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n eight short beatitudes Jesus described the character of a true disciple. A true disciple was a spiritually poor and mourning man before God. He longed to be like God and he would suffer for it. Jesus wanted the transfixed crowd on the hillside to know the inner characteristics of a disciple and the cost. But Jesus was not finished. He moved on to describe the responsibility of a true disciple to his world. Jesus did not encourage the disciples to withdraw from the world and hide in Christian social groups or self seclusion. This was the great error of Monasticism. It encouraged Christians to hide from the world in order to seek perfection or a higher level of religious experience through self denial, poverty, celibacy, and obedience. Jesus did not encourage the disciples to withdraw from the world.
You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how will it be made salty again? It is good for nothing anymore, except to be thrown out and trampled under foot by men. You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lamp stand; and it gives light to all who are in the house. 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. (NASB) Matthew 5:13-16 Salt of the Earth. In Jesus’ day salt was obtained from various places
including the Dead Sea. It was not pure salt since it was a mixture of other natural chemicals. Modern salt
is a combination of salt plus other chemicals. Salt was used in Jesus’ day to preserve food, flavor food,
and help seal a dirt roof against the rain, for example. It was common in ancient times for salt to be piled
in the streets when it was no longer useful. It is interesting to know that salt was used in ovens to cause
the fire to burn hotter. Even today, salt is sometimes used to fuel the fire until a chemical reaction occurs
that makes the salt useless. Pliny the Elder said,
The salt from the Dead Sea can lose its savory quality and become dull. Was Jesus referring to food salt or oven salt or something else? We do not know. But it is clear the crowd
knew about the useless “salt” in the streets.
The Greek word Jesus uses for “tasteless” is MORAINO. It is a curious word meaning “foolish,
to play the fool, insipid, dull, flat or deficient. In Rabbinic literature salt is associated with wisdom.
Did Jesus have a second meaning to His statement? Was He implying that a foolish disciple has no impact on
his world? While the statement is true, we do not know His intent. What is clear is that a saltless disciple
according to Jesus is good for nothing. Jesus did not stop there. He did not JUST say that a saltless disciple
was “good for nothing.” He said a saltless disciple was “good for nothing, except to be thrown
out and trampled under foot.” That describes how useless a tasteless disciple really is. Disciple, be
salty!
Light of the world. How can disciples know they are tasteless? Jesus answers
the question with the next story. He starts by telling them they are the “light of the world.” They
are like a city on top of a hill and like a lamp on a lampstand. Jesus is referring to common everyday things.
In Jesus day, there was a city called Safed in the north-west of Galilee. It was “a city set
on a hill” and could have been in view while Jesus was teaching. The Talmud tells us that it was a signal station
used to announce a new moon. Fire signals were used hill after hill to signal the coming of the new moon. This
city could not be hidden since its purpose was to be seen everywhere. |
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| Sermon on the Mount | |||||