5th Sunday of Year A
February 6, 2005
Matt 5:13-16

The severe, uncompromising tone of the Sermon on the Mount appears here for the first time.

In two metaphors Jesus defines the disciples as indispensable, for they are the transmitters of the message of the Kingdom. Their role is crucial. As food without salt is tasteless and the world without light lies in darkness, so the whole of society is harmed if the disciples neglect their function. Yet the text dwells more on the responsibility of the disciples than on any hint that because of their "failure" the Kingdom might fail to arrive. It seems that the disciple, inserted as an instrument into the divine plan, is in no position to handicap the realization of God's will.

a) Salt of the World
The basis of comparison is left to the reader. But the image of "the salt of the earth" losing its taste is quite meaningless if by "the earth" the soil is meant. Parallelism with kosmos in 5:14 shows that here, as in many other passages of this gospel (6:19; 9:6; 10:34; 12:42; 17:25, 24:35 etc.), "the earth" means the world. The disciples are for the world what salt is for food; they are small in quantity, but their presence is decisive for the "taste" -- the value -- of the whole. Salt physically does not lose its taste by disintegrating or breaking down, but it can be diluted and lose its salty flavor. The verb used by Matthew (moranthe = becomes foolish) is difficult to translate, but could be understood to refer to taste becoming "foul." In that case one might think of contaminated salt which tastes "rotten" in contrast to its role as a preservative in pre-modern society. If your salt itself becomes contaminated and tastes corrupted, by what can it be "salted" -- preserved from acquiring such a taste? The phrase sounds like a popular saying used in various contexts. It expresses the paradoxical situation that comes about whenever the very means by which good is to be achieved becomes bad and thus the damage is beyond repair. If the disciples entrusted with the Kingdom fail, the world is beyond rescue. The second half of the sentence continues with a metaphor of judgment. Just as useless salt must be thrown away and trampled underfoot, the disciple failing his role becomes the object of divine rejection and condemnation.

b) Light of the World
The application of the comparison is left largely unexplained. Yet two unrealistic images reveal the meaning of the metaphor as it is contrasted to what cannot take place: a city on a mountaintop is never hidden from sight, and a lamp is never hidden under a bushel basket.

The metaphor is then ultimately explained in the form of an exhortation: the good deeds of the disciples should shine in public so that all people who see them will glorify the heavenly Father. Their role, therefore, goes beyond that of giving good example: their public witness proves the arrival of God's grace and elicits attitudes of gratitude and praise. It is interesting to note, that the concluding words ("your father who is in heaven") correspond to the opening phrase of the Our Father.

 [