“Let me tell you why you are here. You’re here to be salt-seasoning that brings out the God-flavors of this earth. If you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? You’ve lost your usefulness and will end up in the garbage. “Here’s another way to put it: You’re here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We’re going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don’t think I’m going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I’m putting you on a light stand. Now that I’ve put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you’ll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:13-16 MSG)
Jesus is pretty straightforward in this passage. In this section of the Sermon on the Mount, He is defining our purpose as Christ-followers. We are here to be seasoning that brings out those flavors that show God for who He is. I have always heard it used as salt as a seasoning, but when I looked up the word for salt in this verse, I found that this word can also mean a saline solution to fertilize arable land. Regular table salt would obviously have some adverse affects on land. In Mark 9:50 we see this word used as “a symbol of lasting concord, because it protects food from putrefaction and preserves it unchanged.” So it is interesting how that salt – in this sense because of the context and following verse – is seen as both something that preserves and something that fertilizes. So, Jesus says, if you lose your saltiness, how will people taste godliness? All that’s left to do is throw the useless salt away — or as another version puts it, throw it into the roadway to be trampled underfoot.
Then He puts it another way: He compares us to being a city on a hill. A city up on top of a hill cant be easily hidden – especially at night. Why would anyone build a city on a hill in the first place is a good question. Why not build it on some level ground where it is easy to build and doesn’t require so much more planning and effort? I came across this an interesting little teaching about the 5 Ws for building a city on a hill:
- War – In ancient times, the issue of keeping your family alive in the time of war was of critical importance. It was the key factor in why cities were built on hills. The best place to defend a city was on top of a high hill which had steep slopes. But sieges were also a problem, so you had to have an ongoing source of water and the ability to store food inside your city walls.
Walls – Ancient people built on hills, not in the valley, because they could defend themselves better on high ground. On top of the hills they added high and large stone walls to make it even harder for their enemies to get into the city to kill or capture them or their families.
Water – They built on hills which had water at the base of the hill–water which they could defend and access, but which their enemies could not get to. If your city was being sieged for a long time by a large army you need a source of fresh water.
Wheat – They also built on hills near valleys where they could grow wheat and other crops so they would have food for daily living, as well as food to store in the time of war.
Wheels – Lastly, they built on hills next to valleys where their chariots (with their wheels) could manuever and give them military superiority. The Israelites didn’t have chariots for a long time, and as a result they lived in the mountains of Israel, (chariots don’t work well in mountains), while the Canaanites and Philistines who had chariots (wheels) lived in the valleys–they could maneuver their chariots in the flat valleys, which gave them military superiority over the Israelites.
http://ghccprimetimers.org/biblical-archaeology/why-ancient-cities-were-built-on-hills/
So just beyond the visibility factor, there are obviously much deeper reasons that Christ compares us to being like a city on a hill. But the light is what we focus on as the next phrase says, you wouldn’t hide your light under a basket so it can not be seen, would you? No, you put it on a lamp stand so it will burn brightly and give off a light so that people are able to use it to see when all around is dark. It brings to my mind the picture of the lighthouse standing on the edge of a rocky cliff, in darkness and choppy seas, this beacon of light beams out a warning of rocky shores or provides a location marker for ship captains. It’s pretty hard to hide a lighthouse and even more difficult to hide a brightly shining city on a hill at night! And that, Jesus says, is the point. I don’t want you to hide your light. I want you to be open and bold. David Ramer said on Sunday that, “A city of lights is made up of many individual lights that shine together. It is glorious when many work together, each making a small impact, but collectively making an impact that cannot be hidden. The city is seen when many individuals are faithful to speak up and follow through in service.”
All of this ties in the great commandments to love God and love others. Be open, be generous. When you do this, the Word says that it will causes others to open up to God. By loving others, by shining a light in the darkness for them, by being a seasoning, by our generosity we show them the character of Jesus Christ.