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Text: Mark 9:49-50
Theme: True Christians have been salted with fire and as such become the salt of the world.
“For everyone will be salted with fire.
50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?
Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.””
(Mark 9:49–50, ESV)
I consulted over a dozen commentaries on this hard saying of Jesus.
Nine of the dozen commentaries all opened with a similar statement: “These are strange statements.”
Yes, they are.
What does Jesus mean when he says everyone will be salted with fire?
How can salt lose its saltiness?
How do we have salt in ourselves?
As we look at the hard sayings of Jesus this one is hard because it’s confusing.
At least to our modern ears it is.
So let’s take a few minutes to see if we can glean what Jesus is trying to communicate to his listeners.
Covenant of Salt
Christians becoming Salt
Christians as the salt of the earth
I. COVENANT OF SALT
1. so much of what Jesus preached had its roots in the Old Testament
a. when Jesus said in his Sermon on the Mount “Ye are the salt of the earth” the imagery resonates with his listeners because they understand the importance of salt in the sacrificial system of Israel
A. SALT WAS AN ESSENTIAL PART OF LIFE
1. salt was a valuable commodity in the ancient world, and in some place was as valuable as gold
a. some historians contend that civilization could not have arisen if it were not for salt
1) we take the commodity for granted since it’s one of the cheapest condiments we can purchase (a blue container of Morton’s Iodized Salt costing 99¢)
ILLUS.
In the U.S. alone 42 million tons of salt are mined each year.
The deepest salt mine in America is the Cayuga Salt Mine, in central New York state.
At 2,300 feet, the mine is the deepest in North America and stretches more than seven miles underground tapping into a vast salt deposit that stretches from Pennsylvania to Ontario.
Some underground salt beds can be a thousand feet thick.
2) I tell you that to illustrate why we take salt for granted
b. the ancient world did not
1) most salt in the Middle East came from the southern region of the Dead Sea which is the saltiest body of water on earth
2) Dead Sea water was diverted into shallow pools where the water was allowed to evaporate and the salt would crystalize and then be scraped up
a) it was hot dirty work (I’m sure Mike Rowe would have included in a Dirty Jobs episode if he’d been around back then)
2. to the ancients procuring sufficient quantities of salt could mean the difference between preserving food for future consumption or starving
B. SALT WAS A SYMBOL OF GOD’S COVENANT WITH ISRAEL
1. three Old Testament passages refer to the Covenant of Salt
“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt.
You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.”
(Leviticus 2:13, ESV)
“All the holy contributions that the people of Israel present to the LORD I give to you, and to your sons and daughters with you, as a perpetual due.
It is a covenant of salt forever before the LORD for you and for your offspring with you.”” (Numbers 18:19, ESV)
“Ought you not to know that the LORD God of Israel gave the kingship over Israel forever to David and his sons by a covenant of salt?” (2 Chronicles 13:5, ESV)
a. we know from the Old Testament accounts that salt was also to be part of the ingredients of the incense used in Temple worship because salt helps to accentuate the smell of the incense
b. so salt is an important ingredient of Jewish sacrifices, but because the phrase covenant of salt appears only three times in the Old Testament, even Jewish scholars debate just exactly what the covenant of salt is
c. most Jewish scholars agree that the nature of salt is the key to understanding
2. in the Old Testament God commanded that salt be included with every sacrifice
“You shall season all your grain offerings with salt.
You shall not let the salt of the covenant with your God be missing from your grain offering; with all your offerings you shall offer salt.”
(Leviticus 2:13, ESV)
a. so significant was the addition of salt to an offering that doing so come to be called The Covenant of Salt
3. the nature of salt was symbolic of God’s relationship to Israel which is why it was included with the sacrifices
a. 1st, because of salt’s preservative nature, it’s use came to represent the perpetual covenant, that is, the eternalness of God’s covenant with Israel
ILLUS.
In 2 Chronicles 13:5 King Abijah has drawn up battle lines against King Jeroboam.
This is shortly after the nation of Israel split into two rival nations — the Kingdom of Judah and the Kingdom of Israel.
Before the battle ensues, Abijah steps forward to tells the seceding northern tribes that they ought to remember that God gave Israel — all of it — to David and his descendants forever by a covenant of salt.
His meaning is clear; God’s promise was that the nation should remain one under the perpetual leadership of King David’s descendants.
b. 2nd, because salt represented healing
ILLUS.
In 2 Kings there is a story of the prophet Elisha coming to a town where the water is bad.
The prophet asks for a bowl with salt in it.
He then went to the spring and threw the salt into it saying, “ ... “Thus says the LORD, I have healed this water; from now on neither death nor miscarriage shall come from it.””
(2 Kings 2:21, ESV)
ILLUS.
In Ezekiel the prophet describes rubbing newborns with salt as part of a baby’s care after delivery.
Midwives of that time used salt as a natural loofa for exfoliating a baby's skin after birth, as well as to deter the growth of bacteria, and preventing infection.
c. 3rd, partaking of a pinch of salt was a way of sealing a covenant
ILLUS.
When two parties entered into an agreement, they would each swallow a pinch of salt in the presence of witnesses that would serve as a binding contract.
d. 4th, partaking of salt was a sign of friendship, hospitality, and a symbol of community
ILLUS.
Even among modern Arabs the Arabic expression, "There is salt between us", or "He has eaten of my salt," means partaking of hospitality and cementing a friendship.
ILLUS.
The Jewish people have not forgotten their salt covenants with God.
To this day, every Friday at sunset, many practicing Jews still dip their bread into salt to keep their agreement with God.
5. thus, when the priests added salt to the sacrifice it symbolized all these things
a. it reminded Israel that God’s promises to Israel were perpetual, incorruptible, and indissoluble
b. negatively, salt can also indicate irrevocability in punishment
ILLUS.
Recall how Abimelech sowed the city of the Shechemites with salt that it might be eternally worthless (Judg.
9:45).
6. in Jewish tradition, therefore, any perpetual covenant came to be called a covenant of salt and incorporated all of the symbolic meaning I just referred to
II.
CHRISTIANS BECOMING SALT
““You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored?
It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”
(Matthew 5:13, ESV)
“For everyone will be salted with fire.
50 Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again?
Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.””
(Mark 9:49–50, ESV)
1. any Christian who has been a believer for any length of time has read Matthew 5:13 and probably heard a sermon on it
a. less so from Mark 9:49-50
2. the context of a Scripture passage usually helps understand the meaning of a verse
a. in Mark, the contest of vs. 49-50 are found within the context of graphic terminology, dramatic acts, severe warnings, and shocking threats
““Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off.
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