Salt is very important to life. If a person lacks salt, the hunger for it is one of the strongest desires we have. Any farmer knows how cattle will find a salt block and lick it to maintain the proper balance in its body. Salt is so valuable that in some societies it has been used as a medium of exchange, a substitute for money.

In the scripture, light is often used as a symbol for the existence of God. It is frequently used in a variety of ways throughout the Bible. In some cultures the sun was worshiped as a source of life and became a symbol for deity.

Salt and light are universal symbols and so these two brief statements in the Sermon on the Mount have a powerful effect. While Jesus reinterprets the commandments of the Old Testament in the light of his higher understanding, he affirm…