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| Mike Hosey, Elder |
There are at least three places in scripture where Jesus declares salt good. And in characteristic style, He wants us to seek out and decipher the meaning of that declaration.
In Matthew 5:13 He tells us that we are salt, but he doesn't define for us what that means.
In Mark 9:50, He tells us to have salt in us, and then in that very same sentence commands us to be at peace with one another. But again, He provides no definition for what saltiness is.
As I was reading His third use of the salt metaphor in Luke 14:34-35, I was stricken by how He tells us that "unsalty" salt isn't good for the soil or for the manure pile. Huh? He doesn't say that it isn't even good for the soil or the manure pile - as if they were the last places one would use salt. He says it as if salt is commonly used in those places.
I began to wonder if there were uses for salt other than those normally cited to illuminate these verses.
Usually, the major commentators teach that because salt is a common preservative, and also a powerful flavor enhancer, that Jesus must mean for us to be preservatives in society, and to enhance the goodness of the world.
But would Jesus want us to preserve the fallen world, or to enhance the flavor of sinful humanity?
To be honest, I'm not sure.
However, as I delved into this brackish spring of questions, I learned that in the days of Jesus, salt was used as a fertilizer. When spread correctly, it encouraged crop growth. It can also be used to boost the fertilizing capabilities of manure!
So is Jesus telling us to be fertilizer for those seeds that have fallen on good ground (Matthew 13:8)? Is He telling us to put special fertilizer in us (Mark 9:50) so that we may grow to live peacefully with one another?
Or perhaps he is telling us that our character (Matthew 5:1-12) and our sacrifice (Luke 14:25-33) are necessary elements for kingdom growth.
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