Tuesday in the Tenth Week of Ordinary Time, June 7, 2022

Matthew 5, 13-16

Jesus said to his disciples: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden. Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp-stand, where it gives light to all in the house. Just so, your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”  

The Lord Jesus here continues his Sermon on the Mount, following the Beatitudes.

“You are the salt of the earth.”  Ancient people used salt very carefully due to its expense.  Its high price came from its scarcity and at the same time the high demand for it.  It also came at great cost in terms of financial outlay and in human life, for which reason slaves and condemned persons were used to mine it.  Salt preserved meat, including fish; seasoned foods; and cleaned wounds.  In addition, in Leviticus 2, 13, the Hebrews were told, “Whatsoever sacrifice you offer, you shall season it with salt: neither shall you take away the salt of the covenant of your God from your sacrifice. In all your oblations you shall offer salt.”  Thus, salt became a sign of the Old Covenant.  “Neither shall you take away the salt”: salt seasoned the meat being sacrificed to God.  In this way, we can understand salt as grace, for grace, cleansing a person from sin and preserving him from the corruption of evil, seasons him so as to offer himself to God in Christ.  In calling his disciples “the salt of the world”, he calls them the means through which many people would be saved: by their preaching repentance, encouraging them in their living a life worthy of Christ, and in offering the,selves to God, body and soul.

“But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned?”  This verse is more literally translated, “But if the salt should be made useless [or, tainted or foolish], with what can it be salted [or, seasoned or kept fresh]?  That is. if salt loses all its properties, not just that of taste.  Or worse, that it could be tainted with something poisonous.  This can occur because, through foolishness, a person does not pray or meditate on the mysteries of our salvation, or study Church teaching, or begins to make excuses for not following the Lord’s commandments.  Then, it is “no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”  Once the Christian loses the grace he was given, he is of no use for the spread of the Gospel.  He will be “thrown out” into “the outer darkness: where there shall be weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8, 12).  He will be “trampled” by his enemies.  This “trampling” refers to a practice in ancient times in which a victorious army forced their defeated foes to lay on the ground in a long line so that they could march over them.  Psalm 44, 5 alludes to this: “Through you [O God] we push down our foes; through your name we trample down our assailants.”  In this case, the “trampling” would be done by demons.

“You are the light of the world.”  The light without which the darkness would prevail.  Light makes it possible to see and also enables crops to grow and animals and people to stay warm.  So does the Christian help unbelievers to see Jesus Christ, aid in their efforts to follow him, and provide a good example for them.  “A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.”  A city is set on a mountain because it is difficult to attack there, to make it prominent so as to attract trade, and to act as a sign of a ruler’s glower and glory.  The Christian is set on the formidable rock which is the Lord Jesus, who defends him from evil, attracts unbelievers to him, and through his good works glorifies himself and the Father.  “Nor do they light a lamp and then put it under a bushel basket; it is set on a lamp-stand, where it gives light to all in the house.”  Going to the trouble, in ancient times, of lighting a lamp, a person will hardly put it under a basket.  First, it will not provide light from there, and, second, it may catch the basket and then the house on afire.  The lamp is lit and set in a high place so that it may illuminate a wide space.  Just so, a person is filled with grace and given the gift of faith in order “to be raised up” — set apart by the charitable works he does  — in order for him to provide the illumination of the Gospel to as many people as possible: “Your light must shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your heavenly Father.”