Salt!

When we take something someone has said with grain of salt, we are saying that we accept their statement as probably not true, nor with a huge impact on us.      

To rub salt in someone’s wound, is to make their painful experience even worse.

            We read in the book of Genesis (19:26), Abraham had a nephew Lot.  Lot’s wife was turned into a pillar of salt as a paralyzing punishment for not obeying God.

            The Salt Sea is also called the Dead Sea…. There is no life within its waters.

            So why in the world would Jesus turn around, and tell us that we are the salt of the Earth?  This is what He says in Matt 5:13….

                        “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lost its taste, how

can its saltiness be restored?  It is no longer good for anything,

but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”

            This passage comes immediately after the Beatitudes.  Jesus gives us these Attitudes for Life to live out every day; to withstand any persecution that may come our way and, to be His power on earth.  God means to impact the world through His people.  To accomplish God’s transforming mission we are to be His Great Salt to the world.

The significance of salt from centuries ago to our own has not changed all that much.  Salt was and is used primarily as a preservative from decay.  Without refrigeration, meats and fish spoiled.  Many of the original listeners of Jesus’ sermon, including several of Jesus’ own disciples, fished for a living.  They had to keep their catch from spoiling when transporting it from the boat to market for sale or to their homes for their own meals.  They would salt down the fish.

And of course, most prominently, salt is used as an enhancement of flavor.  A pinch of salt can flavor an entire meal.  A shake or two can bring out the natural flavor of foods during cooking.  A flourish of coarsely ground salt adds a slightly crunchy flair to breads, meats and fish. 

A little salt goes a long way.  If misused – when we use a lot of it – it will become a dangerous hardener of blood vessels and arteries….not so good for us.   In Jesus’ day people did not need to worry about the unhappy consequence of health problems caused by high-sodium processed and fast foods and a general overuse of table salt.

And interesting side notes:  In the Roman world salt symbolized purity.  Roman soldiers were often paid in salt…that’s where we get our word salary.  Perhaps we have hit on a solution to our current economic and MPC budget problems.  M-m-m, perhaps not.

The point is, that all these examples tell us that the value of salt is tested, not by the way it appears, but by what happens as a result of its use.    Salt has no value apart from its preserving, flavoring and mineral-nourishing benefits.   If salt were to lose its purity as salt because of contamination by other chemicals, after all it is already composed of two poisonous chemicals:  sodium and chloride, it would not only fall short of its purpose, but would become a threat to food and our health.  So salt has a hidden power about it. 

            Jesus wants us to benefit the world around us as His hidden power.    We are to be like salt that preserves.  We are to be like salt that penetrates and flavors.  We are to be like salt with nourishing benefits -- restoring others to Christ.

As a preservative, let’s go to Romans 8:21.  The Apostle Paul says that the world around us in decay.  Jesus has placed us here as a powerful influence in stopping that decay around us. Jesus’ purpose for our life is essential and crucial to the very survival of His created order.   To be like salt that preserves, we are to be Jesus’ instruments of humanity, of His intended society, of His intention for marriages, of His intended purpose in our workplaces and neighborhoods.  It has been said that we Christians are “to be a moral disinfectant in a world where moral standards are low, constantly changing, or non-existent.”  Christian saltiness is Christian character! That means committed Christian discipleship is shown in both word and deed. 

As a flavoring we are to be like salt that penetrates and flavors as the seasoning.  That means we are to bring out the God-flavors of those around us.  Salt loses itself in serving the object that is being salted.  When ordinary table salt is applied to food properly, it is not so that we will taste the salt.  Rather it is so that the food itself tastes more authentically as it should.  Read any recipe or watch the Food Channel to know that salt makes food more “foodier.” In the same way, we are to make people more authentically as they should be – more as God intended.  We are ordinary people.  Some less ordinary than others.   But as a friend said, “There is no more selfless thing we can do than to be Christ’s flavoring in His world.”

As a restorative, we might not be the mineral like Epsom salts, but we are to be Christ’s restorative power today.  We are to restore people to Christ.  We help Christ bring healing to people. We are to help someone come back to restored relationship with Christ.  We as Christians are to be Christ’s reconciliation power in this world – to each other, and to Him. 

But Jesus warns us not to lose god’s intended purpose for our lives.  You and I have been destined to be like Jesus!!!!   If we lose His intended purpose we would be confronted by the obvious and hard question of Jesus:  What shall be done with non-salty salt? 

            You see, the effectiveness of salt, be it a preservative, a flavoring or a beneficial mineral – is conditional:  it must retain its saltiness.  Now strictly speaking, salt does not lose its flavor of its saltiness.  So why does Jesus say that when it does it is to be thrown out and trodden underfoot?   Where I come, the Pennsylvania winters can be harsh.  In many such places salt is thrown on the ground for people to get good tracking under foot to be safe on the snow and ice.  However, in Jesus day there is another great example of salt being thrown out and trodden under foot.   In Palestine the ordinary oven is out of doors - separate from the rest of the house – for safety AND to keep the house from heating up in that warm climate.  The oven is built of stone on a base of tiles.  For these ovens to retain the heat, a thick bed of salt is laid under the tiled floor.  After a period of time the salt perishes – begins to dissolve.  The tiles are taken up, the salt residue is removed and thrown away on the ground outside the door of the oven.  That salt has lost its power to heat the tiles and is now trampled under foot.  This could be what Jesus is picturing as He speaks. 

            Whatever the visual Jesus or the original hearers had in mind – the point remains that to lose one’s purpose invites disaster.  When we lose our usefulness and purpose, we will end in the garbage heap.  William Barclay says it this way:  “If we, as Christians, are not fulfilling our purpose as a Christian – then we are on the way to disaster.  You and I are meant to be the salt of the earth, and if we do not bring to life the purity, the antiseptic power, the radiance that we ought, then we invite disaster.”   We do not want to lose our usefulness of being God’s salt.

            Ruth Bell Graham once told of an incident that occurred in a totalitarian country where the official church existed only under government oversight.   In this particular case, the state secretary for church affairs was a medical doctor – as well as a brilliant pastor.  One day this state secretary for church affairs was called before high officials who wanted him to be more repressive/controlling of Christians in that country.

            When he arrived, he began by saying:  “I know you gentlemen wish to interrogate me.  But first, may I say something?”  He was granted the floor to speak.  “You know I am a medical doctor.  As a doctor I know the importance of salt in the human body.  It should be maintained at about 2%.  If it is less, a person gets sick.  If it is eliminated altogether, the person will die.  Now, Jesus Christ has said Christians are the salt of the earth.”  After he paused he said:  “That is all.  And now, gentlemen, what is it that you wish to say to me?”  He was dismissed without further comment.

            God means to impact the world through His people.  We, as His hidden power are to be about God’s transforming mission.  We, of course, need to get together and sing, praise God, and open and read and memorize God’s Word.  That is one aspect of corporate worship.  We need to meet together is small groups.  When the salt gets together there is fellowship in that shaker.  But as you know, salt in the shaker does no good.  Like salt, our real purpose, God’s real purpose, is only fulfilled when we are shaken out of the container, out of the safeness of MPC, and into the community and the world.  Let’s be shaken salt.