Salt and Light (Part 1)

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. - Jesus (Matthew 5:13-16)

After Jesus completes His thoughts on the character of the disciple in the beatitudes, He turns His focus to what His disciples (with this character) will accomplish in this world. Just by possessing the traits that Jesus calls His followers to have, something is going to happen. He calls us Salt and Light. "You are the salt of the earth" and "You are the light of the world". What does He mean by those terms? What does He want us to understand about our role, our responsibility to the world?

Salt. Flavor. Preservative. Medicinal. The background meaning for this word is varied. During Jesus life it was of such value that Roman soldiers were paid with it..."he's worth his salt". Without modern ways to keep things fresh, salt was used as a preservative. (and still is, think country ham) Rubbing salt in a wound was a good thing I guess. Salt was used to treat bee stings, snake bites, tooth decay and as a salve for the eyes. And of course, we all like to sprinkle salt on almost everything food. It enhances the flavor of almost everything that comes out of the kitchen. (try a day without any salt and you will see how much you miss it)

With that as a backdrop, Jesus tells us that His followers (with those traits found in the beatitudes) will bring those qualities to the world. The world will taste better because of His people. It will be a better place to live. The right things will be done... justice, mercy and faithfulness (Matt 23: 23) People will be preserved (saved) through the influence of His disciples. Truth will be taught, love will be given and lost souls will turn to Him because of their actions. Healing will happen. The broken will be restored. The sin-sick world will find a cure... all because of this Salt.

Are you getting His message?

Unfortunately, there is a second part to His words...  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. He tells His people that it is possible for them to loose their saltiness. We were salt, now we are not. We can conduct our lives in such a way that our influence is lessened or even completely destroyed. If we quit living with the character of the beatitudes, if we start living like the world... we loose our saltiness. He tells us when that happens, we are useless to Him. The only thing to be done with useless salt is dispose of it. Throw it into the street and let it be trampled on.

I know... we don't want to consider that a Christian can turn his back on Jesus and become useless to Him. We don't want to think that a disciple can become a undisciple (sorry for a made up word). Once the person was salt, now they are rubbish under the feet of humanity. You sort that out for yourselves. His point? Be salt! Change the world through Him! Add flavor, add preservation, add healing... be His representative to mankind.

Wise or foolish?

More on Light next time.