Salt and Light. Matt 5: 13-16
The ultimate accolade my late grandfather could give to someone was "they are the salt of the earth!". Some who proved themselves to be good and decent were so described. The Lord uses to very common things in the Gospel to refer to disciples; light and salt. Both were simple every day phenomena, both were essential for life.
There is a story of a king with three daughters. The kings wife had died and he knew he could not go on for ever. One day, in front of his court in a very King Lear style, he asked them how much they loved him. The one who showed she loved him most was to succeed him on the throne. The first gave a speech on gold and how her love was like the gold of the treasury. The second said her love was like the army-strong, faithful, never failing. The third, the youngest, shyly said her love was like salt. The King was furious. How could she love him as much as salt, that worthless thing. She was his favourite and he wanted her to be queen, but now, how could it be? He was shamed in front of his officials and the nobles of his kingdom. So he banished her to the highest tower of his castle, never to be seen again.
In her room she sat on the bed crying when an angel appeared to her. The angel asked what was wrong, and she duly explained. "Your father, despite all his power, is a stupid man"said the angel. "We will have to show him what you meant. Imagine all the salt of his kingdom was to disappear." And with that every grain of salt in the land 'lost its saltiness'. There was no salt for cooking. All the meat preserved in salt began to perish. The sea changed. Animals died. People got sick. The world was in chaos.
After a few days the king came to his senses. He realised he had been wrong and summoned his daughter. "I have been so wrong" he said. "I now know what your love means, forgive me." And the saltiness returned.
Salt and light. So simple, so common, so everyday. Without them we could not survive. As we listen to the Gospel, we should keep in mind that our Christian witness is the same; taken for granted, but vital. If we remove Christ from our lives and society, the void must be filled with something else. If not with light, then with darkness. Now more than ever we must (imperative!) be salt and light. With God's grace, we will remain faithful the scripture and the breaking of bread.
I am so tempted to steal this! :)
ReplyDeleteThis is one of those passages where we hear Christ speaking to His disciples about His hope for them, and as best as I can tell, He's telling them that they should live beautiful lives. He talks about the 'good deeds' of his disciples, but the commentaries tell me that the word he uses for good - kalos - also carries with it the idea of beauty and attractiveness. That's why we remember the saints - they live the kind of beautiful lives that fascinate us and attract us to God.