Richard Mallory

SALT AND LIGHT

Dear Beloveds of Christ Jesus,

Jesus makes declarative sentences. No ifs or buts. These are definitive statements. “You already are light.” “You already are salt.” Know it. Stop pretending otherwise. Be brave. Own it.

Don’t hold back. The world needs your light. The world needs your saltiness. Light and salt that does not call attention to themselves. A higher purpose exists. The needs of the world could be overwhelming and when that occasional overwhelm arrives, we all need reminders of gospel truth to reset our balance, our discipleship, and reorientation back to Jesus of Nazareth.

“This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine” yet little lights can be snuffed out if not tended. Salt can lose its essence if ignored long enough. That light and salt exists for the sake of the world that Christ came to save. New Testament scholar Amy Jill Levine, orthodox Jewish woman and teacher of Christian seminarians at Vanderbilt Divinity School, says these assertions about us as being light and salt bearers in the Sermon on the Mount are meant to help us know the potential that lies within us.  

We can then ask compassionately and directly of ourselves how we are shining, enhancing, brightening and making more alive our own little slice of life that is ours to tend. In the Gospel of John, Jesus says that he is the Light of the world. Matthew and John complement one another. Salt and light are the ingredients of creating God’s dream for the world.   

Implications abound in contemplating what “growth in Christ” means along with allowing Holy Spirit to lead. We are the Body of Christ when we share saltiness and light with one another and those we seek to serve in his name. We find blessing when we allow Spirit to lead us to our own version of saltiness and light. That space is none other than the peace which passes all understanding that is to be shared with all neighbors.

In Christ,

—Richard