Salt and Light

February 6, 2011
Matthew 5:13-20

Today’s reading from Matthew is about two things: the impact Jesus’ followers are to have on the world (13-16) and their relationship to “the law” and “the prophets” (their righteousness or right-ness with God) that has preceded his ministry (17-20).

Jesus uses two metaphors to describe his disciples’ intended impact in the world: the image of salt and ‘saltiness’ to convey an attribute for improving the quality of their experience of life. The image of “light” that cannot and must not be hidden emphasizes that the disciples’ purpose (collectively as the church) is to further the awareness about what God is doing in the world through them.

It is important, I think, to understand Jesus’ words not as a repudiation of God’s work in the past through the Law but as a continuation of what God has been doing all along. Jesus challenges his followers that their ‘right-ness’ with God must, in fact, ‘out do’ that of “the scribes and Pharisees.” To exceed the ‘goodness’ of the Pharisees – the best law-keepers in the world – they will have to match the external nature of the Pharisees’ righteousness and add to that an interior righteousness of the heart.

Jesus’ images of salt and light were meant to inspire, encourage, and exhort his followers, not to condemn or make them feel bad. Keep in mind the context in which Jesus spoke. He’s gone up the mountain, and looks out on the crowd that's gathered around him. Aware of their suffering and needs, his heart is filled with compassion. He understands the spiritual hunger and the physical suffering of the world, as he sits down to teach about the reign of God – or god’s kingdom – and he calls them blessed.

The people need help. Israel, is occupied by outsiders; its "land, city, and temple ruled by non-Jews; and the prophetic promises of a messiah never fully realized. The people have different opinions as to why things are as they are, how God could let this happen to them, and how they are to respond. The collaborating Sadducees, the violent Zealots, and the righteous Pharisees – all have their answers. And yet, all hope to preserve their cultural and religious identity as a people called and set apart by God by living in covenantal righteousness… until the coming of God's reign.

Jesus' preaching is one more voice among many, one more answer to the questions that swirled around him. He challenges, as N.T. Wright says, “Israel to be Israel." Jesus encourages his listeners to become part of the ‘in-breaking’ reign of God present in their midst: part of a new thing God is already doing. That new thing continues to unfold in our own time and place, with questions swirling around us, as well, about what it means to be faithful disciples, and about how we are to respond as God’s people to the challenges around us.

Today’s reading bridges the Beatitudes, the lifting up of the most unlikely people, and the difficult instructions that follow. Before Jesus repeatedly raises the standard for his followers ("you have heard it said...but I say to you..."), he uses two common, everyday images to tell his disciples to remember who they are. After lifting up the mostly unlikely people – the poor in spirit, the meek and the merciful, those who mourn and those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and the persecuted – and calling them "blessed," Jesus offers them words of both reassurance and challenge, words that the church needs also to hear today, if it is going to truly be the body of Christ.

Jesus says, we are “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world.” As a church, this is who and what we are. They are metaphors about what we do, how we do it, and the effect we have upon the world – or at least it should. We mustn’t forget what we are to be about. Salt that has lost its saltiness can’t flavor something a lot larger – much like the church, as part of God’s gracious activity, that has forgot its mission cannot become a community of transformation.

Likewise, if we do not let the light of Christ shine through us, as a church, those who feel lost, or miserable, or confused, with no idea of which way to turn will not ever find hope here. We are called to be the Body of Christ in the world today: Jesus tells us to "let our light shine before others," to let the good things that we do, rather than bringing us glory, radiate God's own goodness and love in the world. And yet, the temptation to bury our ability to be ‘a light in the darkness’ under 'the bushel basket' is always there.

Still the text reminds us of who we are and what Jesus calls us to do in the world, no matter the obstacles. Our calling isn't about institutional survival, or about numbers, but something much greater. What a church does matters! People encountering us should feel God’s grace and the possibility of a ‘different world’ – a world of new life, new vitality, new possibility, and new hope.

We have been placed on a hilltop to shine, not as one light but many. May we always faithfully live out our calling to enhance the lives of others, and never lose our ‘saltiness.’ God be gracious unto us and make it so. Amen