Reflection on Matthew 5:13-16 (Lent)

 

Matthew 5:13-16

¹³“You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. ¹⁴“You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. ¹⁵No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all in the house. ¹⁶In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.

 

Sermon

“You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).  Jesus says to that rag-tag group of people on the side of the mountain.  As he makes the proclamation, he looks into the eyes of those who are powerless, those who are grieving, and those who have no social influence.  Those people, standing right there, are salt of the earth people.

 

I do not think that we appreciate today just how important salt was to ancient people.  Today, I love it because it really brings out the flavor of my steak.  And, pasta is just bland if not for a little salt.  And though it did enhance flavor in the ancient world, it also did something that we rarely think about today.  It preserved food.

 

Just as wine is a long lasting, bacteria impenetrable preservative for water, salt was similarly used as a preservative for food.  Beef jerky is a convenience store snack today, but in the ancient world, it saved lives.  Salt allowed people to live with protein long past the expiration date of their meat.  Salt sustained life.  Salt saved lives.

 

“You are the beef jerky of the world,” Jesus says to the people standing in front of him.  Well, not really, but that is what he is getting at here.  These people right here, standing in front of him, are the people that God chooses to sustain the goodness of life in the world.  These powerless people are seemingly the people who are in the best position to trust in God and follow God’s ways.  They are the people who clearly see that there could be a better life and trust that Jesus will be able to lead them there.  God’s idea of the good life will be preserved through them.  They are the salt of the land.  They are the beef jerky of the world.

 

All of this salt talk is ancient covenant language, going way back to the days of Leviticus where God commands, “With all your offerings you shall offer salt” (Leviticus 2:13).  For a long time, God has used salt in the temple sacrifices as the symbol of God’s long lasting promises of life to God’s people.  It is a promise that does not go bad. 

 

And on the mountain, Jesus too promises to preserve the life of those people standing before him.  But, Jesus is also going to use those very life-filled people to spread the word of God’s good life.  They will be salt for the world.  They will provide the beef jerky in dark times of famine.  They will be the bringers of life to the world that desperately needs the reality of God’s good life rather than the reality of death. 

 

You are God’s salt.  You are God’s preserver of life in this world.  In a world that chooses again and again to not care and chooses again and again to allow death and destruction, you are given as God’s gift to be a preserver of life instead. 

                                                    

But, Jesus’ vision for the world and for his people does not stop there.  Jesus goes on to say that, “You are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14).  This is an extension of the same idea; Jesus just uses a different biblical metaphor: “light.”  A prophet that Jesus loved to quote a lot, Isaiah, used the language of “light” all the time.  In Hebrew, the word for “light” sounds a lot like “or.” The “or” sound is right in the middle of the word, “Torah.”  It is a word play.  It is a type of rhyme, with a purpose.  Torah, of course, means instruction, and Isaiah says that God’s instruction is God’s light.  Torah is “or.”  God’s instructive ways of peace and right relationships, Isaiah imagines again and again, is light that spreads goodness, love, and life everywhere.

 

Now, just as it would be ridiculous to light a lamp and then put it under a basket where it could do no good, so too would it be ridiculous to have God’s instruction and hide it where it would do no good.  “Let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).

 

Jesus has a vision of what God’s good life could look like here on earth.  Jesus has a vision for what it would look like if the peace and goodness of the Garden of Eden was able to descend onto the world through his people.  

 

Jesus looks into the eyes of these “salt of the earth” people standing before him, and in them he sees the beginnings of peace, goodness, and love starting to shine in the world around them, just the way God had hoped that it always could.  They are the salt of the earth.  They are the light of the world. 

 

You are God’s light of peace, goodness, and love, shining in a dark world.  You are chosen to be a people of preserving and shining Jesus’ light and Jesus’ love.  May those around you experience the good life as envisioned by Jesus, because Jesus has set you apart to be a gift of salt and light to all those whose lives are dark.