Jesus gives two metaphors to describe disciples--salt and light.
Why salt? What characteristics of salt are displayed in discipleship? Salt preserves, keeps, protects. And, salt improves the taste of something. Was Jesus saying that the church was to do these things?
"You are salt," he said. Then he went on to remind them that if salt didn't perform the functions it was intended for, then is was not of any use and would be thrown out.
Is the church--or substitute "your congregation"--preserving, keeping, and protecting, or, making things better (Note: go back and read verses 1-12 to aid in answering)?
"You are the light of the world," he said. Light can't serve its purpose as light if it is covered up. Again look at your congregation--can anybody tell what good you are doing? And (looking at verse 16), what do they learn from looking at the results? Do they see the good works you are doing and from them, learn more about God?
Jesus reminds them that Scripture had and has authority and we are to be held responsible for following it. Thomas Long in his commentary on Matthew suggests that at this point we read ahead to Matthew 12. As he puts it, Jesus is calling on them to look at the heart of the commandments rather than the surface.
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