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. -Matthew 5:13
My father has been a Sunday School teacher, off and on, for decades. He also taught in a prison Bible study for years. So, I still enjoy discussing scripture with him. Not that long ago, I was talking with him about Jesus’ teaching in Matthew 5 that we are to be the salt of the earth. We talked about salt being a preservative, something that keeps meats from spoiling. We also talked about how it provides taste. We also talked about how salt is important for life, and that if we do not maintain the appropriate levels of salt, we can get very sick.
The one thing he said that really stuck with me is this: “As a pharmacist, someone who knows a thing or two about chemistry, I can tell you that it is impossible for salt to lose its saltiness because the salty taste is a property of salt. If it no longer tastes like salt, then it is no longer, by definition, salt. When it has lost its saltiness, that is a sign that the chemical makeup has changed. It is now something else.”
We, the faithful of Jesus Christ, though we are a diverse people, have some things in common. To love Jesus is to love God. It is to show compassion and grace. It is to be laser-focused on demonstrating the values of the Kingdom of God in everything we do.
But that is tough in this world. We are asked to make compromises to our commitment to the teachings of Jesus all the time. We are taught to love our neighbors, but we find exceptions. We are told to have no idols before the LORD, our God. Instead, our lives are weighed down by all kinds of idols who have power over us. We are taught to work together, finding unity in the Spirit, but instead we search for ways to squabble. We are taught to have compassion for those who suffer, but we often mock the suffering.
This is what salt that has lost its saltiness looks like. It has become something different than the salt of the earth, staying faithful and preserving the teachings of Christ and how he taught us God wants us to live our lives. When we participate in the watered-down version of Christianity that does not continually challenge the world around us to be more loving and compassionate, we have, by definition, allowed our internal composition to become something other than striving to be molded to the image of Christ. Being difficult to the world that mostly serves greed and selfish ends is a property of being a follower of Christ.
So, when it comes to accomplishing God’s mission in this world of reconciliation to God and God’s ways…well, if we are not careful to lose our saltiness…we are just…underfoot.
Stay salty, my friends.
Grace and Peace,
Rob
