Explication
Every day
Biblical commentaries
Jesus exhorts his disciples to publicly bear witness to their faith by referring to everyday elements essential to a good life: salt and light. Because when life, like food, lacks salt, it becomes bland, without flavor, without meaning, without hope. You can even die from this deficiency. When life, like “the city” (v. 14) is deprived of light, it becomes without reference points, without possible orientation, dangerous. We can then get lost in its darkness.
This is the case when the Gospel and all spiritual life fade away, leaving individuals disoriented, in a society in search of meaning, in a world that has become uncertain. Christians are therefore called, more than ever today, to bear witness, without timidity, to the word of God, in all areas of their lives. Even if it sometimes goes against the expectations and ideologies of this world. They cannot, however, make it an absolute truth, valid for everyone, even outside of faith. Because when food is too salty, it loses its taste and is rejected. When the light is too strong, it can burn and blind you.
To avoid these excesses, which are those of fundamentalism and fanaticism, we must never forget that “the salt of the earth” and “the light of the world” (v.13-14) are not in the nature of knowledge about God to be imposed and defended. He is a person to listen to and follow humbly: the Christ who said: “I am the light of the world. » (Jn 8:12)
Other readings: 1 Kings 17, 7-16; PS: 4
