A disciple’s vocation: Be salt and light! 

Frequently, a remarkably trustworthy, honest, and dependable person invites the characterization as being “the salt of the earth.” Such an individual has staying power in the community and is the one whom others turn to when the going gets rough. Jesus also uses the metaphor of salt, along with light, to say something about the nature of his followers. When he describes them as “salt” and also as “the light of the world,” he is not telling his disciples something they must become.  Jesus is informing them and us that, as his disciples, this is what they and we already are. Like salt’s capacity to enhance food and bring out its full flavor, those who have encountered Jesus and live according to his teachings act to enhance others’ lives and bring about the best in those individuals. Additionally, salt in the ancient world had always functioned as a preservative, ensuring the freshness of what could otherwise spoil. Hence, Jesus’ disciples work not only to promote but also preserve values such as justice, compassion, and care for one another, values that ensure humanity’s goodness and well-being.     

Jesus’ use of the metaphor of light to describe the role of his disciples also proves instructive.  Light is not something we actually see. Rather, light is that which enables us to see. So, Jesus intends that his disciples, as the “light of the world,” are the ones who enable others to see Jesus and the way of life he offers, the way that is salvation. Israel was called to be the “light to the nations.” The Jewish Christian community, who are the recipients of Matthew’s Gospel, were acutely aware of their nation’s history, especially the Babylonian conquest and destruction of Jerusalem in 587 BCE. Although the nation survived, David’s descendants no longer ruled over them and the rebuilt Temple lacked its ancient glory. Thus, Jesus reclaims the metaphor “light to the nations” as the dictum for his followers including us.  We are the “light to the nations.”  

In tandem with the Beatitudes that we heard Jesus proclaim last week, which called for the cultivation of a radically transformed interiority, this Sunday’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah offers further illumination on what it means to be that light.  He writes that the Lord invites us to concrete actions stemming from that transformed heart.  We are now summoned to share our bread with the hungry, shelter those who are oppressed or homeless, clothe the naked, and pay attention to those who are our own. Enlisting the metaphor of light, the prophet also assures us that such works cause our “light to break forth like the dawn” (Is 58:8). That is, our light has the potential to issue a new beginning for humanity, a different way of being for one another, a path navigated by care for each other.

Further, Paul instructs his Corinthian community and us that to do this, to be light, there is only one impetus that can propel the actions described by the prophet Isaiah. We must have faith and deep trust in the power of God. And who is this God about whom Paul and Jesus speak?  For the first time in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus refers to him as “your heavenly Father” (Mt 5:16).  Such an address suggests something about Jesus’ own theology, as well as serves as an invitation for us.  

We learn about Jesus as God’s incarnate manifestation, God-made-human and living among us. At the same time, many of us craft an idea of an elusive “out there, up there” being, beyond our reality, making it difficult to cultivate a relationship with the divine. Yet, Jesus’ description of God as Father not only reveals something about his own relationship with our heavenly Creator.  His reference to God as our heavenly Father suggests the closeness and availability of God to us, a closeness like that of a parent, namely, a father. Even for those of us who have not had a father figure or have had one who was less than optimal, Jesus’ own goodness and life of healing and caring assures the nature of the God whom he incarnates and thus reveals. Hence, the image of God as our heavenly Father allows us to consider the unfathomable possibility that a close relationship with God is not only possible but available and one permeated by love. And that seems to be a possibility worth contemplating!