The World That Rejects Us Still Needs Us

 Salt and Light in a Hostile World

Tuesday 09 June 2026

From the Gospel of Tuesday of the 10th Week in Ordinary Time (Matthew 5:13–16).

The worst disservice we do to anyone or anything is to take things out of their context. This is often done because we want quick results and lack the patience, charity, and devotion to allow people and things to reveal themselves for who they truly are.

If this comes as a stray bullet to you, receive it. After all, John said regarding being born in the Spirit: "The wind blows where it wills..." (Jn 3:8).

But let me return to our Gospel of today before I distract you too much.

It would be a mistake to read the words with which Jesus describes who we are outside of their immediate context. I believe that we dislocate these words, "You are the salt of the earth" and "You are the light of the world," if we do not read them in connection with the Beatitudes and receive them as the first hearers did.

Another brief aside. These chapters and verse divisions—and even the titles in our Bibles—were only added much later.

Below is how these words sounded to their first hearers. I quote directly from Matthew 5:10–16 and leave out the verse numbers:

10 "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

11 Blessed are you when men revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely on my account.

12 Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so men persecuted the prophets who were before you.

13 You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trodden under foot by men.

14 You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 Nor do men light a lamp and put it under a bushel, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house.

16 Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." (Mt 5:10–16)

How I wish things were the way most of us would love and prefer them to be. But I refuse to give up in this ministry!

Please, I am not the one who said that we are the salt and light of the very world that rejects, opposes, and persecutes us. None of us could love the Son more than the Father who sent Him into this same world that was hostile to Him.

Have we suddenly forgotten the parable of the wicked tenants that we read last week (Mk 12:1–12)?

We are sick and broken people. Most of us live in denial and do everything possible to extinguish the light. We feel disturbed whenever we notice someone trying to be the salt that we ourselves have failed to be. So we point accusing fingers and engage in the blame game, just as Adam and Eve did after the fall.

It is precisely because of this lack of authenticity, sweetness, and goodness in the world that we are placed here as followers of Christ.

We are not sent here to complain about the sickness of the world. We are not here to be indifferent to it. Neither are we called to run away from it.

We are not even placed here as lights simply so that we may be seen and admired.

Salt dissolves in order to give taste.

May we not forget that when Jesus was speaking, there were no electric lights or any other form of artificial lighting.

Apart from the light from the heavenly bodies, every other light was generated through the burning of something. We remember the parable of the five virgins who did not carry enough oil for the wedding feast.

In a similar way, we are being consumed in this world so that others may see our good works and give glory to our Father who is in heaven (Mt 5:16).

Can we also forget what Jesus told us in St. Mark's Gospel while speaking about salt?

"Salt is good; but if the salt has lost its saltness, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another" (Mk 9:50).

So how can we be and remain the salt of the earth if we do not have that salt—peace—within ourselves?

Recognizing that we are in the world as salt and light helps us to focus on our mission and to avoid every form of failure to be who we truly are.

The world that rejects us still needs us.


Ifeanyichukwu

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