What does this mean?
No life can survive without salt! If you do a quick Google search, you’ll see that lots of animal’s such as the Alpine Ibex lick salt. One example I saw was the Alpine Ibex climbing the concrete water dam to find their salt.
The thing about salt is that if you have too much, it can kill you. But if you don’t have enough, it can kill you as well. So, it’s very important for life itself. Salt is very interesting because if it’s too much of it in some region, you’ll notice that those areas where there’s too much salt that all life is dead.
There is no life where there’s too much salt yet. The oceans have got plenty of salt and the oceans are absolutely thriving with life.
It doesn’t surprise me that many religions and cultures around the world use salt in their in their everyday rituals and things.
In today’s discussion, we’re going to begin by looking at salt in general, from the Old Testament and find verses and see what we can learn.
After we’ve done that, we’re going to look at what Jesus means when he says that we are the salt of the earth.
The covenant of salt
….jtsa.edu/torah/a-covenant-of-salt/
…en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salt_in_the_Bible
“The role of salt in the Bible is relevant to understanding Hebrew society during the Old Testament and New Testament periods. Salt is a necessity of life and was a mineral that was used since ancient times in many cultures as a seasoning, a preservative, a disinfectant, a component of ceremonial offerings, and as a unit of exchange. The Bible contains numerous references to salt. In various contexts, it is used metaphorically to signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification.”
Let us begin by reading some texts on salt from Matthew, Mark Luke and John:
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13
42 “Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea. 43 If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, 44 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 45 If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, 46 [where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.] 47 If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, 48 where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.
49 “For everyone will be salted with fire. 50 Salt is good; but if the salt becomes unsalty, with what will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves and be at peace with one another.” Mark 9:42-50
Discipleship Tested
25 Now large crowds were going along with Him; and He turned and said to them, 26 “If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate his own father and mother and wife and children and brothers and sisters, yes, and even his own life, he cannot be My disciple. 27 Whoever does not carry his own cross and come after Me cannot be My disciple. 28 For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? 29 Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him, 30 saying, ‘This man began to build and was not able to finish.’ 31 Or what king, when he sets out to meet another king in battle, will not first sit down and consider whether he is strong enough with ten thousand men to encounter the one coming against him with twenty thousand? 32 Or else, while the other is still far away, he sends a delegation and asks for terms of peace. 33 So then, none of you can be My disciple who does not give up all his own possessions.
34 “Therefore, salt is good; but if even salt has become tasteless, with what will it be seasoned? 35 It is useless either for the soil or for the manure pile; it is thrown out. He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” Luke 14:25-35
Commentary starter
Salt is mentioned in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
Matthew
In Matthew we learned about the beatitudes. Matthew focused more on the inner life of the believer and ended with the objective effects of what it means to follow Christ.
Mark
Mark is a lot more about the judgement of God and here everyone ‘will be sprinkled with salt’. Salt here is a metaphor in which the disciples and those who are not disciples will be tested which includes a metaphor of hell:
‘[where THEIR WORM DOES NOT DIE, AND THE FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.]’
Luke
Luke is writing in context of the disciples being tested. How committed are we in following Christ?
Reflection
The Judgement of God begins with the Church, and we are to be ‘salted by fire’. Will the fire burn up all our so-called good works? Or will the salt of the Gospel enhance and taste God’s good work in us by the Great Chef. How will we fair on the Day of Judgement, on the day of God’s wrath?
Digging deeper
13 “You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. Matthew 5:13
Jesus is talking directly to his disciples, and he says that our walk with God ought to be ‘spicy’. The opposite of spicy is ‘not spicy’. As believers in Christ how spicy are we for the Gospel? My point of view is that we need God’s grace working in our lives to really spice things up and bring more souls into the Kingdom of God.
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