The taste and sight of the Kingdom: The people of God as physical witnesses to the Kingdom

Abstract

I offer a ‘missional reading’ of Matthew 5:13–16 within the context of ‘the Sermon on the Mount’ and the Gospel of Matthew as a whole.
Contribution: I have argued that Jesus’s words offer support for an ‘integral mission’ understanding of the calling of God’s people. This approach, I have argued, does not advocate an over-realised ‘transformational’ understanding of the calling of the people of God. Followers of Jesus are not called to ‘change the world’ but rather to be embodied witnesses to the transforming presence of the kingdom in their lives and in the common life of the community of disciples. This demonstration of the power of the kingdom in the lives of communities of Jesus-followers has a ‘missional’ intent in that it will lead to the glorification of the Father as the source of any good that is evident in the lives of believers.