Sam Berg: People of the Kingdom – Flourishing as Salt and Light

Sam Berg shares his reflections on our MCN themes of Being Salt and Light and the need to promote Human Flourishing in his reflections on the Sermon on the Mount.

He introduces his commentary on Matthew 5:13-16 with these words.

The kind of flourishing that the beatitudes describe finds its purpose in these next verses:

Such flourishing people are salt and light.

I have for a long time had a very narrow understanding of being salt and light, shaped by my individualistic understanding of the gospel. Being salt and light was so that I could be a witness to people who needed to be saved.

However, when being salt and light is seen as the consequence of repentance towards the kingdom, characterized by the flourishing that the beatitudes describe, this points to something much broader, namely, my way of being in the community and communities to which I belong. At heart, the beatitudes are relational qualities. They make for access, community and belonging. When they describe who and how we are, they are what makes being salt and light possible for us.[emphasis added]

For Sam’s fuller treatment on this, go to:  Reflections on The Kingdom, by Sam Berg (Days 13 – 18)

 

This page by: Ron Richmond
First published:  2025/03/22