Be Salty

Matthew 5:13-17

INTRODUCTION

Do y’all know what this is? This is No-Salt. I was introduced to No-Salt at the ripe old age of eleven years old, because that was the age I was diagnosed with high blood pressure. Unlike now, I was not overweight as a child. I was very active during this time of my life. I was on the wrestling team at school, dad and I lifted weights together and ran together. I was eating healthy. Yet, despite all that, I had high blood pressure. My pediatrician put me on medication, and gave me a referral to see a specialist at Children’s Hospital in Cincinnati. They did a bunch of tests on me at the Children’s Hospital, and the specialists came back with, “Well, we don’t exactly know why he has high blood pressure, but he sure enough has it.” Alongside medication, the doctor recommended some dietary changes. If any of y’all have dealt with hypertension, then you know what came next—No Salt. Mom got me some No-Salt and Ms. Dash to sprinkle on my food, but trust me when I say that they were no substitute for the real thing. I would sneak real salt on my food, and when I got caught, of course my mother would fuss at me. I would always reply to mom with what Jesus says at the beginning of Mark and Luke’s version of this teaching: Mom, Jesus says, “Salt is good.” If Jesus said “Salt is Good,” then I should be able to have salt. The Book says it, I believe it, that settles it. Well, she didn’t buy into my line of reasoning.

Why is No-Salt such a poor substitute for salt? Because it ain’t got no taste, as my great Uncle Carl would say. It does not satisfy the pallet like genuine salt does. There is something off about it’s flavor. So, despite my doctor’s orders, the container of No-Salt sat in the cupboard for years and years until it was eventually discarded. Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how can its saltiness be restored. Salt had many uses in Jesus’ day and it was a vital and cherished commodity. Think about this, salt was so valuable in Jesus’ day that Roman soldiers were paid, partially, in salt. In fact, our word soldier comes from the Latin phrase sal dare, which means, “to give salt.” Also, our word salary comes from the Latin word salarium, which means, “salt allowance.” In Jesus’ day, having an adequate amount of salt could mean the difference between life and death. Salt was used as a preservative. Salt extended the shelf-life of food and kept foods from becoming rancid and perishing. Salt was also instrumental in religious rituals. The Law of Moses prescribed that all sacrifices were to be salt. Salt was understood to have a purifying effect. Salt was also used when establishing a covenant between two parties.

In our passage this morning, Jesus has in mind the use of salt that we are most familiar with—salt makes things taste good. Salt is a flavor enhancer. Without salt, dishes are bland and dull. Add a little salt, and the natural flavors of the meat and vegetables shines through a new vibrancy. Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth.” Whenever you meet someone, they get a taste for who you are. Did you know that you have a flavor? You do, you have a flavor. The question is, do you have a good flavor, or have you lost your taste? Like good salt, are you a flavor enhancer? Scripture tells us, “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” How do folks get that taste? It’s through us. People experience the goodness of God, in part, through our witness—through our good deeds. If you are full of the joy of the Lord, people are gonna get a taste of that, and they’re gonna want it for themselves. If you have the peace of God, and you are calming presence, people around you are gonna get a taste for that, and they’re gonna want some. That’s not only true for us as individual believers, but it’s also true for us as a congregation. When people walk in our church, they get a taste for who we are. When people come to Pisgah Church and they see folks that are hugging, happy to be there, happy to see see everyone, excited to worship the Lord, then they get a taste of God’s goodness. I’ve walked in some churches, and man, they were bland. They didn’t have no seasoning. No body smiled. No one laughed or talked with each other. There was no sense of community or comradely. I’ve walked in other churches, and their salt had lost it’s saltiness, it had been corrupted, it was impure. They had an off-putting flavor, and immediately I just wanted to leave. They had lost their saltiness?

This raises a good question. How can salt lose it’s saltiness? In Jesus’ day, the salt people used wasn’t as chemically pure factory refined salt we use today. Salt in Jesus’ day was collected from the ocean, of course, from the dead sea, as well as salt mines. When they harvested salt, they didn’t collect pure salt, but it would’ve been mixed with other minerals. It was unrefined, and in that day they could only refine salt to a point. The less refined the salt was, the more contaminates it contained. If that less refined salt was improperly stored and moisture got to the salt, sodium would slowly leech out leaving behind a higher concentration of the insoluble compounds, like gypsum or sand. No one wants to cook with dirty salty. No one wants to season their food with something that will make it taste bad. What do you do with contaminated salt? Jesus asks, what can you do with it? He answers, nothing. He says, “It’s good for nothing.” When salt becomes so contaminated that it looses its taste, it can no longer fulfill its function, which is to make things taste good. Jesus says you have to throw it out, and then it’s trampled under people’s feet. Throwing salt on the ground, sounds particularly useful to us, especially today. It did snow in Judea and In Galilee, but melting ice and snow with salt is a modern innovation. Its a bit puzzling to us why Jesus says people would throw out this un-salty salt, if they weren’t salting the roads for snow. Simply, people threw out trash and waste outside.

This is the harsh part of the saying, Jesus says that salt which has lost its saltiness is waste. To be the salt of the earth is a mandate. It is a divine calling Jesus has given to his church. Jesus is saying when believers and churches loose their saltiness, they get thrown out. Why? Because they no longer fulfill the purpose for which they were called. Right now, I can think of churches that I know who have lost their saltiness. Some of those churches have closed and some are barley hanging on. Some of those churches were bland. Some of those churches had an off-putting taste. Their salt had corrupted with bitterness, with strife, with jealously, with gossip. Churches and believers that loose their saltiness forget the mission God has given them. We are the salt of the earth. Jesus also says we are the light of the word. Churches that lose their salt are like a person who puts a bushel basket on top of a candle. There’s no point. It’s so easy for churches to loose their salt, to put a bushel basket over candle and obscure their light. The greatest temptation for churches is to become insular. The biggest temptation for churches is that they begin to function for themselves, and they forget that their mission is those outside the four walls. When churches forget the mission, they don’t care about how they taste. Because they’ve lost sight of those on the outside. This is a terrifying thought—it’s humbling and convicting thought; Jesus says to those churches, I will throw them out to be trampled under peoples feet, because they’re good for nothing.

Church, I do not expect to hear such words from the Lord Jesus. Jesus says, “City set on a hill cannot be hidden.” God has set Pisgah Church on top of Three-Mile Hill for a purpose and he has given us a community to shine his light for. In my time at Pisgah Church I have been encouraged time and time again, by your willingness to shine your light. You have not hid your candle. When folks in our community have had needs, you have stepped up to help. You’ve opened your door to families in our community and their children through the Fall festivals, and through fish fries, and the VBS we hosted last year. Let me tell you church, I am proud of Pisgah Church’s willingness to shine it’s light in our community. Church, let’s keep our salt salty. Let’s keep being a flavor enhance. Let’s keep tasting good. Never forget that how we act, our temperament, how we carry ourselves, and how we talk gives off a flavor. People evaluate whether they will attend our church, or even consider believing in God and faith, based on our flavor. We have an obligation to taste good—to display God goddess and grace in our speech and in how we treat other people. Jesus tells us this, “let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” Church, let your light shine and be salty. Amen.