Salt and Light

Normally I don't do exegesis on this blog. It's not that I can't, but its never really been a place where it has been relevant.

However, this past week I have been thinking about the concept of salt and light. In Matthew 5, in the midst of the beatitudes you get a section where Jesus uses a simile of Salt and Light. I always thought this passage was about Christians being useful in the world. It does have that connotation but is there more to the passage than just being good people.

It got me thinking about the role of salt and light. Salt in Ancient Near East was a currency of the powerful. Empires were built on the back of the salt trade. People even were paid with salt. If you did not have salt you couldn't preserve food, so salt in its essence was a symbol of power. Needless to say it also came from the dead sea (the origins will be important later)

Light was also a valuable commodity. Those who had it could extended their hours. Now light came from one source, Fire. Fire was hugely important for civilisati
on. You can just imagine how important it was :)

But here Jesus is saying you are like salt. Is he saying that salt is powerful? For those who hear this message who have no power, this becomes a message of hope. You have worth and value. You are part of God's currency. But in the same breath those who had power would have feared this message. If I have power and loose it, what do I become? I loose my identity and become worthless. I have come from the dead sea and now I am truly dead.

The idea of light fascinates me. It's the idea of holding on to power. No one puts a light under a bucket. This is not because it wont shine, it's because it will go out. Power when it is held onto and not shared has the potential to go out. So too those who are outside power have light and those who claim to have light can so easily lose it.

This idea of salt and light coupled with its place within in Chapter 5, really calls me to reevaluate how I see power in the world. Those who don't have power in my eyes are salt and light in God's kingdom. I on the other hand can easily loose what I deem to be important.