# On the fourth Sunday of every month the assistant Pastor of the church, Nihei Mizuguchi, gives a series of lectures on The Sermon on the Mount, from the Gospel according to Matthew. Today’s lecture is part two of the series.

1. You are the salt of the earth

At the beginning of our series of the Sermon on the Mount we reflected upon ‘the Beatitudes’, which taught that the poor in spirit will be blessed. We meet God through poverty or illness, becoming humble and free from a self-centered mind. Today, the second lecture of the series, we contemplate “Salt and Light”. Salt was a very precious material in the ancient world.

For example, in the Imperial Roman period the solders were paid their wages with salt. The term “salt” is synonymous with foods such as, salads, sauce, sausage, etc. Salt is an important ingredient. It is used not only to season foods but also to conserve them. Besides, it is indispensable in keeping our body in good health. Humans can’t live without salt.

Jesus used salt as a comparison with the importance of His disciples in their given role: “You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men” (Matttew 5:13).

So, “saltiness” means their disposition to be Jesus’ followers. The message seems rather easy to understand, however we might learn other lessons and observations from the same verses in other Gospels, which could further interpret Jesus’ words.

Actually, we have 4 canonical Gospels which recorded Jesus’ teachings and ministries. Three of them, Mark, Matthew and Luke, are called the “Synoptic Gospels” because of their similarity of content. Presumably they are based on a common original source. And Mark’s writings, being the oldest, should be the one most close to the original source.

Matthew and Luke may have drawn from Mark’s gospel by adding supplementary information which each one obtained from the different sources. So if we find three similar episodes in common, we could, by comparing them, get a better insight into what Jesus really said.

“Salt and Light” is one of the common elements of these passages. So I will try to compare the verse from Matthew, 5:13, with those of Mark and Luke’s writings.

Mark might consider the salt as an allusion to the last judgement. Please take a look at this passage from Mark: “If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than with two hands to go into hell, where the fire never goes out” ( Mark 9:43).

Then concerning the verse in which we are studying today, “Everyone will be salted with fire. “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with each other” (Mark 9:49-50).

Salt is mentioned also in the Old testament as a purging material, “Season all your grain offerings with salt. Do not leave the salt of the covenant of your God out of your grain offerings; add salt to all your offerings” (Levitics 2:13). Salt, it seems was used to preserve grain offerings from decay.

So considering the context of Mark’s writing with the verses of Leviticus, we are led to suppose that Jesus’ original tone was a very severe one.

As for Luke, he referred to the same parable in another scene, after Jesus set out the conditions required of His authentic followers. “In the same way, any of you who does not give up everything he has cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33).

Then, considering the verse we are interested in today,"Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out. “He who has ears to hear, let him hear"¡ÊLuke 14:34-35).

In that context we could suggest, “the salt which lost its saltiness” indicates the disciples who can’t give up everything to follow Jesus. In other words, those who seek their own satisfactions can’t be useful for ministries. Luke may say, If they want to be faithful disciples they must be ready to live like Jesus. We find the severity something similar to Mark’s stance.

Now we focus on Matthew’s position. After reading from Mark and Luke’s writings, we can see another point of view to Matthew’s expressions. Matthew says “You are the salt of the earth” (5:13), not ” you will become the salt of the earth”.

It means disciples are already qualified as salt, having the same importance for humankind. In the preceding verses, Jesus gave eight conditions to be blessed, and He said the kingdom of heaven is for the poor in spirit. But “the poor in spirit” are also those who suffer in the earthly world. So, Matthew in effect addresses such suffering people, “you, Jesus’ suffering followers, are sound and sane, and you are the very salt which preserves the world from decay.”

Matthew softened the harshness of Mark’s allusion to the last judgement, and Luke’s expression of, “giving up everything”. So, thanks to Matthew, the parable sounds less demanding for us. We can interpret the passage in Matthew as an encouragement to practice instructions given on the Sermon on the Mount.

Because, if we listen to Jesus’ teaching without practicing His advice, we may be thrown out like salt that has lost its taste. Thus, Matthew’s approach was to make Jesus’ teachings more acceptable to us.

2. You are the light of the world

In the following verse, Matthew calls the disciples “the light of the world”. Originally the word “the light” represented Jesus in accordance with allegories of “a lamp on a stand” and “a city on a hill”. And the parable of ” a lamp” is recorded in all three of the Synoptic Gospels.

Mark placed it in the passage concerning the arrival of the Savior and, in the original Greek text, the subject of the phrase is the light, ¦¬ή¦Ó¦É ἔ¦Ñ¦Ö¦Å¦Ó¦Á¦É ὁ ¦Ëύ¦Ö¦Í¦Ïς*. The Bible, Basic English Version, respects the structure ** “And he said to them, When the light comes in, do people put it under a vessel, or under the bed, and not on its table?” ( Mark 4:21 ).

So “a lamp” should have designated initially only Christ, which John’s scripture shows rather obviously, “The true light that gives light to every man was coming into the world” (John 1:9). As you see the light is the subject of the phrase. In contrast, Matthew and Luke added other interpretations, with an expression “putting the light in the right place”. That expression suggests the disciples also play a role of spreading the light.

I think Matthew wrote the Gospel not only to record and spread Jesus’ ministries and teachings, but also to exhort believers, through Jesus’ words, to diffuse that light all over the world. In deed, I have gained a strong impression that Christians could be the emitters of great light.

I remember when I came back from China in 1946, after the defeat of Japan in World War II. I had been enlisted, and sent to China almost at the end of the War. At that time, life in Japan was miserable and all the news was very depressing. For example burglaries committed by former soldiers, jobs with extremely low payments, or living our daily lives in an air-raid shelter, or even in a foxhole.

Despite all of this, Christians who had been under the risk of oppression during the war, began to preach on the corners of the city streets, like a hidden light which was put on a stand. Their courage and positive energy attracted and led me to a church. And I received Baptism soon after.

3. The message to us

Matthew made a summary of the instructions about the life of a Christian, as being given as the fulfillment of the Law. It begins with a prohibition of murder, adultery, divorce, and oath in vain, and revenge. These interdictions are not only about external behaviors, but also covers our insight. Then, Jesus’ teachings go so far as to compel one to love our enemies, which is largely beyond our human thinking. We are exhorted to entrust all of our existence to God.

The light which should be diffused by disciples all over the world is God’s glory. But Matthew’s scripture reveals to us an undesirable reality of the church at that time, facing the risk of numerous false teachings, which were far from Jesus’ original teaching. So much so, Matthew compels believers to choose a life which is about representing God’s glory faithfully. The Gospel in the form of Matthew’s testimony, appeals to a real faith through Jesus words and acts.

To conclude today’s lecture I chose John 12:24-25 as the invocation verses, ” I tell you the truth, unless a kernel of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed. But if it dies, it produces many seeds. The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life.”

A kernel of wheat can produce many seeds by sprouting but the kernel itself disappears under the ground. If stored in a warehouse it remains there in vain, and it will eventually die. By dying on the Cross Jesus gave birth to innumerable lives. Each one of us is given such a life. So we should act for Jesus in offering ourselves in return. Salt, seasons and conserves foods, then, disappears, absorbs and melts away. Light enlightens the house, however light itself can’t receive the spotlight.

Actually, we ask ourselves how we can choose such a life, a complete altruistic life. During the Church history, christians made successive mistakes and errors, even sinned. Nevertheless, through such defeats, a few exceptional people appeared, who led a life according to Jesus’ teachings given on the Sermon on the Mount.

They remained profoundly faithful even living under harsh circumstances, in spreading God’s love all over the world. St. Francis of Assisi or Mother theresa, for example. If the calling is given in a severe tone as used by Mark, we would feel frightened and try to escape.

Luke’s stance is similar to Marks’. But almost all of us are weak humans. We cannot give up everything to follow Jesus. Even knowing that reality, Matthew recorded Jesus’ words in this way, “You are the salt of the earth, you are the light of the world”.

And that allows us to think about the following words “even though you are only a jar of clay. Because it contains treasure, you are the light of God.” Thanks to that encouragement, we can continue to make the effort to spread God’s love and light all over the world.
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* http://www.greekbible.com/index.php
**http://basicenglishbible.com/mark/4.htm

Ref: treasures in jars of clay, 2 Cor. Chap. 4