a little differently than written and you can find the video here.