Sunday 8 February 2026
Fifth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Isaiah 58:7-10. A light rises in the darkness for the upright – Psalm 111(112):4-9. 1 Corinthians 2:1-5. Matthew 5:13-16.
Salt of the earth
In the ancient world, salt wasn’t ‘ordinary’, it was rare and precious. It preserved meat, it gave food its flavour, and it was traded as something of value. When Jesus calls his followers ‘the salt of the earth’, he’s invoking that sense of distinction. To follow him is to be recognisably different, and to preserve what is good in a culture prone to decay, and to carry a flavour that can’t be manufactured elsewhere. But what does it mean for salt to ‘lose its saltiness’? For Christians, it’s the risk of a faith that conforms so thoroughly to the spirit of the age that it becomes invisible. It happens when loyalty to Christ is quietly displaced by loyalty to political tribes, consumer comforts, or cultural approval. In that moment, discipleship ceases to preserve anything or offer a unique flavour, and it becomes indistinguishable from everything around it. The challenge is not relevance but distinctiveness, remaining salt in a world that would prefer the dust.
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