We have a favorite meat shop in Peoria, IL. Special events and celebrations are comemorated with a stop at the meat shop to purchase something to grill for dinner. Many comments are made on how it is the best tasting dinner we have ever had. But, if the griller (my husband) forgot the salt or didn’t put enough on the meat, no matter the quality, it would not taste as good. This has happened a couple of times, the meat was not flavored enough with salt so we have to bring the salt shaker to the table and add more to the individual pieces. Salt makes all the difference!
We read about salt in our text today.
“Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.”
Luke 14:34-35
The variety of salt and season salts one can buy today is incredible. If you stand in the spice isle at the local grocery you will have quite a choice of salts. Back in Jesus’ day salt was not the same.
In Jesus’ day salt was gathered up from salt deposits on the Mediterranean Sea or the Dead Sea. The deposits were then broke into large or small chunks depending on what it would be used for. The salt vendors would grind it up to be used just as we use it today, but it wasn’t as pure and bright white like we see salt today.
The salt that was gathered from the deposits in the sea was mixed with many other minerals. The salt was sold in blocks and was not a bright white color because it was not pure salt. If the block stayed out in the weather and got damp, the salt would leach out of the block and lose its saltiness. Over time, the salty flavor would disappear and only the other minerals would be left. Until it was tasted, one would never know that the salt was gone.
Just as salt flavors our food, we as followers of Jesus are to bring a flavor to those around us. As salt has a positive result in flavoring our food, we are to have a positive influence on the people we encounter daily.
Jesus is warning us in this passage to not lose our saltiness. How do we do this? By staying in His Word, by praising and worshiping Him, by being in community with other believers. We cannot keep our saltiness by only being in Church on Sundays or watching a sermon online. It is a daily habit to remain in fellowship with Jesus that aids us in keeping our salt salty.