The gospel text for this week deals primarily with criteria for discipleship. In Matthew, these criteria follow on the heels of Jesus' more impersonal list of "Beatitudes." These two units are linked together by the personalization that finally emerges in the final Beatitude ("Blessed are you when people revile you"), and the emphatic "you" Jesus offers in verses 13 and 14, "You are the salt," "You are the light."

While pointedly personal, both of these images are also corporate in nature. Considerable recent research on the salt image suggests some interesting interpretations that your people may find helpful. By way of review, salt was far more than a mere flavor enhancer. Salt was the prime means of preserving food. Meat and fish and all brine-covered food (like olives) depended upon sa…