The Sermon on the Mount - Salt and Light

Recap - Sermon on the Moun

The Sermon on the Mount is a collection of Jesus’ teachings and is found in Matthew 5-7

The sermon on the mount speaks about what Jesus means when he says that the Kingdom of Heaven has come upon the earth.

Jesus also explains what it looks like to participate in His Kingdom

Recap - The Beatitudes

Last week we started looking at the introduction of the sermon on the mount, which is the beatitudes.

Remember the introduction of the sermon on the Mount presents Jesus’ speaking about the identity of the people who are part of His Kingdom.

The beatitudes presents a surprising announcement to the people. Jesus invites the people to experience “The Good Life” of God’s Kingdom.

The Greek word is Makarios and the Hebrew word is Ashrey

Tim Mackie of the bible project suggests that the word “Blessed” in the beatitudes can more accurately be translated as “The Good Life”

Jesus presents a group of people who are low and outcasts in society who suffer for the sake of righteousness and strive for peace. But surprisingly Jesus makes special mention of them first being invited into the “good life” of the Kingdom of God.

the poor in spirit

the grievers

the unimportant

the hungerers

the merciful

the pure in heart

the peacemakers

the persecuted

the misunderstood

Today we will look at the rest of the introduction of the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus describes His followers as the salt and light of the world

Text

Matthew 5:13–16 ESV

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, 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 who is in heaven.

Salt of the earth

In Jesus’ day, there were no fridges. Therefore there needed to be a way to preserve food.

One of the most common of these ways was by using salt.

Therefore salt was literally used to sustain human life through keep food well preserved and fresh.

Salt would allow food to last for a very long time and it was a symbol for sustanence and life.

The covenant God had made with Israel was often described as a covenant of salt.

Leviticus 2:13 “You shall season all your grain offerings with salt. You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.”

This symbolized that God’s covenant of being in a relationship with Israel would last a very long time and bring them life.

With Jesus using the metaphor here of His people being the salt of the earth, what he meant was that His people were to be the covenant partners who represent Him and would spread the covenant around to the world.

His people would spread their salt to bring more and more people into the covenant

This is done by living in accordance with God’s covenant, to show others what i looks like to live as people of God and also spreading the good news of God’s kingdom with words.

Israel broke covenant

Israel had broken their covenant with God, as we see throughout the Old Testament and as a result they became “unsalty”.

This is what Jesus is referrring to in the second part of the verse about salt losing its taste and not being able to gain its saltiness again.

As a result, they were “stepped on” by the nations e.g. babylon and assyria

City on a Hill

Matthew 5:14–16 ESV

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, 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 who is in heaven.

This is a reference to a prophecy in Jeremiah where the prophet describes Jerusalem being restored as the city on the hill bringing light to the nations around it.

Jesus is the fulfillment of this prophecy.

He brings the glory of God that was in the temple to earth by coming to earth in the form of a man.

In addition His followers also carry His light.

Jesus calls His followers to shine their light so that people could see their good works and glory God

Light is also a metaphor for truth.

The followers of Jesus are to bring God’s truth to the world in word and deed

Application

In Christ, we have become covenant partners in God. We are the salt of the earth. Salt rarely loses its taste. If it does lose its saltiness, then it ceases to be salt. Jesus’ encouragement was for His people to live out being the salt of the world by being what they already are! We are to live out God’s covenant and bring people into the covenant by spreading our salt.

In Christ, we have also been given the light, i.e. the truth of the Gospel. We carry the truth of who God is and what He has done for us. Nobody lights a lamp and then hides it. They put it on a stand so it can bring light to everyone in the house. We must let our light shine before others by showing people that we belong to God’s Kingdom by our words and deeds.

Loving God

Loving others