When I was in high school, we did an exciting musical called Godspell by Stephen Schwartz.
Oh, how I love musicals! There was this one song that had people popping up from various places. I was one of those characters.
My line was, "You are the salt of the earth."
I can still remember the next person coming back, "But if the salt loses flavor?" and there would be some kind of sad honking sound. The words were from the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 5. And you might wonder why Jesus told people, "You are the Salt of the Earth."
Before the pandemic, Monday and Tuesday nights were my nights to sit with my mom. Most of the time, she was sleeping, but I would sit with her and watch the cooking channel. My favorite show was "Chopped."
I was incredibly surprised at how many times the judges would say: This dish needs a little more salt, it would enhance the flavor of this dish. Salt is a good ingredient to unite this flavor profile. My grandmother when I was her little cook would remind me not to forget salt as it was an important ingredient. Not too little but not too much she would say. Salt does make a difference. It doesn't take a lot of salt to add flavor to something but leaving it out makes a difference. A saltshaker locked in a cabinet cannot help a bland dish become full of flavor. Salt is of no use unless it is poured out and scattered.
In this modern day and age salt is seen as something negative. What happens when you get too much salt in your diet? It raises your blood pressure. It hardens your arteries. It can even zap the body of energy. But salt done right is a positive element. In Minnesota, gently scattered salt on a sidewalk can mean the difference between a broken bone or a safe walk. When I was little, we gargled with it to help heal our sore throats. In ancient times salt was precious.
Our word salary comes from salt as it was used to pay Roman soldiers. Salt was used to preserve food since there was no refrigeration.
Salt was used to disinfect wounds and was rubbed on the skin of newborn babies to protect them from various diseases. Having said all this, in the Sermon on the Mount discourse, Jesus tells his disciples and the crowd gathered, "You are the Salt of the Earth."
Jesus's saying, "You are the Salt of the Earth," reminds them and us how precious and valuable we are to God.
Jesus calling his disciples and the crowd to be "Salt for the Earth" was a call for all of us to be the ingredient that helps unite the diverse flavors of our world. Being "Salt of the Earth" is a call to be a healing presence in our communities. Salt, at its best, sustains and enriches all Life.
Being "Salt for the Earth" adds to the grace of the world, and I honestly think that is good news!
By Pastor Louise Britts | American Lutheran Church
No comments:
Post a Comment