BE THE LIGHT AND THE SALT.
Matthew 5: 13-20
A friend of mine at college had a hoodie with the words ‘salt and light’ written on the back. Of course this is a reference to Jesus’ words from the Sermon on the Mount which we heard today, when He says to the disciples that they are the salt and light of the world.
But what does this mean?
It’s perhaps a bit more understandable to describe someone as ‘light’ – sometimes people might describe someone they know as being able to light up a room when they walk in. It’s a very positive image, of someone who raises the mood and helps other people to relax and enjoy themselves.
It’s a bit more unusual to describe someone as ‘salt’. To us it’s a slightly strange image to use to describe a person, but when Jesus first used the term it would have been filled with imagery. In the ancient world salt was used as a way of conveying blessing, of warding off evil, and of course for seasoning and preserving food – a much more important task in the days before refrigeration.
But the really important point that Jesus is making about light and salt is the impact they have on things around them, not because of anything that they specifically do, but because of the nature of what they are.
Let me explain what I mean by this.
A room is dark until light is introduced into it. The light doesn’t do anything in particular, but its very presence allows the room to be illuminated. In the same way, you can taste salt in food, not because the salt particularly does anything, it is simply what it is and its presence is made known.
The crucial thing is that neither light nor salt can be hidden away. You may as well try to hide a city on a hillside.
So when Jesus describes His followers as salt and light, He means that their very presence in the world has an impact – not necessarily because of what they do, but because of who they are. Many of you will be familiar with the earlier bit of the Sermon of the Mount, when Jesus talks about who are the blessed people of God. They are the people who are meek and humble, who work for peace, who are willing to suffer to see righteousness prevail, who love God and neighbour. People like this have an impact on the world simply because they set an example of what life can be like; lives lived in the service of others, not for their own material gain but for the good of everyone they encounter.
The obvious examples of people like this might be Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela. They all knew pain and suffering in their lives, but they lived for a greater purpose – that human dignity should flourish. And I would argue that this is one of the great signs of God’s Kingdom; that all people learn of their own inherent dignity as people made in the Image of God.
Of course, it’s not just famous and well-known people who live like this. All around the world there are countless people who live their lives for the benefit of others, and their impact might only be local and relatively small, but it is a powerful impact nonetheless. The point is that their love for others cannot be hidden away; it shines out for all the world to see.
There are many people in this country who would like to see religion confined to people’s private lives. They are happy for people to believe in God and pray and have religious festivals, but only behind closed doors. They argue that religion should have no place in the public world. But what Jesus tells us in the Sermon on the Mount is that this is not an option: those who live as true followers of Christ cannot help but have an impact of those around them, because they live not for their own benefit but for the benefit of others. And as we are warned, if we lose sight of this calling we risk losing our saltiness, we risk placing a bowl over our light and thus preventing our faith from encouraging us to help others less fortunate than ourselves.
This does not mean that we won’t struggle, or occasionally stumble and fall. Each week we come before God to confess that we perhaps haven’t done things the way we ought to have done, but we are always assured of God’s forgiveness if we allow Him to pick us up, set us on our feet, and continue our journeys with Christ, living and serving the world in the same way that He did. This is not an easy task – remember the words of Jesus that if the world hates us it is because it hated Him first – but for those who persevere there is the promise of the Kingdom of Heaven.
So let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory not to us, but to our Father in heaven.
Amen.
Rev’d Phil Morton, Curate.