Jesus now talks about influence. He talks about salt and light.

Salt seasons. It preserves. It melts ice. It helps make homemade ice cream. It corrodes paint. It makes water undrinkable. Attached to your arm, it makes the same water support life. It is simple. It is natural. It is found in lots of locations, from deep underground to deep in your veins.

Light illuminates. When it is in the distance, like a lighthouse, it helps you find where you are. When it is in your hand, like a lantern, it helps you see your path. When it is in your eyes, like a floodlight, it is blinding. When you are trying to hide, it is painfully revealing. In a fireplace, it is delightful. In the attic, it is devastating.

Jesus talks about being the salt of the earth and then talks about salt losing its flavor.

I don’t understand. I mean, I understand the metaphor – if salt ever were to lose its saltiness, it would be worthless. But I don’t know if it ever could happen. If you search online for salt and light, you get thousands of sermons on this text. Lots of preachers explain this metaphor, but I still don’t exactly understand. I just know that Jesus says that the people who live with this new routine will have a life-giving influence.

On the other hand, I think that if I heard Jesus talk about light, I’d get the point. He talks about the pointlessness of a light that is under a basket. I do understand that. A basket over a lamp hides it. Until, of course, the basket catches on fire and burns up everything around.

With these two images of absurdities of salt and light, Jesus says, “Be what you are made to be, do what you are made to do.”

In other words, routinely live following him.

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Matthew 5:13-16

Taken from Learning a new routine. Reading the Sermon on the Mount a little bit at a time, newly available in paperback.