Salt & Light

I wrote this devotion based on Matthew 5:13-15 for the team in Surabaya. I share it here.

I was looking forward to this once a year (for us) trip which I have to sadly miss. Last year’s was so meaningful. It was great to connect up with brothers and sisters, especially a few of you who were from MPCC!

I was assigned to the “konseling” station. It was the last station in the. Initially I did think, “Poor Indonesians. They came for medical help but forced to talk with me.” Indeed there were a few who made me think that their time with me is the only cost they had to pay for what is otherwise free medical treatment. But as more and more began to open up, I realised that this “konseling” station is just an important as the station which my wife was busy in.

I can recall the home for parents with autistic children. They shared. They cried. A few quietly said that they are secret believers. As a pastor, I do get to listen to members’ problems once in a while. But to listen to a chain of heart-breaking stories in one sitting was very emotionally overwhelming. I also learnt that I only needed to listen and then ask, “Mari kita berdoa.”

They shared, cried, we prayed , then they went back to their world of 24/7 suffering. It was a brief encounter between strangers. I have to believe that even these brief “salt and light” moments can make a difference.

Salt and light are two everyday objects found “anywhere and everywhere” in life. It is true for first century Israel and still true in our world today.

Jesus said, “You are the salt of the earth.”

Salt does not function by itself. It always accompanies something else. Its purpose is to enhance another substance. This I can say as a cook: Salt does more than adding saltiness to food. It enhances every other flavour. Without salt, your kaffir lime leaves, galangal, lemon grass is no use in your food. So when Jesus calls us the salt of the earth, He is saying that our role is inseparably linked to the world—we are meant to enhance and flavour it.

Interpreting Scripture with Scripture, Jesus also says in Luke 14:34–35:

“Salt is good, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is of no use either for the soil or for the manure pile. It is thrown away.”

Salt was used on soil as a fertilizer, and on manure as a disinfectant.

So, salt both fertilizes and sanitizes—it encourages what is good and restrains what is harmful. In the same way, we as the Church are called to nurture what is good and hinder what is evil.

Likewise, Jesus calls us the light of the world.

In ancient Jewish homes, small oil lamps were filled with oil, fitted with a wick, lit, and placed on a lampstand to raise the light to eye level so it could illuminate the room. One would not hide a lamp under a basket or in a cellar. Light is meant to be seen, to guide and to reveal.

Think about this: darkness is not an entity by itself. Darkness is simply a space where light is absent. So Jesus is saying that our presence will bring light to what will otherwise be a spiritually dark world.

As we shine, we show the world where to walk and keep them from danger.

Salt of the earth. Light of the world. Both images reflect our calling: to reveal what is good and to expose what is not.

This is exactly what Hand International is seeking to do.

You may just be here for a week or so, but you are helping Hand to fulfill their mission. And remember, just a little bit of salt and light will go a long way.