TUESDAY- 10^TH WEEK IN ORDINARY TIME -B

I Reading: 1 Kings 17:7-16: The jar of meal was not spent, just as the Lord was foretold through Elijah.

Gospel: Matthew 5:13-16: You are the light of the world.

The True Disciple: The Salt of the Earth- Serving God, Mt 5: 13

Salt is distinctively different from the thing upon which it is put. By nature and by purpose it is different. So are believers. By nature believers are a new creation, born of God (2Cor 5:17; 1Pet 1:23); by purpose believers are to penetrate and change the very taste of the earth. They are like salt.

1.     The disciples’ character: Salt (v.13)

2.     The disciples’ place to salt: The earth (v.13)

3.     The disciples’ mission: To salt the earth (v.13)

4.     Their danger: Becoming useless and destructive (v.13)

The True disciple: The Light of the World- Shining for God, 5:14-16

“God is light” (1Jn 1:5). Jesus Christ said, “I am the light of the world” (Jn 8:12; 9:5). Here Jesus says, “You are the light of the world.” What an enormous complement! God is light. Christ is light, and the believer is said to be “the light of the world.” The believer is what God and Christ are: light. No greater complement could be paid the believer. But note: to be identified with God is an enormous responsibility as well as a complement. Whatever light is and does the believer is to be and do.

Four things are said about the believer, as the light of the world

(Jn 12:35-36; 1Jn 8:12).

1.     The disciples’ character: Light (v.14)

2.     The disciples’ place to shine: the world (v.14)

3.     The disciples’ unavoidable witness (v.15)

a.     Like a city on a hill

b.    Like a candle set on a lampstand

4.     The disciples’ purpose (v.16)

a.     To show forth good works

b.    To stir people to glorify God.

Thought: The character of light is pure. The believer is to walk in light, that is, in purity. A person’s light is only a reflective light. He/she reflects “the light of the Lord.”

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