Sometimes when we read a passage of scripture, we may need to pay careful attention to who in the text is speaking. Our understanding of the words themselves may change, depending on whose mouth they come from. If we are reading Job, we need to know which character is speaking in the passage. If Job's friends are talking, we know their words cannot be trusted. They are too self-righteous. Sometimes, we are not sure who is speaking. Job 28 is a beautiful poem extolling the virtue of wisdom, but we can't be sure who delivers this elegant piece. The poem comes at the end of one of Job's speeches, but it isn't attributed to anyone. Whose viewpoint does it represent? Sometimes, it isn't clear where one character's words end and someone else's words begin. The third chapter of John begins with Jesus talking to Nicodemus. Do Jesus' words end at verse 15 or verse 21? When we come to John 3:16, the famous passage that reads, "For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life," is Jesus saying that to Nicodemus, or is the narrator saying that to us? Deciding who is speaking is important in reading scripture.

The question in the Sermon on the Mount is not who is speaking. Every now and then, we hear of a survey that tells us that a surprising percentage of people in the church do not know who preached the Sermon on the Mount. In case a surveyor ever asks you, the answer is Jesus. Jesus is speaking in this passage. The question is, who is listening? In Matthew's mind, to whom does Jesus preach the Sermon on the Mount? Matthew is not quite clear about who the audience is. Matthew 5:1 says that Jesus saw the crowds, went up the mountain and sat down. Then Matthew tells us that the disciples came to him. What picture does Matthew want us to see in our minds? Do Jesus and the disciples go up the mountain to get away from the crowds? Are Jesus' words here intended only for the disciples? That's what the beginning of the sermon sounds like. What's confusing is that at the end of the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew tells us that the crowds were astounded at his teaching, for he taught them as one having authority, and not as their scribes. So, who was listening to the Sermon on the Mount? The answer to that question makes a difference in how we understand some of what Jesus teaches here.

When Jesus pronounces the beatitudes, he seems either to be speaking directly to the crowds, or at least with the crowds in mind. Before preaching the sermon, Jesus had been healing the crowds and casting out demons. When he blesses the poor in spirit, he has just been among the poor in spirit. When he blesses those who mourn, he has just finished wiping their tears. When he blesses the meek, he has just helped them rise to their feet, hold their heads up, and stick their chests out. Jesus' blessings are either to or for the crowds.

The whole sermon does not seem to be for the crowds. Jesus seems to direct much of the rest of the sermon to those who have made the decision to follow him. I wonder if Matthew presents Jesus as the kind of preacher we all have seen from time to time. Some preachers will turn to a particular group within the congregation, preaching part of the sermon to that group. If you ever have seen Dr. James Forbes, pastor of Riverside Church in New York City, preach, you know that he does that in his sermons. He will turn toward one group, or even one individual, and preach for a while. Then he will turn back and address the whole congregation. I wonder if Jesus changes the focus during different parts of the sermon. At first, he speaks with the crowds in mind. Then, maybe he changes focus and directs his words to the disciples. When he blesses those who are persecuted for following him, surely he has the disciples in mind. One might say that Jesus changes focus about halfway through the beatitudes. Certainly, by the time he begins verse 13, he speaks directly to the disciples. "You are the salt of the earth. You are the light of the world." He directs those words to the disciples, not to the crowds. The crowds at the foot of the mountain are part of the world. They are the ones who need salt and light. They are not the only ones. The Roman soldiers who bully the people need salt and light as well. Jesus narrows his focus. These words are not for the world, but for the church in the world. Jesus sets the tone for much of what follows. If the church is the salt and the light, then this is how you live. If the church is the salt and the light, then this is how to pray, how to give, how to act toward others, even how to think.

Matthew is the only gospel writer who puts these two metaphors — the church as both salt and light — side by side like this. These two images define what Matthew thinks the church should be in the world. As we try to understand what that means, maybe the best place to begin is not with what salt and light mean, but with what the world is like, with why the world needs salt and light to begin with. Scripture teaches us that the world is God's creation, and is inherently good (Genesis 1:31). Nevertheless, the creation is not what God intended for it to be. Sin has corrupted God's good creation. Matthew shows us some of that corruption in the narrative about Herod ordering the slaughter of the innocent babies in Bethlehem. Herod, operating out of fear, unleashes a cruel and brutal force that ends in grief and anguish. The world needs salt and light because the world is callous, fearful, and violent. It needs salt and light because it is full of grief, frustration, and powerlessness.

Jesus calls disciples out of the world to be the salt and the light. Jesus gives us these evocative images of salt and light, but never quite explains them. How is the church the salt of the earth? What does salt do for the earth? We can start with the most obvious thing: salt adds flavor. Towards the end of his long life, George Burns had to go on a salt-free diet because of his heart. He said that when he ate eggs without salt, the eggs were tasteless. He thought the chicken was overpaid! Many people find life to be without flavor, bland and uninteresting. The church as the salt shows them the joy and purpose of God's creation. We are the salt of the earth if we visit folks in nursing homes who are lonely and bored. Salt is also a preservative. In Jesus' day, it was almost the only preservative available. The church keeps the world from destroying itself. If we are true to our task, we preserve the word of God's grace in a world that, like Herod, would try to stamp it out. We are the salt of the earth when we continue ministry in countries that try to prevent Christian preaching. Salt can also be an irritant. We have all heard the expression about pouring salt in a wound. When we speak prophetically, we are the salt of the earth that irritates the world's power. Peter Storey was a Methodist bishop in South Africa during apartheid. Before he was elected bishop, he was pastor of a large church in Johannesburg. He wanted to integrate his church, with all races welcome. Two hundred people left his church when he sought to integrate. By seeking to be the salt of the earth, Storey irritated those who wanted to maintain segregation in South Africa. Storey summarized the role of the church well. He said, "The richest gift the church can give the world is to be different from it."1 We are the salt of the earth when we name oppression and injustice, even if it irritates the powerful.

The church as the light of the world is a more familiar image to us. God's first act of creation was to bring light into the darkness. The prophet Isaiah said that those who have walked in darkness have seen a great light (Isaiah 9:2). John said that the light has shined in the darkness and the darkness has not overcome it (John 1:5). Light in darkness enables us to see and we are grateful for that. The church shines the light in the darkness so that the world can see. The world needs to see God and to see grace and hope. Light also shows us our sinfulness. No evildoer wants the glare of light. The church shines the light in the midst of fear, hatred, and violence so that the world can see the way out.

What will motivate the church to be the salt and the light? Will we fulfill our task only if we are frightened? Matthew adds a twist to this saying of Jesus. In Mark, Jesus asks essentially the same rhetorical question as in Matthew, "If salt has lost its saltiness, how can you season it?" (Mark 9:50). Matthew adds the phrase about throwing the salt out and trampling it underfoot. Matthew adds a little bit of a fear factor. If we don't fulfill our calling, we'll be thrown out and trampled underfoot. The image that comes to my mind is popcorn in a movie theatre. We walk over it to get to our seats. We crunch it under our shoes. If we don't fulfill our mission, we're like the salt on that popcorn.

We don't need to be frightened into being the salt and the light, do we? We can be the salt and the light out of joy and gratitude, can't we? We can live out our faith in the world. Our youth can set examples in their schools. Let us adults not forget how hard it is to live obediently in school today. I think sometimes that Jesus had an easier time with his temptations than today's teenagers do. Let's pray for and support our youth as they seek to be the salt and the light in their part of the world.

Bible scholar Gene Davenport reminds us that these word of Jesus about being the salt and the light are not exhortations or commands, they are declarations.2 God has chosen us as the salt and the light. God works through us, maybe even in spite of ourselves. Let's show Jesus that we can be the salt and the light without the threat of being trampled on. Let us share the good news with the world. Let us offer grace to those who are down and out, the poor in spirit. Let us offer comfort to those who mourn. Let us stand up against injustice and oppression. Let us offer the word of grace to the poor as well as the rich.

Jesus tells us we are the salt and the light. The world needs us. Let us fulfill our calling. May Jesus know that when he preaches, we are listening. Amen.

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1. Peter Storey, With God in the Crucible: Preaching Costly Discipleship (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2002), p. 151.

2. Gene Davenport, Into the Darkness: Discipleship in the Sermon on the Mount (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1988), p. 121.