Teaching of Jesus - On Salt and Light

Sermon On The Mount
Teachings of Jesus
Be Salt and Light to the World

(13) “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 trodden under foot by men.” (14) You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hid. (15) Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all the house. (16) Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good woks and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16)


Salt preserves, light reveals. In his teaching of Matthew 5:13-16 Jesus uses the terms salt and light as images to describe those who practice the Beatitudes, those who strive for personal holiness and for the holiness of others. 

As members of the Christian Church we live in the world but are not of the world. We are called by our Baptism to bring Christ’s Love and Truth to the world.  With the divine guidance of the Holy Spirit, one of the ways we do this by being salt and light.

Salt improves the taste or preserves the food it comes in contact with.  By imitating Christ our relationships with friends, family and society should improve and be preserved.

Salt generates thirst. By imitating Christ, our interactions with friends, family and society should create a thirst and desire in ourselves and others to know Jesus more intimately.

Salt is used to thaw ice on roads. By imitating Christ, our influence with friends, family and society should warm others hearts leading them to the source of our joy, which is our trust in God.



 

Through the guidance of the Holy Spirit, our actions of “salt” and “light” become a catalyst by which the goodness of God’s Truth and Love are mingled together in the lives of  family, friends and society "drawing all to a closer relationship with God our heavenly Father."

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Art
Salt and Light - Bernie Rosage Jr.