Having proclaimed the kingdom, Jesus now starts to teach, explaining how it all works out in practice.
"You are the salt ..." This is both a rebuke for Israel and a warning and instructions for all of us. Israel was meant to be a light to the world. God said to Abraham that all peoples on earth would be blessed through him. God's people are meant to be a blessing to the whole world. Yet Israel had become anything but a blessing. She had truly lost her saltiness, and so would be "thrown out and tramples underfoot". Now this does not mean that Israel no longer has any part in God's plans, see Romans 9-11! We too must recognise our purpose and heed this warning. We are meant to be a preservative in society. There are two ways we can fail to do this. One is to withdraw from society, the other is to compromise our standards (or rather God's standards). We need to understand that we will often be going against the tide in society. This is part of our calling.
While being a preservative is in some ways a negative thing, ie resisting corrupting influences, we are also to be light to the world.
We are the light of the world. We need to realise this. Our lives are on display and are meant to be on display as examples of the goodness and grace of God, as examples of His salvation power taking effect. This is how the world will learn of the good news of the kingdom.
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