Salt and light

The Sermon on the Mount is the first five great discourses in Matthew and it was given near the beginning of Jesus’ public ministry. It starts with the Beatitudes describing the essential character of Jesus’ disciples. Jesus then goes on to fleshing out the implications of our heavenly citizenship, using the salt and light metaphors to indicate the believers’ influence and witness of good in the world.

This paper attempts to explain three main foci namely what did Jesus mean by saying that we are the salt of the earth and the light of the world, why and how should we function as salt and light, and finally the implications of this truth to me personally, and to my church as a corporate body of Christ. I will further narrow my discussion of ‘neighbour’ as people within my community of influence, with emphasis more on non-Christians.

Salt of the earth and light of the world (Matt 5:13-15)

Matthew is unique among the Gospels in placing these two main metaphors one after another in the form of maxims in parallel structure. Salt was one of the most useful substances in the ancient world. Pliny the Elder, an ancient historian from the first century said “Nothing is more useful than salt and sunshine”.

Salt has many characteristics and a variety of uses. It could function as a purifier and seasoning, but the people used it primarily as a preservative to keep things from going bad and becoming rotten. It was able to resist spoilage and keep putrefaction at bay. Example, rubbing salt into meat prevents its decay. This is believed as the emphasis of Jesus when He speaks to His hearers with the emphatic ‘You’ in Greek, accentuating the big contrast between the church and the world. Salt, then has a negative function, i.e. it combats deterioration. Similarly drawing from this metaphor, Christians are also constantly combating moral and spiritual decay. An implied meaning to Jesus’ message is that the world is basically rotten because of sin. It implies a tendency to pollution and to becoming foul and offensive, and Christians are to be the preserving force in the world. Just as salt had to be rubbed into the meat, similarly Christians must allow God to rub them into the world.

The subsidiary function of salt as the seasoning or condiment also meant to imply that Christians are to lend flavour to a flavourless, insipid world. The follower of Christ is to the earth what salt is to food, which a small amount of it in a large medium is at once apparent. The saltiness of a Christian proclaims a difference in our sphere of influence where people around us will mark the difference of us whose satisfaction is in Christ thus showing forth the flavour of Christ.

The effectiveness of the salt, however, is conditional. It must retain its saltness. Actual salt could never lose its flavour but it can become contaminated by mixture with impurities, which renders its impotence or uselessness. A Christian’s effectiveness, therefore, is depending on his ability to retain his Christlikeness. If we become assimilated to non-Christians and contaminated by the impurities of this world, we lose our influence of being distinct. Instead of affecting the world, we will be trampled by it.

The second metaphor Jesus uses to describe the witness of the Christian is light, which stands in synonymous parallelism with the salt metaphor. It too, focuses on the role of discipleship (light) and the parameter of the disciple’s mission (world). Light has a very important and positive metaphor in the Bible. “God is light” according to 1 John 1:5, Christ is described as “the light of the world” and Christians described by the Apostle Paul as “children of light” (Eph 5:8, 1 Thess 5:5). Light is thus associated with God, the Messiah, His people, the law and the accomplishment of salvation.

Jesus talks about two sources of the physical light: the light from a city on a hill which draws from an Old Testament motif, and the light from a lamp set on a lamp stand. The city may well be an allusion to Jerusalem that has a designated role among the nations as prophesied. It implies the New Jerusalem, shedding the light of divine glory throughout the world during the messianic kingdom, and the disciples’ good works will be a foretaste of its glory. ‘The city on a hill that cannot be hidden’ (Matt 5:14a) definitely sounds a note of inevitability and assurance to the crowd. It states a fact; they cannot help being as a city on a hill. The followers of Christ must be visible. We might hide the goodness of our lives, or cease to be good, but we cannot hide our lives. Good or bad, we are clearly visible to everyone, thus, we must be ‘in the light’ to send out our rays of light.

Similarly, Jesus explicated the light metaphor with the parable of a lamp which refers to the common oil lamp made of clay and used to light the interior of the windowless, one-room houses of Palestine. The purpose of the lamp is to shed light and thus it has to be placed on a stand to provide maximum benefit, i.e. to illumine the surroundings and not be put under a bowl. Jesus refers to the pointlessness of lighting a lamp then obscures it from being visible. The followers of Christ must be radiant. In himself or herself, a Christian cannot be the light of the world. One can only be the light of the world because of his or her relationship to Jesus who is Himself “the light of the world”. Hence, we can show forth light to the extent that we first receive from the Lord Jesus and reflect it to others. Therefore, to let one’s light shine is to live a life that will manifest the presence of the kingdom.

Why and how do we function as salt and light (Matt 5:16)

We want to consider why we as Christians should be salt and light, and why we should even desire to be so. By definition, we were meant to be such. Both the metaphors have much to teach us about our Christian duties in the world. The assumption of the metaphors is that Christians are different, therefore the call Jesus issues us is to be different. The Lord Jesus has told us that to be a Christian is to be salt and light. We are the salt and must retain our salt-ness and preserve the deteriorating world from its decay. We are the light, so we must let our light shine in the world, not concealed by compromise and fear, bringing light into its darkness.

Another reason is when we are true followers of Christ, like a city on a hill, we cannot be hid. To not shine our light is both ridiculous and contradictory. This is the quality we want to manifest to others. To conceal our light or be polluted by the world is a deliberate challenge to the Lord on his awesome call for us. Lastly, if we cease shining and preserving, we render ourselves useless and of no value both to God and the world that is in dire need. A true Christian does not even desire to hide his or her light.

Jesus’ intention is for us to penetrate the world. Continuing with the metaphor of light, Jesus said we must continue to shine so that people may see our good deeds and glorify God (Matt 5:16). Matthew refers to deeds five other times in his gospel. In 11:2, 19 deeds are the distinguishing marks of Jesus as messiah and are comparable to fruit indicative of one’s true nature (3:10). Matthew 23:3, 5 clearly warns against the deeds of the scribes and Pharisees’ exhibitionist tendencies and this comparison parallels Matthew’s use of righteousness in 5:20 and 6:1. In other words, good deeds, fruits and righteousness are interrelated to one another and it indicates the life lived consistent with the new relationship established by Jesus’ ministry between God and mankind. Such life must bear witness to the transforming power of God and has a totally different life lived by others. Within the context of the Sermon, good deeds would certainly include exhibiting all the characteristics listed in the Beatitudes, as well as obeying all the commandments that Jesus expounds in the later sections. Therefore, we are to show mercy (Matt 5:7), be peacemakers (Matt 5:9), and to obey God’s commands regarding murder, adultery, divorce and so forth.

When Paul uses light as a metaphor in Eph 5:8-13, to let our light shine includes both “displaying goodness, righteousness and truth, and finding out what pleases the Lord”. This resolves itself into asking ourselves the effect of light. Without doubt, light exposes the darkness and the things that belong to darkness. When Christians shine forth the light of Christ, people surrounding us will see their lives in a better light and if their deeds are full of darkness, they will begin to feel ashamed. Christians then, are the standard torch-bearers in a dark world. But more than that, the good deeds must include both word and actions. Even within the Sermon, Jesus refers to one who both ‘practices and teaches’ (Matt 5:19) so that the light is something that we can proclaimed as well as exhibited by deeds. Thus, light not only reveals the hidden things of darkness, it also explains the cause of the darkness. We are the light that adequately explains the situation of the sinful state of mankind and its wretchedness, selfishness which eventually leads to death. Shining forth our light then certainly refers to both our gospel proclamation and our moral example.

Practically, the Christian’s task is to be the salt of society by preserving, reconciling, flavouring and giving meaning where there is no purpose and no hope. We must be the one who brings forth the quality of life by upholding good values in life and to show forth our deep concern with its well being. This should propel us into actions that preserve cultural values and moral principles by making a contribution to develop a better culture and social life. Too often we have been guilty of interpreting our social responsibilities in terms only of helping the casualties of our deteriorating society but do not see the need to change the structures which cause the casualties. Just as doctors are not only concerned with treating a patient but also with providing preventive measures, we should also involve ourselves with preventive social medicine. It could be simply making pronouncements about the general situation of the political injustices, or we can seek to create better social structures that will guarantee justice in law enforcement, freedom and rights for minorities or the abolition of social and racial discrimination. We must endeavour to work for peace and reconciliation at all times. These good deeds when shone before others, it does not mean self-propaganda or self-glorification but rather for the glory of God. We are simply the agent through whom others come to recognise, acknowledge and glorify God. Others, influenced by God’s spirit, will ascribe to God the reverence that is due Him for causing the light in us to shine before men.

Implications

Today, I come to a deeper understanding of how distinct a Christian needs to be in order to make a difference in the world. As I ponder upon my life, I discover that my witness for Christ to the people that I meet (both Christians and non-Christians) has been milder than what is demanded of me and commanded by Christ. I thought by giving some money to a beggar, assisting an old man to cross the street, to obey speed limits and to be able to share the gospel well would earned me the title “She’s a good Christian”. In fact, that is how other church members view each another! But I learned that by being kind once in a while does not make me a true disciple of Christ. Have my actions really made a difference to my surroundings? Do people around me take me as the visible standard of godliness and good values? Honestly, I think I have failed God many times by being a stumbling block to Christians by my non-edifying conversations and ungodly behaviour, and a poor witness to non-believers by being a saltless salt and an obscured and dimmed light.

I recognised that God calls for radical discipleship both from me and from the church. Most of the time, we rather conform (so much easier) to the prevailing culture instead of developing a Christian counter-culture. It is a well known fact to the medical world that if a body does not give off salt, it retains water and becomes bloated. Similarly, the church will become desperately unhealthy if the salt is not dispersed in the work of preservation. My church sometimes spends too much time planning for evangelistic events that we forget totally the need for Christian social responsibilities. A small group pocket of believers however, representing individual lights, are spreading light wherever they are especially in the surrounding areas where we stay, and work and have fellowship. Once the light is the very light of Jesus himself in our lives, people in our community will see the very life of Jesus being seen through us in our churches and these lights will be multiplied.

Conclusion

The first metaphor tells Christians that they are to hinder the spread of evil; the second one tells them they are to promote the spread of truth. Quoting James Engel and William Dyrness;

The kingdom and reign of Christ expands within society through salt and through light, changing it from the inside out as Christians bring the grace of God to the world where they live. It takes place almost imperceptibly through ordinary people, transformed by their Lord, on a journey or pilgrimage with him. This constitutes the meaning of the reign of Christ- common people transformed by their Lord doing uncommon deeds. These points of light illuminate the grace of Jesus Christ, the unbounded love of God for all of creation.

The Christian faith is powerful both to preserve and transform every people group in every aspect of society at any different time and culture because; Christ is relevant at all times and that makes our faith always a relevant one in the world.