Matthew 5:13-16
Jesus said to his disciples:
“You are the salt of the earth.
But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?
It is no longer good for anything
but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket;
it is set on a lampstand,
where it gives light to all in the house.
Just so, your light must shine before others,
that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your heavenly Father.”
BACKGROUNDER
Continuing the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus now challenges his disciples. This challenge will sound differently to you depending on whether you are a disciple of Jesus, or not. Many people at that time, and today, would be somewhere in between. Where you may be on the journey of faith, from the outside wondering what to make of Jesus, to struggling to follow Jesus as his disciple, will affect how you respond to the challenge.
What is the challenge? Unless the disciple becomes salt of the earth or light for others, they are good for nothing. The alternative Jesus offers is to be “thrown out and trampled underfoot”. Jesus doesn’t need or want disciples to who are content to follow him, like salt that won’t leave the salt shaker, or that light that hides itself under a bushel basket.
We are now many years past the time when most people were part of the Christian community. Instead, most people we know, and our institutions of government, education, business, entertainment, are what people call, “secular”, meaning living life – or trying to live life – without God.
Most Christians react in three ways. 1) The largest group of Christians just don’t notice, but keep going to church, expecting things to stay the same. 2) Other Christians want to go along with society as it drifts further and further from Jesus and his way of life. 3) A small but growing number of Christians are getting angrier and more frustrated at people and institutions as they continue to reject Jesus.
Being salt and light as Jesus asks, means that disciples of Jesus need first to know him, and to participate in the life of the Church. Both of these are foundational to being a disciple. But disciples of Jesus, also need to be on mission in our time, ready to go out to people who don’t yet know him with love and truth.
Salt preserves and gives flavour. Light transforms darkness into a place where we are no longer lost. Disciples of Jesus have the joy of helping transform confusion, pain and death, into a new situation where there is hope, guidance, and community.