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Human Beings Before Human Doings
"Jesus says this before anyone has proven anything.
Before the disciples have healed the sick.
Before they have understood the parables.
Before they have stayed awake when it mattered most.
'You are the salt of the earth.'
'You are the light of the world.'
Not you will be.
Not you should be.
You are.
I notice how hard that is for me to receive.
When my body is tired.
When pain limits what I can do.
When grief makes my voice quieter than it used to be.
I am tempted to believe that saltiness is measured by productivity, and light by intensity. That if I am not strong, visible, or effective in the ways the world rewards, then maybe I have lost my usefulness.
Jesus says otherwise.
Salt does not shout.
It dissolves.
It disappears into the ordinary.
It preserves what would otherwise decay.
Light does not argue.
It does not force open eyes.
It simply refuses to be hidden.
Jesus speaks these words to people living under occupation, under pressure, under surveillance. Visibility was risky. Faithfulness carried consequences. And still, he does not invite them into hiding. He invites them into presence.
Not dominance.
Not withdrawal.
Presence.
What strikes me is that Jesus entrusts public witness to wounded people.
To the poor in spirit.
To those who mourn.
To the meek and the hungry.
He does not wait for them to be whole.
That matters to me.
Because some days the most faithful thing I can do is show up honestly.
To tell the truth about my limits.
To resist the lie that usefulness requires perfection.
To believe that quiet faithfulness still changes the atmosphere.
Salt loses its power not by being used up, but by losing its distinctiveness.
Light is not meant to be impressive, only faithful.
Jesus is not forming heroes.
He is forming a people.
A people whose lives make God’s mercy believable.
A people whose goodness points away from themselves.
A people who illuminate the world not by blinding it, but by helping it see.
And maybe that is enough for today."
(Go here for above Salt and Light image)
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