Tasting Salt
Every six weeks or so, I put together a list of scripture passages to use for the prayer discipline of Lectio Divina. I pass it out to the elders here at Central and some other folks here who use this practice as well. If you are interested just let me know; I'd be glad to make the list of readings available to you. This most recent series uses the "Sermon on the Mount" from Matthew 5-7. Last week included mostly the Beatitudes and this week continues in chapter 5.
Yesterday's reading was Matthew 5:13, "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." The way I practice Lectio is to read the passage and then silently listen for a little while and see what latches onto me. "Taste" latched onto me and at first I wasn't sure why. Then I read it again and let the word "taste" and the rest of the passage echo around inside me for a few minutes. That stirred in me the idea that salt cannot lose its saltiness. It can get dirty because you spill it on the ground and have to sweep it up or you can drop something else into it; salt particles can bond with other salt particles and kind of become a paste. But if it is dirty or is nothing but a big clump, it still tastes salty. Salt cannot lose its saltiness. Even if you put some in a big pot of chili or stew, it remains salty. You may not directly taste the salt but it remains adding season and taste to the soup. Salt is salt and remains so regardless.
Then I read the passage again and listen in a period silence for anything that might get stirred up. This last time I was reminded that the Beatitudes are not "Be - Attitudes;" they are not instructions about how to "be." Rather they are pronouncement of blessing. As Jesus utters them, they are so. Perhaps this is what he says with regard to salt. You are salt and always will be salt. You cannot deny your identity. You may get a little dirty. You may get a little stuck together. But you are still salt.
As I came to the next verses, Matthew 5:14-16, I heard, "You are the light of the world..." I heard again, "you cannot deny your identity."
posted by baldpreacher @ 8:23 PM
2 Comments:
This passage puzzled me too until read the following explanation, from The four-fold Gospel (Full citation at the end)
XLII.
THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT.
(a Mountain Plateau Not Far from Capernaum.)
Subdivision C.
Influence and Duties of Messiah’s Subjects.
AMatt. V. 13–16.
a13 Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savor, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out and be trodden under foot of men. [Salt has been used from time immemorial as an agent in the preservation of meats. The multitudes which heard Jesus were familiar with its use in curing fish. “The pickled fish of Galilee were known throughout the Roman world” (G. A. Smith). It is worthy of note that the salt of Palestine gathered from the marshes is not pure. Because of the foreign substances in it, it loses its savor and becomes insipid and useless, when exposed to the sun and air, or when permitted for any considerable time to come in contact with the ground; but pure salt does not lose its savor. The verse teaches that God’s people keep the world from putrefaction and corruption. There was not salt enough in the antediluvian world to save it from the flood, in Sodom to save it from fire, nor in Canaan to preserve its people from destruction. It also teaches—as does experience—that a disciple may lose those qualities which make him salt.]
McGarvey, J. W. 1999. The four-fold Gospel. Logos Research Systems, Inc.: Oak Harbor, WA
Thanks for the reference info. I'll save it for the next time that I preach on this passage.
Recently though I was not reading the passage for information but formation. What struck me was that beginning with the Beatitudes and continuing through the references to salt and light, Jesus makes pronouncements. He describes how things are. Jesus describes God's people as they are. He is not offering instructions on how to be God's people but how we are God's people.
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