At the commencement of the Sermon on the Mount Jesus compares his disciples to 3 things, salt, light and a city built on a hilltop. All three exist not for themselves but for something else. Salt is meant to season and preserves food before refrigeration. Also salt renders earth infertile. Conquering nations, after tearing down the walls of their opponents would salt the earth so that nothing would grow there again. Rome did this to Carthage. By light we can see things better. A city built on a hilltop was a point of navigation for many people, this was before sat navigation. In our individualized culture we sometimes seem to think of religion as being something for ourselves, something private. There is some truth in this; religion will make our lives better and happier. When we read the Bible, religion is more like salt, light and city built on a hilltop. If we try to bring the two approaches together, we could say that we find salvation for ourselves in the manner in which we bring salvation to others.
1. By being Salt we are meant to preserve and enhance what is best in society and by the same token undermine and destroy what is dysfunctional in society.
2. By being light, people around us will come to see what is worth seeing. By the integrity of our light we reveal what is beautiful in society and show up what is ugly in society
3. By being a city built on a hilltop we guide other people on what they should do.

What Jesus is saying here is that without vibrant Christians the world is a worse place. How many of us consider our lives in this way? The weakness of Christian witness allows the worse elements of society to flourish and some of the best things to fall into disuse. One day a man visited Mother Theresa’s home for the poor and dying in Calcutta. He arrived just as the sisters were bringing in some of the dying in the streets. One of the sisters began to care for one dying man and she was unaware that this visitor was watching her. The visitor saw how she tenderly cared for the patient; as she washed him, she smiled, and she did not miss a detail in her attentive care for that dying man. After carefully watching the Sister the visitor turned to Mother Theresa and said. ‘When I came here today, I didn’t believe in God, and my heart was full of hate. But now I am leaving here believing in God. I have seen the love of God in action. Through the hands of that sister, through her tenderness, through her gestures, which were so full of love for that wretched man, I have seen God’s love descend upon him. Now I believe’. The world depends on Christians to show, to guide and preserve all that is good in our society, illuminating, enhancing and guiding people. Be salt, be light be a city built on a hilltop.