Week 3 (28.09.08)

This week we looked at the passage where Jesus tells us we are salt and light and what it actually means to be these.

The passage (Matthew 5:13-16) first tells us that we are "the salt of the earth," and we talked about all the properties of salt and how it was used in Jesus' time: it brings out the flavour of food; it preserves (so back in the day before fridges were around, people used to put salt on their meat etc to stop it from going off so quickly); it cleans and heals (so if you had a cut, you would often put salt in the wound to stop it getting infected) and it makes you thirsty if you eat too much. This isn't a good thing for our bodies, and all these properties were quite confusing anyway, so we started to think about what Jesus might have been trying to say instead... If Jesus says we are "the salt of the earth," then he wants us to 'bring flavour' to the world, so to make life more exciting for those around us. If we are to be preservatives, we are to tell our friends and families the life-giving message about the hope we have in Jesus. If we are to cleanse, we are to try to live the way the Bible tells us in the hope that others want to do the same so that more people are saved. If we are to bring healing, we are to tell people about Jesus and how he can heal them emotionally, physically and of their sin. Finally, we as Christians want everyone to be passionate about God and make getting to know him more their number one priority: to have a thirst for him, so we should have this same passion, because a love of something or someone is infectious!

Jesus warns us that if we lose our saltiness, we will become good for nothing. FACT: when salt is left in the salt shaker for too long without being used, it clumps together and stops tasting salty; it's good for nothing. In the same way, if all we ever do is stick around other Christians and never reach out to or make friends with non-Christians, we will be useless because we won't be doing what we are here to do: spreading the Word. When salt is sprinkled over food, it disappears into it but we still know it's there because of the taste. We are to go out into the world and let people know that we are Christians not because we're stuck in church but because we have Jesus with us wherever we go.

Then Jesus says we are "the light of the world." When we accept Jesus into our lives, we ask his Spirit to live within us, so wherever we go, we bring the Light of the World with us! Jesus tells us that no one hides a light under a bucket, because that would be ridiculous! People stick lights in the ceiling, or at least up somewhere high so that they give light to the whole room. We shouldn't hide either, if the light in our bedroom doesn't run in fear from the dark, nor should we: if we go out into the world (or the playground) bringing the message of our faith, the 'darkness' out there won't stand a chance. When you turn your light on, the dark is gone straight away: when we bring Jesus to people, nothing will stand in our way. We also talked about how if someone lit a bonfire on a hill in the middle of the night, the surrounding fields would be able to see the light but would still be in darkness themselves, but if people took branches, set them alight from the fire and took them out into the fields, the light would be everywhere. So, like with the salt sticking together in the shaker if it's left there too long, we shouldn't always be around other Christians: we're made to bring light to those in darkness, not just to those already in light.

So, how do we do all this? Well, like we said, it's about telling people about Jesus and showing them how much we love him by loving those he created (ie. everyone!). If we live in a way that shows that the words he says have really impacted us, others will naturally be attracted to him. So get salting!

Lois and Eleanor