You are the salt of the earth.
Without salt the world is left, not with bland food, but eventually without enough, since salt was a necessary preservative, particularly in an era before refrigerators. The disciples of Jesus were able to provide this life giving and life enhancing power to the world because of their connection to Jesus himself. Without him the salt would lose its taste and nothing apart from him could season it. This was a reminder to the disciples of the unique role they were to play in the world. They had something that the world needed but could not provide for itself. Therefore it was necessary that they recognized and reinforced their unique identity as disciples.
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.
It might have at times been tempting to look to the world as they sought to grow and construct their identities. The world, after all, was good at being clever, impressively capable of public relations, politics, and self-promotion. But what the disciples were meant to bring to the world could not be found in the world. If they tried to season themselves with aspects of the world they would find themselves losing the uniqueness of their flavor and also their ability to provide value as the preservative and life-affirming element in the culture.
You are the light of the world.
A city set on a mountain cannot be hidden.
The temptation of a disciple is sometimes to conceal that which makes him unique. If the light shining might seem too bright or as though it would attract unwanted attention one might be tempted to dim it by putting a shade over it, or concealing it entirely. There was no option to turn it off since the light was not something that was the property of the disciple. But he could choose to hide it. Yet this was to go against the purpose of the light which was to enlighten all in the house. It was to ignore the fact that a city set upon a hill was meant to be seen and take a central place in public consciousness, just as Jerusalem itself was a city set upon a hill, and was the subject of longing desire and joyful acclaim as we see in several psalms.
I was glad when they said to me,
“Let us go to the house of the Lord!”
Our feet have been standing
within your gates, O Jerusalem!
Jerusalem—built as a city
that is bound firmly together (see Psalm 122:1-3).
The disciples, and in turn the Church, were meant to be the earthly beginnings of a new and heavenly Jerusalem that would be fully revealed at the end of time. Rather than concealing this reality they were called to fully embrace it.
And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband (see Revelation 21:2).
As disciples ourselves we are called to embrace our Christian identity, hopefully to the degree that we become recognizably Christian like those early disciples in Antioch where the name was first applied. We do this by embracing Jesus' call to concretely manifest our love for one another and for our heavenly Father through the deeds we do. When we do this in the spirit of sharing our salt and light these will not just be the charitable works of NGOs, things that could be done equally well by an adherent of any faith, but will instead be light that gives glory to God the Father.
Sometimes all we need to pursue the call of God in our lives is a little encouragement. This was a particular strength of Barnabas. Seeing it, we can first be encouraged ourselves, and then we can then learn to emulate it.
When he arrived and saw the grace of God,
he rejoiced and encouraged them all
to remain faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart,
for he was a good man, filled with the Holy Spirit and faith.
Remaining faithful to the Lord in firmness of heart is another way of stating the call to us to lean in to our identity as disciples. But Barnabas did not simply command this as an obligation. Rather, he rejoiced in the success he saw and expressed his desire that they continue and advance with the confident courage that they could and would do so. This he did because of the goodness he possessed that was in the process of being unleashed by the Holy Spirit. May the Spirit unleash similar potential in us.
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