What does a salty light look like?
Last Sunday, we considered the beginning of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as Jesus taught his disciples about the blessed people of the kingdom of heaven – the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted on account of Jesus.
Following Jesus’ pronouncement of the beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-12, we hear the scope of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of heaven growing as Jesus addresses the members of the crowd who have been following him since he began his ministry – the people whom Jesus announced were salty lights in the kingdom of heaven.
The Gospel of Matthew uses two Greek words translated as “you” to define the growing focus of Jesus’ message about the kingdom of heaven found in the Sermon on the Mount. Both words are translated “you” but one of the words translated “you” is a singular word for you. Found in Matthew 5:12, the word (su) is used as Jesus concludes his teaching of the beatitudes to his disciples as he tells them, “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.”
Matthew uses a different word for “you” in Matthew 5:13-16 as Jesus expands the focus of his message about the kingdom of heaven to include the crowd that is following him. The plural word for you (humeis) as found in Jesus telling the crowd that “You are the salt of the earth” and “You are the light of the world.” Switching from su to humeis the scope of Jesus’ teaching about the kingdom of heaven expands from singular to plural as Jesus states that the crowd as well as his disciples are salty lights in the kingdom of heaven. Of course, the proper southern grammar that defines the plural of you is y’all as Jesus would have said, “y’all are the salt of the earth and y’all are the light of the world.
Jesus’ admonition for his disciples and members of the crowd to be the salt of the earth was a statement that they were already part of the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:13 tells of salt adding flavor to food but salt also served other essential purposes. The climate of Palestine made salt indispensable for preserving food. In several cultures, the sharing of salt was a sign of a covenant or binding agreement. Many of the sacrifices described in the Old Testament include salt (Leviticus 2:13, Ezra 6:9, 7:22, Ezekiel 43:23-24 ). A bag of salt was considered as valuable as a person’s life in Jesus’ time as seen in the saying, “He’s worth his weight in salt.”
Light was also valued in the ancient world. God’s creation of light in Genesis 1:4 is the first affirmation of God’s presence in the opening biblical story of creation found in Genesis. In this same creation story, the separation of light from darkness affirms God’s ordering presence for life. Psalm 119:105 states, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light unto my path.” John 8:12 states that Jesus said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world.
Notice that Jesus did not say, “follow me and I make you the salt of the earth” or “follow me and I will make you the light of the world.” Jesus said, “you are the salt of the earth” and “you are the light of the world.” Jesus is not teaching the crowd and his disciples how to live so they may become citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Jesus is teaching them that they are already citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
Melanie A. Howard describes what this meant for Jesus’ disciples, what this meant for the crowd, and what it means for us as we live as the light of the world.
“Let your light shine” is not actually a command to the disciples and the crowd that is following Jesus. … Rather, it is a command to the light itself. This is significant because it means that the human audience of 5:13-16 is not being issued explicit instructions about how they are to behave. Instead, that which comprises the human essence already (for example, “light”) is simply instructed to be made even more manifest than what it already is. It is not for humans to accomplish any particular work. Humans are simply to allow their core essence to be made more evident.
Working Preacher
Y’all are the salt of the earth. Y’all are the light of the world. With these words, Jesus is teaching us that we are salty lights, citizens of the kingdom of heaven.
As Amy Oden states,
Jesus’ teaching is not only about what the Kingdom of God is, but centrally about who we are, what our new lives in this new realm look like — tasty and lit up. Those who follow Jesus don’t merely sit back and receive abundant life, or simply tell others about what a great abundant life we have. Jesus is talking here about a life that makes a difference for others in the world.
We are the tastiness that adds salt to lives around us. We are light that makes plain the justice way of the kingdom of God. Jesus says we must be tasty and lit up in order to make a difference for God in the world. Neither salt nor light exists for themselves. They only fulfill their purpose when used, poured out.
Working Preacher
What does a salty light look like? A salty light looks like Sir Nicholas Winton who was born in England in 1909, and baptized in the Anglican Church by grandparents of German Jewish decent. He grew up to be a stockbroker. In 1938 his friend asked Winton to forgo a ski vacation and visit Czechoslovakia as part of a British Committee for Refugees to Czechoslovakia.
Having made many business trips to Germany in previous years, Winton was aware of Jews being arrested, harassed and beaten. Jewish parents who were lifetime residents and citizens in the country were anxious to send their children to safety, hoping in vain that the storm would blow over. It would have been easy to assume there was nothing a lone foreigner could do to assist so many trapped families. Winton could have ignored the situation and resumed his vacation in Switzerland, stepping back into the comfortable life he left behind, but he did not. The next steps he took ultimately saved 669 children from death in Nazi concentration camps as he organized an effort to help children to be placed in foster homes in Sweden and Great Britain.
The first 20 of “Winton’s children” left Prague on March 14, 1939. Hitler’s troops overran all of Czechoslovakia the very next day, but the volunteers kept working, sometimes forging documents to slip the children past the Germans. By the time World War II broke out on September 1, the rescue effort had transported 669 children out of the country in eight separate groups by rail.
What does a salty light look like? A salty light looks like the poor in spirit, those who mourn, the meek, those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, the merciful, the pure in heart, the peacemakers, and those who are persecuted for righteousness sake.
What does a salty light look like? A salty light looks like y’all.
Salty Lights
by Pastor Marc Brown
February 5, 2023
Accompanying Scriptures: Matthew 5:13-16
Fort Hill United Methodist Church
Order of Worship for February 5, 2023
Scripture Lesson Matthew 5:13-16
The Good News “The Blessing of Peace”
Music “Alabare” by Donald A. Nelson
Prayer
Blessing
Closing Music “The Joyous Heart” by David Paxton
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