THE COMMANDMENTS OF JESUS - 101

Alcove - Tybee Island Lighthouse
Tybee Island, Georgia

JESUS ON THE MOUNT – Salt & Light

A PREJUDICE FOR ACTION

Knowing what we know now about how Jesus approached his own ministry, it should be no surprise that he holds his followers to that same standard.  With this in mind, consider the initial teaching he uses to launch this mountainside discourse.

Living in a world of artificial lighting and numerous food preservation and seasoning options, it is difficult for the 21^st century mind to fully comprehend the concepts Jesus uses to describe the mission of the Jesus-follower in that (and our own) society.  Salt and light are so passé to our thinking that we can miss the importance of them to a culture where darkness had its own terror, and corruption caused by a lack of or failed preservatives could destroy a family’s perishable provisions in short order.

Pre-Christian notions of darkness can be seen in the way the concepts of light and dark are used in biblical accounts.  Light is portrayed as all that is godly and pure while darkness is relegated to the evil and to be feared.  The fact that this dichotomy no longer holds the same meaning for current day readers does not lessen the impact of Jesus’ words for us.  The reality behind the concepts is just as real in 21^st century as it was in the 1^st.

Yet, even in our contemporary society, darkness can still strike terror in souls without hope and ruined lives experience hopelessness when they find themselves defenseless in a world of corruption.  Salt and light as used here are not so much literal as they are personal; they refer to those persons who respond in faith to the call of Jesus to “be” salt and light.  As such, they are not just pew-sitters or do-gooders; they are those who will serve their purpose in the midst of the world to make a contribution to kingdom by drawing attention to it.

In that regard, we are to have a prejudice for action.  In verse 15, Jesus points out that men do not light a candle and put it under a bushel. Yet when we claim to have to good news of the gospel and don’t take the necessary steps to make sure that news gets out, is this not the same kind of action to which Jesus refers here.  Salt as well, if it is either left out to go “bad” or is altogether unapplied, makes no sense.

COMING UP AGAINST THE “CW”

The conventional wisdom (or CW) of that and every generation since is to keep your heads low, keep plodding forward, avoid making waves or rocking the boat.  This may be comfortable but is it what Jesus intended for his followers?  Apparently not, based on his words here.  Jesus was one to expose the CW of the Pharisees, of the synagogue, of the scribes and of even his own disciples when they tempted people to follow a lesser vision.

So it is that, as the Beatitudes prepared readers for a different way of thinking, the “Salt & Light” teaching prepares us for a different way of acting.  The teachings that follow in chapters 5 thru 7 of Matthew serve to accentuate this and challenge our own CW.  We too need to accept the daily challenge to begin and/or continue to "think Jesusly".

NEXT POST – The Law and the Prophets; Aren’t they SO Old Testament?