Matthew 5:13–16
Jesus
said to the crowds, “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. You are the light of the world. A
city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under
the bushel basket, but on the lampstand, 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 in heaven.”
Commentary
Today’s Gospel is a
short one compared with that of last Sunday.
However, it continues to follow on the theme of Beatitudes by using
three images: salt, light and a city built on a hill.
In each of the
three images, there is a tension. In the
image of salt, the tension is the taste and tasteless of the salt; in the image
of light, the tension is the use and wrong use of light; and in the image of a
city, the tension is city on earth and city in heaven. The tension in each image is about sin and
grace.
How do I perceive
the verse, “You are the salt of the earth”? Jesus is right when saying
this because we are supposed to touch others lives and bring sparkle to their
lives in our family, our work place, our parish, our ministry, our society, our
friends and our country.
If we look closer,
it not hard to find that Jesus himself is the salt of the earth as he brought
humanity to the Jewish religion of his time by befriending with “sinners” and
out cast.
Being the salt of
the earth is a grace. But, if the salt
has lost its taste, it is no
longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot, Jesus warns us. The warning comes because the saltiness
cannot be restored! When
things are beyond restoration or repair, it means hopeless. When a person acts like this, what kind of
hope that we have of him/her?
Jesus also tells
us, “You are the light of the world”. It implies that we are the light and the
world is dark. Can we be good people to
a dark world? Or, we just put the light
under the bushel basket for our
own use? What deters us not to put it on
the lampstand so that it gives
light to all in the house? No mater how we try to hide the light, Jesus
reminds us that it like a city
built on a hill cannot be hid. Thus, he encourages us to be bolder not only
to give light to our house (the Church and the community), but let our
light shine before others. The purpose of such a bolder move is that
people may see our good works
and give glory to our Father in heaven.
The images and
massage of today’s Gospel are about how we can bring happiness and hope to
others. It is also about the true
humility of us when we live out the true colour and taste of follower of
Jesus. Amen.