"When It Rains It Pours."
Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 5:13-20
2026-02-08 Trinity Presbyterian Church, Pensacola, FL
“When It Rains It Pours.”
Isaiah 58:1-12, Matthew 5:13-20
It’s 5am on a Saturday.
Regular crowd shuffles in.
You Billy Joel fans will remember that one.
I woke up super early a couple of Saturdays ago to write sermons, because that’s how much overtime I put in for you.
Football stars are out at 5am Saturday running sprints on an empty field.
Me? I’m at home, drinking coffee, laptop on lap top, Bible in one hand, phone in the other, thinking about Jesus, and scrolling through Instagram, as one does.
And boom! Right there, on my feed, that morning, the Holy Spirit sends me BOTH a T-shirt ad -- AND a sermon illustration – in one.
Praise Jesus and Jeff Zuckerberg.
“Insta” – that’s what we cool kids call it – “Insta” shows me a big ad for a T-shirt with the Morton Salt girl on it.
Because Insta knows (a) I wear shirts, and (b) I’m working on a sermon where Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.
” Coincidence? Or the meme of God?
The shirt's the classic Morton Salt Girl.
She’s got her umbrella.
Cute yellow dress and matching shoes.
Wind is blowing.
It’s raining.
She's strolling along.
Mona Lisa smile.
Completely oblivious to the weather.
She’s got this Sam’s Club barrel of salt under her arm.
Must have weighed 20 pounds.
At the store.
But now, the lid’s come open.
Spilling a trail of salt behind as the girl, walks, alone, in the rain.
Where is she going? Maybe your house.
Maybe it’s Door Dash.
She’s going to get a very bad review.
“Salt barrel empty. Zero stars. Requesting refund.”
And her boss texts her.
“Hey Yellow Dress Girl.
What did you do with the salt? Where did it go?” Angry face emoji.
And reality dawning, the girl writes back, “My car broke down.
I started walking.
I was humming that Billy Joel song.
I guess I just got lost in the sublime reward of doing my job.
Delivering food.
In the rain.
To strangers.
Who don’t tip.”
And her boss texts back, “Setting up a meeting with HR.”
Now Salt Girl's lovely day is a washout.
Tough luck, babe.
You know what they say,
“When it rains, it pours.”
So, this sad drama is unfolding in my brain.
And remember, I’ve been up since like, 4:30.
I’m pretty inattentive before the third cup of coffee.
I look back at the phone.
I reread the T-shirt, more carefully.
Around the girl it says, “Stay Salty.” “It melts ICE.”
With ICE in capital letters.
And I go, “Ohhhh.
I get it now.
It’s unlike the woke liberal extremists to be so subtle.”
Jesus tells us we are the “salt of the earth.”
But we may want to think twice about being salty.
Because even with Jesus – especially with Jesus – “When it rains, it pours.”
--
“You are the salt of the earth.”
Why salt?
Probably because we all know: salt makes everything better.
French fries.
Margaritas.
Salt is good.
Unless the kid at the theater dumps way too much of it on your popcorn.
Then, you've just got a bucket of salt.
And I'll still eat it.
If they squirt enough of that greasy butter fluid on it, it's OK.
Some of us are on salt-restricted diets.
You know the rule, “If it tastes good, spit it out.”
Salt comes with disclaimers.
Don't use salt if you're allergic to salt.
Salt can lead to high blood pressure, water retention, heart disease, kidney disease, stomach cancer, stroke, and death.
Short-term effects include bloating, thirst, and swelling in hands or feet.
If you experience these, stop using salt and start praying to Jesus.
Ask your pastor if salt is right for you.
If you read just Matthew 5:13 being the salt of the earth sounds tasty.
But if you read it in context, read the fine print – far enough to see how the story ends – and I strongly encourage you to do so – you'll find out too much salt can be bad for you.
Deadly.
Jesus found THAT out.
He found out being salty can get people mad at you.
Get your church mad at you.
Get your family thinking you’re crazy.
Get your friends denying they know you.
Maybe even betraying you.
Being TOO salty can get your government mad at you.
Can get you arrested.
Mocked.
Crucified.
So, yes, be the salt of the earth.
But, always remember: Salt is… complicated.
Too much can kill you.
Too little and you're bland – useless.
Jesus said, if the salt loses its saltiness, it's pretty much good for nothing.
So many warnings.
So much to consider.
When it rains, it pours.
--
“Hey Preacher: Don’t get political.”
Someone should have warned Jesus.
Because immediately – IMMEDIATELY after he tells his people to be the salt of the earth (“Yay!), he gets very salty with the higher ups. (Uh-oh.)
“For I tell you, unless your righteousness exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven.”
I’ll bet that gave them something to talk about in their security briefings.
Back in Jesus's day, the scribes and the Pharisees -- the Temple elite -- were in tight cahoots with the Roman government.
The government allowed them wealthy lifestyles and well-salted meals while the other 99% got the dry bones.
If you were part of the Temple-Bro One Percent, great.
But for everyone else, it was a messed up system.
Everyone knew it was messed up.
Maybe they just pretended not to notice.
Probably safer than getting political.
Jesus noticed.
Jesus spoke up.
Jesus hung out with all the wrong people.
Ate supper with sinners.
Gathered crowds in the thousands.
Five, six thousand at a time.
Simply by showing up, being present, by simply speaking truth, Jesus got political.
Jesus was too salty for his own good.
Someone should have warned him.
--
When I was interviewing here at Trinity, the search committee asked me if I got political in my sermons.
I said, “It’s not my job to tell you how to vote; it’s my job to tell you what Jesus said.”
I’m kinda proud of that one.
Evasive, yet faithful.
Sometimes you surprise yourself with things that sound smarter than you or your kids expect.
People ask me, “How’s it going in Pensacola?”
And I say, “These people are the salt of the earth!”
Some of you are extra salty.
And I love you best.
Churches tell their preachers, “Don’t get political.”
I say, good.
I don’t want to get political.
Nobody wants to get political.
Even politicians don’t want to get political.
It’s why they’re always on the golf course.
Trading insiders.
Flying to islands.
“You are the salt of the earth.”
It’s what Jesus said to his people.
“Stay salty, y’all.” Paraphrasing.
Did he expect it to become political?
When Jesus told us to be the salt of the earth, was he thinking, “Man, I hope someday they put this on a T-shirt” ?
Chemically, the shirt is right: salt does melt ice.
That’s why up north they put all that salt on the roads.
Keeps you from sliding – off the pavement – over the river -- through the woods – off the cliff – screaming all the way.
In the right amounts, used properly, sodium chloride can save your life.
But salt always comes with a warning.
Salt is good.
But salt is dangerous, too.
And that's not political.
It's the truth.
--
Here’s the thing about Jesus and the truth.
It’s a twist on what the Morton ads say.
They say, “When it rains it pours.”
But when Jesus reigns, as in, when King Jesus reigns with power and might --
when Jesus reigns, when Jesus opens his mouth, truth pours.
When Jesus reigns, truth pours.
It’s our job NOT to let the salt of Jesus get washed away.
Amos 5:24 says, “But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream.”
Let it rain. Let it pour.
And let it soak us to the bone.
--
I think about that girl in the yellow dress and matching shoes.
Like a poor preacher, her delivery wasn't good.
But she did leave a trail of blessedly good salt behind her.
When you watch little kids in the rain, half the time, they'll lose the umbrella.
They'll kick off their pretty shoes.
They'll splash in the puddles with bare feet and muddy toes.
They’ll laugh.
They'll dance.
Meanwhile, what do we grown-ups do?
We curse the weather.
We pull down our hoods.
Wrap our coats tight.
We protect ourselves from the elements.
We try so hard to preserve what’s ours.
Cover it.
Hide it.
Cling to every single grain in the box.
Jesus never said to SAVE the salt.
Jesus said to BE the salt.
To be the trail of good stuff left behind.
And let him do the saving.
So when we move on, and we all will, so when we move on, our kids can have reason to smile, reason to laugh at the puddles. Again.
[eos]
