It is the very first century, and Jesus, the rumored messiah is on tour. Droves of people are following and listening attentively to Him as he goes through towns and cities teaching and explaining to them the things that really mattered in the right there and then realities of their lives. It must have been very intriguing, very engaging because the gospel narratives do not for one moment pause in their moving scenes of Jesus’ interfacing, and careful teachings with real life applications. In Mat 5:13, 14 Jesus addresses His followers as the Salt of the earth, the Light of the world, and a City on a hill, with a mandate to show out the goodness of God and His great plan of salvation to a dark troubled world. Jesus referred to His followers as representatives of His heavenly father here on the earth. He told them they were called to go viral and infect the earth, to salt, flavor, and preserve it. It is very interesting, to say the least, that Jesus highlighted the fact that if they lacked salinity they were of no good. Jesus places a very high premium on being not just salt, but salted, or salty. Without that salinity they would be bland and just blend in and go with the current flow of the system of this world.
From whatever perspective this deliberate discourse of Jesus is viewed, it is evident that people on every spectrum of society, everywhere, even at this present time are desperately seeking clarity, definition, and illumination for life. In verse 14 Jesus likens His followers to light. It is God’s intended purpose for His church to shed light in this dark broken world. Light to dispel darkness. Light to bring resolve. Light to illuminate and to show the way. Without light there is complete darkness with no end of misery, all kinds of stumbling, falling, destruction, dysfunction, pain and suffering. Here Jesus is pointedly explaining the dire need for light. This general call to all who dare to follow Jesus still remains, as a matter of fact, Jesus is still saying the same thing, those same words. Anyone who starts this blessed journey to follow Jesus starts with a conversion, a spiritual awakening, also called a new birth. When a person is converted, they are immediately outfitted, and equipped, and charged (whether they realize it or not) to light and salt their sphere in this world, whether it is in the marketplace, the workplace, at school, the university, across the street, wherever they are stationed and functioning.