Bible Study: :13-16 “You are the salt of the earth. You are the .”

Notice doesn’t say: Be like Salt and be like Light. He says you ARE salt and light. What is the difference?

Jesus has just shared the with the disciples and now he is encouraging them to put these words into action. In this section of the on the Mount, Jesus reminds us that knowledge about God cannot exist as simply knowledge. Knowledge about God, theology, is God’s very presence in the world. It is not enough to know about God. As disciples, we are the activity of God in the world. We are called to live out our identity as salt and light.

SALT: Salt preserves and Christians help preserve what is good in the culture. In the ancient world, salt was very valuable: the Greeks thought it contained something almost divine, and the Romans sometimes paid their soldiers with salt. A soldier who didn't carry out his duties “was not worth his salt.” You are a seasoning agent. In a sense, you can bring the distinctive flavour of God's values to all of life. You can make life palatable.

Note that salt, to be effective, must be in contact with the meat or fish it is to preserve. To be effective, we must be involved where we work and where we live. This puts us in a tension because the dominant culture doesn’t necessarily like us. Withdrawing from the world is no answer for Christians. But it is difficult to live in the world, ready to challenge its ways at any time. In Matthew 5:10-12, Jesus acknowledged the reality of persecution. But in our contacts with the culture, we must retain our “saltiness,” our distinctiveness. It’s a balancing act we’re called upon to maintain.

In the final phrase of 5:13, Jesus states that tasteless salt “is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men.” In the first– century, when salt became tasteless it was thrown on the ground where people wanted a hard path because salt had a hardening effect on the soil. People would then walk right on top of the salt and trample it into the ground. This metaphor does not mean that tasteless disciples lose their salvation. Instead, they are cast aside in the ministry of Christ. Tasteless disciples are not fulfilling the purpose for which Jesus called them. Because they are useless, they lose their testimony and influence. The consequences of such failure involve the loss of present usefulness and future rewards.

The warning of 5:13 is also relevant to local churches as well. Since Jesus is talking to the disciples as a group (“you” plural) and they are later called the “foundation” of the church (Eph 2:20), this is applicable to every local church. As a corporate church, if we become tasteless and anemic we will be snuffed out of existence. The church of today has a tendency to brag about the size of our salt shakers (our church buildings) or the amount of salt we can put into our shakers (our worship attendance), rather than truly salting down our communities with the good news and good works of Jesus Christ. The whole point of salt is to leave the shaker and hit the meat. We must impact our world with the life of Christ.

LIGHT: The job description of a Christian is not only to maintain personal holiness, but also to touch the lives of everyone around us. If we were to go into a building on a pitch–dark night, turn out all the lights, and even cover up all the windows, it would be so dark we would have a hard time moving around. There would be chaos as we ran into chairs, walls, and each other trying to get out of that building. But if in the middle of all that confusion, I stood on a platform, pulled out a huge flashlight, and turned it on, then everyone can see. That dark building describes this dark world pretty well. People are crashing into everything, trying to find a way out of the darkness. We Christians are the light.

After making this general assertion, Jesus shares two parables in 5:14–15. First, He says, “A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.” In Jesus’ day, cities were often set on a hill for a number of reasons. It was cooler on a hill. In that arid, middle–eastern land, the only air conditioning they had was a breeze. Cities were also situated on hilltops for protection against attack. A city set on a hill was easier to defend. It is much more difficult to storm a walled city running uphill, and defenders have always known that victory must be claimed by capturing and holding the high ground. Jesus’ point, however, is not a city’s defence, but its visibility because of its elevated position. Most cities in Jesus’ day were constructed largely of white limestone and placed on a hilltop to reflect the bright sun rays, allowing visibility from miles away. At night the white marble mirrored both the moonlight and burning lamps, acting as a beacon for directing travellers toward the city. Similarly, as disciples our light ought to make it easier for people to find their way to God. We are a city set on a hill that should be elevated and easily visible. We should give hope and direction for weary pilgrims in this dangerous and futile world.

In His second parable in 5:15, Jesus zooms in from the glow of a city to the glow of a household. He says, “Nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.” In Jesus’ day, homes were lit by small clay lamps which could be held in the palm of the hand. These clay lamps were sometimes covered with a hole in the top in which to pour the oil, and a hole at one side for the wick. Since most Jewish homes were modest one–room structures, placing a lamp on a lampstand could give light to everyone in the house. Jesus contrasts elevating a lamp on a lampstand to covering a lamp with a basket. People don’t light a lamp to hide its light under a basket, Jesus says. That’s silly! Rather, people light a lamp in order to shed light to everyone in the house.

Jesus concludes this passage with a powerful statement: “Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” This verse is a command, not a suggestion. Jesus says, “Since you are light, SHINE!” We are not here to get used to the dark but to shine as lights. The light of Christ is to shine in and through us “before men.” In other words, this is a public exhibition of light. The word “glorify” (doxazo) means to show off. We’re supposed to show God off.