Sunday Readings: Isaiah 58.7-10; 1 Corinthians 2.1-5; Matthew 5.13-16
Jesus continues speaking to his disciples. “You are the salt of the earth, but what if salt loses its flavor? How can you restore its flavor? Then it is no good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.
You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hidden. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel basket. The place for a lamp is on a stand where it gives light to all in the house” (Matthew 5.13-14).
Jesus’ sermon on the mountain collects practical sayings for living as Jesus’ disciples. Kind, gracious, generous, respectful actions toward others invite the same in return.
The process of curing food eliminated dependence on its seasonal availability and allowed food to travel and be traded. At the time of Jesus, the Romans controlled all salt production in their empire.
The Latin word for salt issalarium; Roman soldiers received salarium as payment for their work. Salt was their salary. By comparing his disciples to salt, Jesus drew on their knowledge of the importance of salt in healing, cleaning, and curing.
Jesus also compares his disciples to light. Civil rights worker Fannie Lou Hamer was born in Mississippi, the granddaughter of slaves. Her family were sharecroppers—a position not that different from slavery. In 1962, when Ms. Hamer was 44 years old, she attended a voter registration meeting. To her surprise she learned that African Americans actually had the right to vote.
Fanny Lou Hamer understood that voting was the first step to securing a decent life for people living in poverty. “I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired,” she often said. She answered to no one except God. Her rallying song of non-cooperation with systems that violated her was “This little light of mine, I’m going to make it shine.”
Ms. Hamer voted and worked to remove the yoke of segregation, pointed her finger at what was wrong, and addressed the evil inherent in a system that kept people hungry and homeless. She knew how to let her little light shine. We are to illuminate our society.
- Who affirms you are worth your salt?
- How does your light shine in your family? In your civic community? Parish?