Salt and Light-Matthew 5:13-16

Matthew 5:13-16 English Standard Version (ESV)
Salt and Light
13 “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
14 “You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. 15 Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. 16 In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

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I'm only going to take a small set of verses today because I believe these verses stand alone and are extremely important.  They are about to set up everything else that Jesus is about to say.  Since the passage is so short, I'll simply quote it here:

These verses are so familiar to use that we may simply quote them without really thinking about what Jesus is saying here.  Do you mistake salt for anything other than salt or light for anything other than light?  Their presence and identity can't be confused with anything else and they are fundamental components of every person's everyday life-even more so in the 1st century.

Both items were precious, so much so that that the Roman soldiers used to be paid in salt as a currency--hence the expression that "someone is worth his salt."  It is necessary to live, it adds flavor to our food and preserves it from decay.  It can be used to clean our wounds (though this is painful when it happens), and to melt ice to make the road safe, and so many other things.

Back at that time and even today, salt was stored in large piles, but unlike today, these piles may have been exposed to the elements.  As it rained on the salt pile the water would cause the salt to break down and the salt would "lose its saltiness."  At that point you have a tasteless crystal that really doesn't have any of the benefits that salt would normally have and is good for nothing.  It looks the part, but when you examine it by trying to put it to work it does nothing because it no longer has the properties or characteristics that people expect and need salt to have.

Translation--what good is it to look the part of a believer but be utterly useless to the work that God has called you to do because you aren't the genuine article?  That type of person is no better than the useless salt crystals that had to be thrown out on the road for people to trample upon and be ground to dust.  While that's a pretty strong message, Jesus isn't finished yet.

Next, Jesus compares us to light.  There is no mistaking darkness for light or light for darkness.  The light that Jesus is talking about here is probably a small oil lamp like the ones he talks about in the Parable of the The Ten Virgins in Matthew 25.  Oil (which usually symbolized the Holy Spirit) would be used along with a small wick to provide light.  As long as there was oil in the lamp the light could be kept burning--this is the significance of the Jewish holiday called Hanukkah.  The lamp cannot burn without the fuel there...much the same way, we cannot be a light source to the world without the presence and the power of the Holy Spirit within us.

But how silly would it be for someone to go through the trouble of pressing the olives into oil and trimming the wick and lighting the lamp only to put it under a bowl or basket of some kind where its light was hidden?  Again, this would defy the purpose of the lamp to let its light shine and drive away the darkness.  Such a lamp should never have been lit in the first place and is simply a waste.  No, the purpose of a lamp is to be placed up high where it can give light to everyone in the house  because you want line of sight from everywhere without obstruction or interference.

In the same way, Christ's light needs to be able to shine in and through us without hindrance or obstruction with the ultimate goal of bringing glory to Him and to the Father.  The light exposes what is broken but does not necessarily fix it.  It shows what it is dirty, but it does not clean it, but it does drive away the darkness and the creatures of the night that cannot stand its presence.  The light shows people the path but it does not make them take it.  It shows them the way home, but does not make them follow it.

In the next portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus will build on this idea of being counter-cultural as the speaks to a society steeped in the Law of Moses and the tradition of the Pharisees.  These rulers looked the part at first but were no more effective than salt that had been left out in the rain or a lamp that had been put under the bowl.  They intentionally refused to share the truth that God had given them with the nations around them because they believed "those people" didn't deserve God's love and revelation.  Does this sound like any of us?