Being Salt and Light
Being Salt and Light
Matthew 5:13-16
November 9, 2025
Rev. Cynthia Cochran-Carney, First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael, CA
Jesus said, "You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot. "You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid.” New Revised Standard Version
“Let me tell you why you are here. You're here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You've lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand - shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. The Message
Our passage is part of the Sermon on the Mount. Most likely Matthew 5 -7 was a collection of Jesus’ sayings and teachings that were later edited together. If this had been one sermon, Jesus would have needed a very long scroll with notes. People would have become restless with a very long sermon…. unlike today.
In Matthew, Sermon on the Mount takes place fairly early in his ministry. Jesus has been baptized by John in the Jordan River, then taken to the wilderness where Satan tried to tempt him with worldly power and wealth. Jesus rebukes the tempter, saying we are to worship God alone, and not wealth or power, and he leaves the wilderness to begin preaching this message: “Repent! For the kingdom of God has come near”.
Matthew 5 begins with what we often call The Beatitudes. Blessed are they… Blessed are you… After this beautiful and often surprising list, Jesus tells us - plural – you all are salt of the earth and light to the world.
Salt
Let’s start with salt. These days we often hear about low salt or no salt diets. The importance of not eating too much sodium.
I was reviewing some of the history of salt. Salt has held such value in history. Roads were paved just to trade it, and the Latin word that gives us “salary” comes from the word “salt.” You are worth your salt. Salt has been extracted from the earth and from the ocean for thousands of years, and its value has often been equal to precious metals.
Salt is necessary for life. It’s a primary taste for humans. We often notice salt by its absence, or when there is too much. The “just right” amount of salt goes unnoticed. It brings out other flavors. And it can preserve food so it does not spoil.
“She was a salt of the earth kind of person. He was an authentic, salt of the earth man.” That is a description I hear people say sometimes about someone they love or admire. Often, it isn’t until a loved one has died that we realize the ways they were salt and light, the way they were blessing in our lives. It is in their absence that we notice something in our lives has gone a little flat and bland. Think about how salt might show up.
Remember that our tears are salty. Our tears may come in unexpected moments.
Our tears season our memories.
Our salty tears lead us through grief and loss.
Our tears for people who are hurting or suffering remind us that being salty means feeling compassion, empathy, & love, and holding a vision of the Beloved Community.
Salt doesn’t exist to preserve itself; it exists to preserve what is not itself…. Salt is meant to enhance, not dominate. Christian saltiness heals; it doesn’t wound. It softens; it doesn’t destroy….
Salt at its best sustains and enriches life. It pours itself out with discretion so that God’s kingdom might be known on the earth—a kingdom of spice and zest, a kingdom of health and wholeness, a kingdom of varied depth, flavor, and complexity.
Jesus’ Message - So don’t live a bland life. Be like salt. Be bold in your love of God, of yourself and your neighbor. Bring out the good in others.
Light
Let’s turn to the light. You are the light of the world. I can’t help but think of this verse that is sung in the musical “Godspell.” Remember it was basically Sermon on the Mount and other teachings of Matthew in a rock opera. In the stage and movie version, Jesus was portrayed as a long haired man wearing a superman t-shirt and suspenders. Bright, buoyant.
But how does one stay bright amidst what often feels like the unrelenting gloom of our times? Let’s listen again to our version -
“You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand.”
He is preaching to his followers and to us to shine a light - shine on those who are on the margins, in the shadows, told they have little value. Blessed are the poor in spirit in …. Blessed are the meek, Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake…
The Sermon on the Mount was as countercultural then as it is today. As a society, we still give honor and accord to wealth and status. We still shame and judge the poor. If you listen to the voices on the news this past week, criticizing the 42 million people in our country who lost access to SNAP food support because of the government shut down, we can see that ‘blessed are the poor’ is not something many of our elected leaders agree with Jesus about.
Following Jesus and his call to care for others will put us at odds with the world around us that builds lavish ballrooms while children go hungry.
You are the light of the world – Jesus said to his followers. I was hungry and you fed me – Jesus taught in a parable.
Maybe we have trouble seeing the light and holding onto it.
We’ve been surrounded by shadows and darkness these last several years — whether covered by thunderheads of political storms, the pall of a global pandemic, ideological tunnel-vision, or a thick tapestry of fake news and lies. There are a growing number of disturbing reports of ICE agents assaulting people who are not criminals in Chicago and Massachusetts. Women, children, men, preschool teachers, high school students. This is not just immigration practice.
Where is the light? Where is our hope? As people of faith, we can hold onto the hope of resurrection and new life. Lenses of Contemplation and Action will help us see more clearly and live into hope. Being and doing in this daily gift of life. Being in community helps us see the light and hold onto to it.
We want to shine that light and be that light. Because people are thirsty for a different message about God than the one they see on the news. We want to reflect Christ’s light when people with power claim God is exclusive and mean and cruel. We’re desperate for community that gives life and offers support. We’re here because we know of a God of love, and justice, and compassion, and welcome, and mercy. We’re here for both comfort and challenge, that we may find rest and welcome here so we can carry that light with us into the week.
Ending
This week I read an article and saw part of a documentary about the oldest lighthouse in Ireland (and second-oldest in the world), Hook Head Lighthouse, in Churchtown, County Wexford. It is more than 850 years old and, while no longer “manned,” it still has a working signal light — operated remotely by the Commissioners of Irish Lights about 100 miles north in County Dublin. ( https://hookheritage.ie/ https://www.greatlighthouses.com/ )
The original keepers of the light at Hook Head were monks who lived nearby and would set wood fires atop the tower to warn sailors away from the rocky peninsula. When the monks moved on in the seventeenth century, the wood fires were replaced by coal-fired lantern, an oil lantern in the late eighteenth century, a paraffin lamp in the early twentieth century, and finally by an electric beacon in 1972, which became completely automated in 1996.
Over the course of eight centuries, the source changed but the light remained. When an ancient lit the first fire atop the tower in 1172, the area would have been surrounded by nearly total darkness. There was no wasted light in that era of rural Ireland. Even a small fire held aloft would have been seen for dozens of miles out at sea, up and down the coast, and in all directions.
Perhaps the simplest lesson amidst these many metaphors is that we should be generous with whatever light we can muster because everybody needs it and even the tiniest of sparks can be seen from farther away than we might imagine when someone is trying to feel their way through the dark.
The light of kindness. The light of generosity. The light of neighborliness. The light of anti-racism. The light of inclusion. The light of creating art and poetry. The light of making music.
The light of listening without talking. The light of holding space for people until they’re ready to move into it. The light of deep breaths. The light of being a non-anxious presence in the world. The light of hope. The light of courage.
The light of love, a sacred holy love we call God, Mystery, Christ.
Whatever light you have, let your light so shine. Amen.
Resources
Rev. Marci Glass, “City on A Hill,” 11/3/25 https://marciglass.com/2025/11/03/city-on-a-hill/
Rev. Dr. Janet Hunt, You Are the Salt of the Earth, Feb. 2, 2014, Dancing With the Word http://words.dancingwiththeword.com/2014/02/you-are-salt-of-earth.html
Word Sunday.com Salt and Light http://www.word-sunday.com/Files/a/5-a/A-5-a.html
Salt: A World History by Mark Kulansky. 2003: Penguin Books
Cathleen Falsani, “Staying bright amid unrelenting gloom,” 2/5/23 https://dianabutlerbass.substack.com/p/sunday-musings-bd9?utm_source=publication-search