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Matthew 5:13-20
Sunday’s Gospel opens with words many of us know by heart: You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world. Not try to be. Not someday you might become.
Jesus speaks in the present tense.
You already are.
Salt and light sound gentle, even quaint, until we slow down and remember what they actually do. Salt preserves. It draws out flavor. It keeps what is precious from spoiling. Light exposes what hides in shadow. It guides the lost. It makes a way where there seemed to be none.
In other words, Jesus is not offering compliments. He is commissioning disciples.
This teaching arrives early in Matthew’s Gospel, just after the Beatitudes. Before the disciples have organized committees or built sanctuaries. Before they feel ready. Jesus looks at ordinary people and says, This is who you are in the world.
Salt does not exist for itself. Light does not shine inward. Both are meant to be spent.
And here is where the passage presses on us.
Jesus does not invite a quiet faith. He does not bless a spirituality that stays private or polite. He speaks of visibility. Of public goodness. Of lives shaped so clearly by love that others glimpse God through them.
“Let your light shine before others,” he says, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.”
Not for applause.
Not for ego.
But so that God’s goodness becomes harder to deny.
Then Jesus turns toward the Law, toward justice, toward righteousness, and makes something very clear. Faith is not merely what we believe. It is how we live. It is how we treat our neighbors. It is how we show up when systems are broken. It is how we refuse cruelty. It is how we practice mercy when it costs us something.
Jesus tells his followers that righteousness is not about checking religious boxes. It is about embodying God’s heart in real time. Loving boldly. Forgiving stubbornly. Choosing compassion when anger feels easier. Standing with the vulnerable. Telling the truth. Refusing to look away.
Salt that loses its saltiness is useless. Light hidden under a basket helps no one.
Those are strong words. They are not meant to shame us. They are meant to wake us up.
Friends, we are living in a moment that desperately needs salt and light. A moment when fear is loud, cruelty feels normalized, and many are exhausted by headlines and heartbreak. In times like these, Jesus does not call us to withdrawal. He calls us to presence. To integrity. To courage rooted in love.
You do not have to be perfect. You do not have to have all the answers. You simply have to keep showing up as people shaped by Christ.
Every act of kindness matters.
Every truth spoken in love matters.
Every prayer whispered in the dark matters.
Every stand taken for dignity matters.
This is how the world is seasoned.
This is how shadows are pierced.
Beloved, you are salt. You are light. Not someday. Now.
May we live like it.
In Christ,
Mo. Allison+
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