Scripture: “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.
“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:13-16 ESV
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Observation: Recapping Friday’s Daily Focus, the eighth and last beatitude promises the same blessing as the first: an inheritance in the kingdom of heaven. However, unlike the first seven, Jesus elaborates on its meaning. Switching from the third-person pronoun to the second, Jesus speaks more personally, providing examples of revile and persecution: insult, slander, and even hate (hate appears only in Luke’s account of Jesus’ parallel Sermon on the Plain, 6:22-23). Jesus concludes by exhorting his disciples to rejoice, for they follow a noble line of persecuted prophets and will receive great rewards in heaven.
For today’s reading, while the eight beatitudes provide a preamble to the Sermon on the Mount regarding the nature of life in the kingdom of heaven now on earth (directed to the larger crowd), Christ next focuses on his disciples and how they will impact the world by living out what they have become. To illustrate his point, Jesus draws on two essential elements of a shalom life: salt and light. We will consider their metaphorical implications in the Takeaway segment below.
Historical note: Regarding salt losing its taste, sodium chloride, a stable compound, cannot lose its flavor. However, the ancient Near East salt contained other minerals, which would leach from the salt over time (i.e., giving the impression that salt loses its taste).
Takeaway: Salt provides a variety of favorable uses familiar to Jesus’ target audience:
- Medium of exchange in commerce
- Preserving food, particularly meat
- Aiding digestion (absorption and transmission of nutrients)
- Enhancing flavor in food
- Fertilizer (in small quantities)
With this in mind, Jesus most likely uses this metaphor to indicate that his disciples (subjects of his heavenly kingdom) are vitally important to the rest of the world.
Jesus’ light metaphor builds on his analogy of salt. A prevailing theme of Scripture, light is most contrasted with darkness and symbolizes all that is good and life-giving to that which is evil and destructive, and light always prevails over the darkness (John 1:4-14; 12:46). Jesus later declares he is the Light of the world (John 8:12; 9:5). And he tells his disciples that they not only carry his light into the world but are his light (vv.14-16; Ephesians 5:8; Philippians 2:15).
Our takeaway? While the Beatitudes hint toward being salt and light, as theologian Michael Wilkins concludes, our text’s message is loud and clear: “Jesus’ disciples possess kingdom life, which produces good deeds from a changed life. Bearing the light of the Gospel in both message and life will bring people to know that the kingdom of heaven truly is in the world, and they will glorify their heavenly Father” (The NIV Application Commentary: Matthew, p. 216).
We live in a time that may seem unique from the past two thousand years of church history, but, in reality, nothing is new under the sun. Our challenges with the “cancel culture” and postmodernism’s equivocation of truth are merely a recycling of bland, darkened ideology throughout the ages. In our more developed countries, our biggest challenge is within our ranks. The church is fragmenting over human sexuality and the sanctity of life. Thus, the secular world looks on and sees refracted rays. One side wants to be relevant to the culture, while the other side has leaned toward being antagonistic to the culture.
Our part? Neither position is helpful. We must transform the culture by consistently living in the light of Christ. We must do what we say. And there within lies the problem. We do not always live out our faith as we proclaim. But we can demonstrate humility, grace, and forgiveness when we get it wrong. These godly attributes enhance salt and light and are the heart of our Gospel. So, while we stand on the uncompromising truth of Scripture, not capitulating to the culture, we humbly serve others, speaking the truth with love (Ephesians 4:15) from a spirit of gentleness (Galatian 6:1). Indeed, when we graciously embody salt and light, we will transform the culture and “give glory to the Father who is in heaven” (v.16).
Prayer: Father God, we thank you for your Son, who is salt and light to us and has commissioned us to be salt and light to others. Also, we thank you for your Holy Spirit, who guides us in all truth and equips us to love others sacrificially. So, please help us exercise transformative grace, humility, and forgiveness toward ourselves and others in growing your kingdom and glorifying your name. Amen.
Rev. Gordon Green, M.Div., M.A. Counseling
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