{"id":17621,"date":"2023-02-05T07:54:57","date_gmt":"2023-02-05T12:54:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/?p=17621"},"modified":"2023-02-05T07:54:58","modified_gmt":"2023-02-05T12:54:58","slug":"my-reflection-on-sundays-gospel-matthew-513-16","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.splendoroftruth.com\/curtjester\/2023\/02\/my-reflection-on-sundays-gospel-matthew-513-16\/","title":{"rendered":"My Reflection on Sunday’s Gospel Matthew 5:13\u201316"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Matthew 5:13\u201316<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

13<\/sup> \u00a0\u201cYou are the salt of the earth,\u00a0but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people\u2019s feet.<\/p>

14<\/sup> \u00a0\u201cYou are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.15<\/sup> \u00a0Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.\u00a016<\/sup> \u00a0In the same way, let your light shine before others, so\u00a0that they may see your good works and\u00a0give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

Matthew 5:13\u201316 ESV – Bible Gateway<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

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Last week the lectionary covered the Beatitudes in the first part of the Sermon on the Mount<\/em>, this week we continue on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This Gospel passage is relatively short, and yet, there is so much to mine here. The hearers of the Beatitudes would have had much to think about what being a disciple of Jesus meant. Jesus here specifies that this is not just something interior to reflect on. This interior change must reflect through all your life as a witness to others. To move out of ourselves to not only absorb and live his teachings, but to lead others to give glory to God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To an extent, we can take in some of the imagery Jesus is using here in these metaphors of salt and light. There is a dimension here that would pass by most of us if we do not understand these metaphors as related to the Old Testament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some commentaries I read delved into this aspect as related to the Temple and the sacrifices, but I especially liked how Dr. John Bergsma summarizes this.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this passage about the disciples as \u201csalt\u201d and \u201clight,\u201d Jesus makes generous use of Temple imagery that goes unnoticed by most contemporary readers. The image of \u201csalt\u201d is related to the Temple because the priests made heavy use of salt, sprinkled on the sacrifices and elsewhere, as a symbol of purity and as a seasoning and preservative for the sacrificial meat intended for human consumption. Apparently it was also used in covenant rituals because the Chronicler speaks of the kingdom of the LORD being given to the House of David by a \u201ccovenant of salt\u201d (2 Chr 13:5; see also Num 18:19<\/em>). So salt is rich in ideas of purity, preservation, covenant fidelity, proper worship, and savor. \u201cSalt \u2772that\u2773 loses its taste\u201d would be salt from which any true sodium has leached out, leaving behind only other minerals and impurities, fit only to be used for traction on roads.<\/p>

\u201cLight\u201d was also associated with the Temple, for on the basis of prophecies like Zechariah 14:7\u20138, the Jews believed that in the end times, the Temple would be the source of continual light for the people of Israel. This belief was enacted each year at the great Temple feast, the Festival of Tabernacles, during which the Temple courts were lit up twenty-four hours a day by huge menorahs that had to be lit by young men on ladders. Jewish tradition describes \u201cno shadow being in Jerusalem\u201d during these ancient celebrations. It was during or just after this Feast of Tabernacles (John 7:2<\/em>) that Jesus taught his disciples, \u201cI am the light of the world\u201d (John 8:12<\/em>).<\/p>

A \u201ccity set on a mountain\u201d is a clear reference to the Temple city Jerusalem, the most famous \u201ccity set on a mountain\u201d in all Israel. In fact, the ridgeline on which Jerusalem sits is one of the highest in all the traditional territory of Israel, with the result that travel to Jerusalem was typically described as \u201cgoing up\u201d (Hebrew \u2018alah<\/em>) to Zion, since one literally had to ascend to the city from almost any other location. The Temple, in turn, was built on the highest point of the ancient city, dominating the skyline.[1]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Dr. Brant Pitre points out:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 the cereal offering is is a translation of the Hebrew word minchah<\/em>, which literally means just a bread or a grain offering. So you had these cereal offerings that would often be offered to God in the form of a caked bread\u2014sometimes mixed with oil\u2014and interestingly often offered on the altar with bread and wine, so as an offering of bread and wine. So it was kind of like a meal that you would share with God. So the salt is added to the cereal offering to signify the covenant banquet between you and God. It is something that is essential for a sacrifice that is being offered to the Lord. \u201cWith all your offerings you shall offer salt,\u201d Leviticus says. So there may be a deeper meaning going on when we go back to the Sermon on the Mount.[2]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

This helps us to see the dimension of how we pour out our life in sacrifice for the Lord. In the opening verses in Romans 12, St. Pauls writes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

12<\/strong>  I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2<\/sup>  Do not be conformed to this world, _ but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect. [3]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

St. Thomas Aquinas, in his commentary on the Gospel of Matthew, addresses the sacrificial sense and dives into the spiritual sense of salt as used here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He says, therefore: You are the salt<\/strong>. He compares them to salt on account of four reasons. The first reason is on account of the production of salt, which comes from both the wind and the sun\u2019s heat: for spiritual generation is from the water of Baptism and the power of the Holy Ghost; \u201cUnless a man be born again of water and the Holy Ghost, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God\u201d (Jn. 3, 5<\/em>). And the production of salt comes from the heat of the sun, meaning from the fervor of love which is from the Holy Ghost; \u201cThe charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost who is given to us\u201d (Rom. 5, 5<\/em>). Secondly, it is on account of the utilities of salt, of which the first is its use, that all things are seasoned with salt: hence, it signifies the wisdom which apostolic men ought to have; \u201cThe wisdom of doctrine is according to her name, and she is not manifest unto many, but with them to whom she is known, she continueth even to the sight of God\u201d (Eccli. 6, 23<\/em>), and, \u201cWalk with wisdom towards them that are without, redeeming the time\u201d (Col. 4, 5<\/em>). The second use: was that in every sacrifice salt was added (Lev. 2, 13<\/em>),: because apostolic teaching ought to be reflected in our every deed. The third use is that it absorbs excess moisture and by this preserves from putrefaction. In this way the Apostles were restraining carnal concupiscences by their teaching; \u201cThe time past is sufficient to have fulfilled the will of the Gentiles, for them who have walked in riotousness, lusts, excess of wine, revellings, banquetings and unlawful worshipping of idols\u201d (I Pet. 4, 3<\/em>), and, \u201cLet us walk honestly, as in the day: not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and impurities, not in contention and envy\u201d (Rom. 13, 13<\/em>). The fourth effect of salt is that it makes the ground sterile. Hence, it is said that some conquerors oversowed salt outside a city which they captured so that nothing would grow. In like manner, also the Gospel teaching makes the ground sterile, namely, so that earthly works do not spring up in us; \u201cAnd have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness: but rather reprove them\u201d (Eph. 5, 11<\/em>). Therefore, the Apostles are called salt<\/strong> because they have pungency for withdrawing from sins; \u201cHave salt in you: and have peace among you\u201d (Mk. 9, 49<\/em>).[4]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

The Ignatius Catholic Study Bible remarks concerning verse 5:16:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEarlier chapters make no mention of the Fatherhood of God. In the Sermon on the Mount, however, Jesus calls God \u201cFather\u201d a total of 17 times (chaps. 5\u20137<\/em>). \u201c and \u201cGod\u2019s Fatherhood is the deepest mystery of his identity; from eternity he fathers a divine Son (Jn 1:1<\/em>), and throughout history he adopts us as his children in Christ (Jn 1:12; Gal 4:4\u20137<\/em>).\u201d[5]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Two other aspects to cover are how Jesus calls us the \u201cLight of the World\u201d and that he is also the \u201cLight of the World\u201d along with us showing our good works to others instead of keeping them in secret.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Dr. Peter Kreeft:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026Another reason these two sayings of Jesus don\u2019t contradict each other, the sayings about letting our light shine before men and about doing our good deeds in secret, is that they are addressed to different occasions, different states of mind. When we are in danger of cowardice, Jesus tells us to let our light shine; when we are in danger of pride, he tells us to pray in secret. When we\u2019re down on ourselves he brings us up, and when we\u2019re up on ourselves he brings us down. Why? Because Jesus is the perfect mirror of God the Father; and God is love; and love always wills the good of the loved one; and the good of the loved one is his needs, not his wants; and his need is always to be delivered from both despair and pride, both cowardice and arrogance, both self-defeatism and self-satisfaction, both self-hate and self-love. [6]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

And lastly Dr. Brant Pitre:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So is Jesus the light of the world or are the disciples the light of the world?\u201d The answer is yes, it\u2019s both, it\u2019s both-and, it\u2019s a classic Catholic both-and. It\u2019s not that Jesus is the light or we are the light, it is both. The light that the disciples are going to shine in the world only comes through their union with, an imitation of, Jesus. He is the source of all of the light of the Gospel, but it is going to shine through his disciples and out into the world because of them. That\u2019s the imagery being used here.[7]<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Sources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n