Some people reach for the salt even before tasting their food. Some turn on the lights in a room whether the light is needed or not. Salt enhances food, but too much can injure our health. Light is good, but oncoming high beam lights can blind us, perhaps causing road rage along with losing our ability to see where we are going.

So, in the Gospel, when Jesus tells his disciples to be salt and light, what kind of salt and light is he talking about?

This Gospel passage introduces the Sermon on the Mount, that great discourse of Jesus in which he outlines his followers’ lifestyle. In other words, at the outset, Jesus warns his disciples that discipleship has prerequisites: be salt and be light.

Salt enhances food. Salt has many varieties: table salt, garlic salt, seasoned salt, sea salt, popcorn salt, rock salt, pickling salt and who knows what other kinds of salt.

Applied to the message of Jesus, we, as salt, are supposed to add to the natural life that God has given us. So to speak, the “salty” Christian takes human life and raises it up beyond where the mere humanness can bring us.

We know how important light is especially when we are lacking light. Some want more lighting when reading, but less when watching television. Some prefer subdued lighting when dining but want more light when just eating.

Applied to the message of Jesus, we as light are supposed to seek the truth in all things, to light the way for our own lives, but also light the way for others. When Jesus compares the light to a city set on a hill, that house is not merely a showcase, but functions as a beacon guiding others, much like a lighthouse.

But Jesus throws in a few cautions. Salt that has gone flat has no purpose. Flat salt can no longer fulfill its function and purpose. A flickering light or a covered-up light is a waste of time and energy and might as well be turned off.

Apply that caution to the life and history of our faith and see what we get. If Christians truly lived as salt and light, if Christianity visibly championed its core beliefs would communism, totalitarianism, human trafficking, fascism, abortion, civil rights abuses, slavery, euthanasia, the denial of absolute truths, secularism, the lack of faith and so many other evils ever exist? Would they even stand a chance. Did these evils entered the world because Christians were not acting as salt and light.

Some maintain that these are political issues, and we should not engage religion into such issues. We cannot find in scripture any place where Jesus says that we should maintain silence when our core beliefs are attacked or put to one side. Sometimes, Christians may decide something is purely political just so that they do not have to apply Christian principles in resolving the issue.

When Christians stand back and let evil or abuses creep into society, are we not flattening our salt and hiding our light? Christian principles must affect our interactions with one another, but they should also apply when government or certain groups want to change our thinking, want to make what is wrong into a political right or entitlement?

We just heard Isaiah say: “if you remove from your midst oppression, false accusation and malicious speech, … then light shall rise in the darkness.” And Paul reminds his listeners: “your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.”

Human wisdom has value when it finds its roots in the source of all wisdom, God himself. Human wisdom has value when it reflects divine wisdom. When we replace divine wisdom with human wisdom, we get only a human result. Visit history and see what human wisdom, devoid of God, has brought upon us.

Jesus calls us to act as salt and light for his message. How well have we done?

Pope Francis spoke this same message ever more eloquently: “The Church cannot be silent in public life and be faithful to Jesus Christ at the same time. She needs to be a mustard seed in the public square, transforming every fiber of a nation’s political, economic and social life.”

Father, creator of unfailing light, give that same light to those who call to you. May our lips praise you, our lives proclaim your goodness, our work give you honor, and our voices celebrate you forever. AMEN.