Pentecost 24
25 October 2026
Vineville Baptist Church
Macon, Georgia
Gregory Pope
A CITY SALTY AND BRIGHT
Matthew 5.13-16
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 underfoot. You are the light of the world. A city built on a hill cannot be hid. No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket, but on the lamp stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.
God is creating a community of people whose hearts and character are shaped by the teachings of Jesus. It’s called the kingdom of God. And all of us are invited. Those who pledge their allegiance and give their lives to the kingdom of God are living beatitudes – walking, talking blessings to the world.
After finishing his startling list of blessings to these peasants on a hillside – the most vulnerable, outcast, and ostracized of the world – Jesus turns to the crowd and says: “You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world, a city set on a hill. You are invited to be included in the covenant people of God.”
You are the salt of the earth. In his book on the history of salt, Mark Kurlansky (Salt: A World History) states, “Salt is so common, so easy to obtain, and so inexpensive today, we have forgotten that from the beginning of civilization until about 100 years ago, salt was one of the most sought-after commodities in human history.” When human beings discovered that salt had the ability to preserve food, it changed the course of history by eliminating our dependence on seasonal availability and by making it possible to ship food over long distances. In the Bronze Age, the first systems of roads, called “salt roads,” were built in order to transport salt from one place to another. Salt became a founding contributor to the development of civilization. Salt was so hard to obtain and so highly valued that some cultures considered it a form of currency. In fact, the word “salary” originated from the Latin word for “salt.”
Along with the preservation of food, salt also has healing possibilities. Hippocrates, the founder of medicine, encouraged his patients to bathe in salt water in order to heal their various ailments. Ever gargled warm salt water? It’s not likely to become your favorite drink, but can heal a sore throat.
In ancient Israel, the Hebrews also used salt as an element in worship. In Leviticus 2, God commands the people, You shall not omit from your grain-offerings the salt of the covenant with your God; with all your offerings you shall offer salt. When the Israelites offered sacrifices to God, salt was used as a sign of their covenant with God.
So when Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth,” the people who were listening to him were not thinking about common table salt as we often do. They were thinking of a precious, preserving, healing commodity that was a sign of God’s covenant people.
In our world there’s an overwhelming degree of rot, decay, sin, and corruption. So much is spoiled. And through us, as salt of the earth, God wants to save and heal this rotting world. As salt of the earth we make the world more savory, adding flavor to a world that is often tasteless. Salt flavors often in ways that cannot be seen. It’s hard to see salt on food, is it not? So it becomes a good excuse to add more salt just to be sure, right? Someone has translated our being the salt of the earth with the quip: “A sodium-free diet is not for you.” It’s tacky, I know, but if it helps remind you that you are the salt of the earth, then fine.
It’s also interesting to note that salt is not good for anything unless it is being used for something else. We are salt for the world. We preserve, we heal, we flavor. We are the presence, compassion, and mercy of God for the world. Whenever the church loses sight of its mission to be salt – to live the kingdom life pointing the world to God – we lose our identity and become something else instead, like a social club, a salt substitute if you will. Some churches are on a low-salt diet. Quaker Elton Trueblood said years ago that the American church has been inoculated with a “tiny dose of Christianity so the real thing won’t take!” Other churches are salt-shakers full of salt, but the holes are plugged up. So we need to take the cap off and unplug the holes so we can be useful to the world. We are salt of the earth for the world, not for ourselves.
Jesus also says we are the light of the world – like a lamp on a lampstand, a city on a hill. A city set on a hill cannot be hid, Jesus said. So don’t turn out the lights. God has placed us in this world to be seen!
The prophet Isaiah offered these words of God to Israel: I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach the ends of the earth! So God gives us to the world as light.
In Jesus’ day there was a group of Jews known as the Essenes. They called themselves the “sons of light” in contrast to the “sons of darkness” of the world. They sought to totally separate themselves from a culture they perceived as full of evil and darkness.
But Jesus says, “You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. You don’t light a lamp and put in under a bowl. You do not isolate yourselves from the darkness of the world.” Just as salt is meant for food, light is meant for the darkness. Light invades the darkness, seeks it out, makes its home there. And in doing so, shines brightly. So let your light shine before other people, Jesus said, that they may see your good deeds and be drawn to the true light, the light of God beaming in the face of Jesus.
We serve as light in the world to glorify God. We have been called out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, only to return to the darkness, lighting the way to God in the world, enabling people who are blundering around in the dark to find their way. So don’t spend your time cursing the darkness of the world. Anyone can do that. Light a candle! Be a candle!
This shining involves good works. One of the reasons for the rapid growth of Christianity in the first centuries of its life was what Christians did for those outside the church. They built hospitals for the sick, hostels for travelers, orphanages for parent-less children. They took care of the sick in time of plague. People saw God’s love in action and were drawn to God and to Christianity.
The Quakers have a belief that pervades their lives and how they treat others and each other. It is called the “inner light.” They believe all people are born with the light of God within. It’s a way of describing the image of God in which we are all created. And this inner light – it’s not just in some of us, it’s in everyone. This belief propelled Quakers to be the first Christian group in America to oppose slavery. First, they gave up their own slaves, paying them back wages for years of forced labor; then they fought for the abolition of slavery in the public realm. Their belief in the inner light changed their relationships, economics, and politics.
We’ve been called to let our light shine, to become flame, to be the light of God’s love to the Macon community. And many of you already do this, perhaps in ways you do not recognize. When you sit and talk with the women of Life Spring who are in danger of losing custody of their children, you glorify God and let your light shine. When you work in the community on behalf of the poor, forgotten, outcast, and vulnerable, you glorify God and let your light shine. When you gather to worship in song, prayer, and word, you glorify God and let your light shine.
It is also essential to note that the “you” in Jesus’ words is plural. Jesus is not just claiming that each individual person is salt and light, but that the community of his followers together are the salt of the earth and the light of the world – a city of kingdom citizens set on a hill. So a more precise translation would be something like, “All y’all are the salt of the earth. All y’all are the light of the world.” We’re salt and light as a community of faith.
It is not news to anyone that we live in a period of great church decline in America. Somewhere from 4,000 to 7,000 churches close their doors every year. About 1.2 million people a year stop going to church, which is 3,500 people a day who decide to stop participating in a community of faith. Why? Among many other reasons, could it also be that the church, which should be salting the earth, has stayed inside the salt shaker, the church building. Could it be that the church, which should be shining light for the world, has lost its distinctiveness, and can no longer be seen?
How do we remain a city on a hill salty and bright? Well, the common trait of both salt and light is that neither exists for its own sake, neither element serves itself. The salt is for the earth and the light is for the world. They exist for the purpose of flavoring and healing, brightening and illuminating other things. But we cannot do that if we live for our own sake or exist only to serve ourselves.
We are meant to be salty and bright for the sake of the world. Salt may be common, but there is nothing common about being the salt of the earth. Light may be ordinary, but there is nothing ordinary about being the light of the world. We are the sign of God’s covenant – the healing, revealing, loving, life-giving, liberating power of God on the earth and in the world. Salt of the earth. Light of the world.
It’s interesting to me that when Jesus looks for a metaphor to characterize who we are, He does not say, “You are a great army marching into the world.” He does not say, “You are a loudspeaker to shout my message to everybody.” Jesus says we are salt and light – small and often unnoticed, but capable of making a huge difference.
It is also important to note that Jesus does not say, “You ought to be the salt of the earth.” “You ought to be like light.” He says, “You are salt.” “You are light.” It is the identity we are given at baptism as God’s beloved. There is a church in Ohio where, whenever there is a baptism, candidates are given a ceramic salt shaker and a lit candle – a visible declaration that they are joining a community baptized as salt and light in the world. Salt of the earth. Light of the world.
A Sunday School class was discussing this verse from Matthew, “You are the salt of the earth.” The leader asks, “What does salt do?” Most of them grew up in church so they know the expected answers: “Salt flavors.” “Salt preserves.” “Salt heals.” Then a young woman who has not been to church much says, “Salt creates thirst.”
Many of you live in a way that makes others thirsty for God’s love. When you arrive at the school where you teach, you don’t show up with a big gold button with the word “Christian” on it. You slip in quietly. You do your work. You do not look that different from other people. But you live in a way that makes people thirsty for God’s kingdom. In that moment when you stick up for the student on whom everyone else has given up, when you tell a fellow teacher who is experiencing a tough time that you are there for her, when you listen to a student who does not get listened to at home – you are salt and light. When you sit down at a conference table with co-workers, you may not carry a Bible with you, but in that moment when you say, “We have to be honest about this,” or “I’d like to hear from those who are going to be most affected by this,” or “This could hurt people we don’t have to hurt” – you are salt and light. When you gather for dinner with friends, you may not make them hold hands and say grace before the meal, but in that moment when you realize someone at the table is hurting and try to care for them, or when you are asked what you are doing on Sunday and end up inviting your friend to church – you are salt and light. When we find ways to reveal the damage and foolishness of prejudice, care for the very young or very old, share with the needy, pay attention to abused women, neglected children, depressed friends, we are in those moments, salt and light.
I believe God has called us to be a different kind of church, right here in Macon, Georgia. To be: a touch of salt, a candle in the dark, a witness in our community, not as a point of pride, not to say, “Look at us!” but to say, Look at Christ! Look at what God is up to in this world!
So how about, beginning this week, let’s make a renewed effort to seek out places of darkness and be a presence of love and light in them. Open your hands so that God can use what you have. And let’s have conversations together about the ways in which we can be a beacon of light for the city of Macon. We have the opportunity to do as one black preacher put it: “to bring the flavor” and “put the gleam on.”
Let’s borrow a phrase from pop singer Rihanna and “shine bright like a diamond.” And to adapt a phrase from what one commercial calls The Most Interesting Man in the World: “Stay salty, my friends!”