Jesus said to his disciples: You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lampstand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father. (Matthew 5:13-16)
This passage comes from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. The images that Jesus uses here make it very clear that Jesus expects his followers to actively live out their faith. In using both salt and light, Jesus uses two things that make a difference. Salt makes a difference to the food that it touches; if it didn’t, why use it? There is a great amount of difference between working in the dark and working in the light; so much more can be done when the light is on.
So how is this teaching supposed to affect the lives of Christians? Jesus was saying that his followers were to be people who make a difference in the world. Faith is not something that you simply hold on to — it is to be the motivation to go out into the world and make a difference. And when that happens, others will see the faith that they have and in turn will glorify God.
There are a couple of underlying parts here that are worth mentioning. Christians are to be a force for good. We are not called to go around doing things just to do them. What we do needs to bring about good. And if we have any questions about what those kind of things may be, we can find answers in the rest of Jesus’ teachings. That is why it is important to know Jesus as fully as possible. It is easy to get confused and think that we are doing good things and end up doing the opposite of what Jesus teaches us.
The second part is that what we do should help others glorify God. We are not to act to glorify ourselves. Our good deeds are not to have others point to us, but to enable others to point to the Heavenly Father. The light we have received is very important. There are so many people in our world and in our community who are living in darkness. They are filled with despair and hopelessness and can’t see any good in their lives. Our light is meant to help others to see. But our light is the light of faith, so it is not meant so that others can see us; it is meant so that others can see beyond us to the God that we follow.
We are salt, we are light, because of our faith. It is not good enough to keep this all to ourselves. The world needs us. We can make a difference because of who we are and who we follow. Now is not the time to hide our light. And the lives of many people will be better if we can take this particular teaching of Jesus to heart.
Fr. Kenneth Taylor is pastor of Holy Angels Catholic Church and St. Rita Catholic Church. He can be reached at fatherkt@mailhaven.com.
