The Kingdom Movement

A Literary & Pastoral Study Guide to the Gospel of Matthew

The Inspiration of Matthew,

by Caravaggio

On the King's Errand

Devotional Reflections on Matthew's Gospel

Being Salt and Light, Part 1:  Mt.5:13 – 16

^5:13 You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. ¹⁴ You are the light of the world.  A city set on a hill cannot be hidden; ¹⁵ nor does anyone light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on the lampstand, and it gives light to all who are in the house. ¹⁶ Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

This passage demonstrates why I think the posture of Christian ‘culture warriors’ in the U.S. is misguided.  They think that Christians need to take control of government, media, schools, and companies in order to exercise influence in this culture.  What would Jesus have to say about that, based on the ‘salt and light’ passage?  Is spiritual influence really based on having some formal position of power and prestige?  No!  While it is always important to hold people in power accountable, and to thoughtfully hold out an ethic of justice, Christian influence is primarily based on Jesus transforming our character through the sequence in Mt.5:3 – 12.

          Jesus deliberately picks ‘salt’ and ‘light’ because you don’t need lots of salt or light.  You don’t need to pour tons of salt on your food.  Just a little bit will do just fine.  You don’t need a hundred light bulbs in your room.  One or two are enough.  In the same way, Jesus doesn’t need a lot of Christians in one place to have a big impact on that community.  Just one faithful Jesus-follower at a meal can season the whole experience.  And a few faithful Jesus-followers in a neighborhood, or in a school Parent-Teacher Association, or in a dorm, can shine.

For example, a student decided, with Jesus, to not get drunk at parties anymore.  She felt like she needed to stop trying to escape something that was bothering her (in her case, the emotional weight of her mom’s cancer treatment back at home).  Her drinking buddies felt mixed; some were supportive; others felt judged.  She tried to explain her decision, and said she was still committed to them as friends, and they had a variety of responses.  All appreciated her openness, low-key manner, and desire to ‘care for herself,’ as they put it.  A few still felt like she was withdrawing from them by not being their drinking buddy.  But some of them gave thought to the type of friendship they had, and made an effort to deepen their friendships, too.  This student continued to grow as she realized how much she had relied on alcohol for friendship.  And the story of their friendship continues.  Jesus is having an impact through her.

Jesus showed us what healthy influence is and is not by his temptations in the wilderness (Mt.4:1 – 11).  Jesus refused to turn stones into bread, implying having some ability to buy people’s votes by giving them food.  He refused to jump off the Temple tower and have angels catch him before he fell, implying having the power to do miraculous stunts and be spectacular.  He refused to share in Satan’s authority over the nations, implying sheer power for its own sake.  Jesus refused to lead men and women out of an ego-boosting posture.  Even efficiency was not the most important criterion for Jesus, because efficiency tends to enshrine power, celebrity, and wealth to accomplish an end supposedly superior to those means.  But in the process, efficiency always becomes its own god, even when it promises to point to another. 

Have you never heard someone suggest that we should first evangelize powerful, attractive, rich people because they will have more influence over other people than do disenfranchised, lowly, and poor people?  Put so bluntly, the elitism and enshrining of power, celebrity, and wealth become obvious.  Yet most of the time, we only think such things quietly to ourselves, afraid to face the absurdity of our own thinking.  However, Jesus’ effectiveness and that of his people does not ultimately depend on power, celebrity, and wealth.  It depends on us going through, with Jesus, a process of humble transformation which he described in Mt.5:3 – 12. 

Paul said to the Corinthians, who came from a culture that valued status, power, and prestige, ‘For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong…’ (1 Cor.1:26 – 27). 

You may feel outnumbered today.  But does that matter?