But Not For Ourselves--February 6, 2023

But Not For Ourselves--February 6, 2023

[Jesus said:] "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]

Salt may not get a lot of good press in medical news these days, but if we dare to think in Jesus' terms for a moment, we may get a better understanding of how to love like he does by thinking in salty terms, of all things.

Okay, I know that most of us today in America don't have a problem with getting too little salt--if anything, we have too much sodium in our diets, and our doctors or our spouses shoot us glaring looks about how much salt we do get. So it can be hard, then, for us to hear Jesus talk about salt in a good way, or to try and understand what he is saying about salt, and what it means for us.  

And I get it, too, that there are really only so many things you can do with salt--at least that us ordinary people would need on a day-to-day basis. Salt tastes good, and salt can preserve foods from spoiling--and in a day before refrigerators, that is a pretty handy thing. That's really about it--you eat it, and you can preserve other things to eat later with it. 

But in both cases, the salt isn't there for its own sake, but for the sake of something else. Salt is a sacrificial seasoning, you could say--you use it for the improvement or preservation of something other than itself. You don't eat spoonfuls of salt by itself. You put it on some other food to season it, and you use it to preserve something else--your meat or fish or whatever. But in both cases, the goodness and the usefulness of the salt is only found when it is put to use for something else. Salt isn't much use just by itself or for itself. In fact, it's really most effective in small doses spread out through the whole of something else. This, really, is why your doctor or your spouse grimaces at you about getting too much salt in your diet. We all need a certain amount of the stuff, but too much and it starts to do more damage than good. Same with the preservative effects--put a certain amount of salt with your cuts of meat, and you can preserve food, which in turn helps preserve life when someone who is hungry can eat without having to invent the refrigerator and alternating current electrical outlets, first. But too much salt actually destroys life--salting the ground, after all, was a devastating tactic the Romans used to punish conquered enemies, as a way of ensuring that nothing would ever grow there again.

This seems to be the point Jesus is making about us--his followers, who dare to live the Kingdom life--that we are meant to be a salt-like presence in the world, for the sake of the world. We are here for good, but not for our own good. We are here to be a blessed presence, scattered and sprinkled throughout society, to season, to enhance, and to preserve. But that only works if we are willing to give ourselves away in the process. And it only works if we realize that we are meant to stand out for a reason, not just to make noise. Salt has its distinctive, even pungent, flavor, but when you put it in food, its purpose is to enhance the other flavors and seasonings in the meal. You never hear anyone say (at least in a positive sense), "Mmm... you can really taste the salt!" That is a sign you'll be getting a glare from the doctor about your sodium level. But when it is rightly put in the food, salt lets the other flavors be what they are supposed to be. It helps and aids the other flavors, but doesn't draw attention to itself when it is used in the right proportions.

Same with the preservative use--Jesus never pictures his followers dominating the world with such a heavy presence that we stifle life, but that we are used in a preservative way. We cannot create or manufacture life--that remains only God's to do--but we can support, nurture, protect, and preserve life among us. And that's the kind of life we are called to. Again, it may well be behind the scenes, and we may not call attention to ourselves, but our purpose is to be a blessed presence for the sake of others. And that is enough, Jesus says.  People might not be able to put their finger on what is going on--they might not always know that you are going the extra mile because of your love for Jesus, or they might not realize that you put in extra time and energy because of the joy God has given you. But you and I have the opportunity to be that kind of blessed presence, without worrying about getting proper credit for it.

That's what makes salt such a picture of the kind of love we meet in Jesus: it doesn't need to draw attention to itself, but is there for sake of whatever it is placed in the midst of.  It gives itself away for the sake of enhancing the whole, without dominating or overpowering.  That's the way Jesus' love works.  And that's the kind of love we are sent to embody for the world--to give it a foretaste of what the Reign of God is really like.

On the other hand, if we lose that sense of being here for the sake of others, maybe we have lost our reason for being Jesus' followers altogether. After all, as Jesus says, if salt loses its saltiness, it's not good for anything other than traction under your feet. If we lose either our distinctiveness--our way of sticking out and being willing to look like holy fools because we are seeking to be like Jesus--or our willingness to give ourselves away, the way salt is meant for enhancing or preserving something else, what's the point of gathering together in Jesus' name? We know, all too well and too sadly, that it is an easy trap for Christians and congregations to fall into--to become only narrowly focused on preserving themselves: on how to "keep the church alive," or how to just make ends meet, or how to make themselves financially prosperous. There are a lot of loud voices, too, angling for Christians to take charge, to get special treatment or recognition, or to occupy positions of power, all of which sounds a lot more like a lethal dose of sodium than a light touch of salt to enhance the soup.  And when that happens, we have lost our purpose, our reason for being, our Jesus-given identity as a people meant to enhance and preserve others so that we can be a picture, a living parable, of what God has done for us in Christ. 

We are meant to be ripples, reverberations, and echoes of the kind of salty, self-sacrifice of Jesus that gives life to us and to the world. That's what this is all about. Today, be an echo of mercy. Today, be a behind-the-scenes reverberation of grace. Today, be salt--Jesus says it's what we are already.

Lord Jesus, let us be today what you have called us to be and said we are in the first place--a blessed, distinctive, and preserving presence for the sake of the world, so that people will see in us what you have done for the world, too.