Daily Devotional 11-11-26

Salt for a Wounded World

We live in a world of confusion and noise, anger, division and conflict – very much a wounded world.

People who are honorable and dependable are sometimes called ‘the salt of the earth’. Interestingly, the expression comes from Jesus’s timeless words in his Sermon on the Mount, to all who would follow him: “You are the salt of the earth” (Matthew 5:13).

People in his day, as we do today, used salt to bring out the flavor of food. It was also used as a preservative. In the days of no refrigeration, it was rubbed into fresh meat to prevent it from rotting.

His metaphor of salt is double-edged: his followers are to bring out the flavor of what it means to be men and women; we are also to act as a preservative, slowing down the decay of society. Both a tall order!

What does he mean? Jesus has in mind the radical lifestyle that he has just spoken about in his eight Beatitudes (Matthew 5:3-12). There he sets out who are the truly blessed, people who would inherit God’s eternal kingdom. He teaches that God blesses everyone who understands their spiritual poverty before him; who weep for their failure to honor him and for a world that turns its back on him; people who, instead of engaging in the power play and deceptions of the world, walk the tougher path of humility and service, truth and peace. Jesus’s Beatitudes were radical, awakening us to the depths of our human need.

Indeed, it was because Jesus knew humanity without God would always tend to spiral away from truth and goodness, that he called on his followers to be the salt of the earth. He expects everyone who has turned to him to live in a way that slows down the rot of self-interest and greed, of injustice and the unchecked power-play of society elites.

Consider this: back in 2009 Woody Allen produced the movie, Whatever Works. It captures the mood of values today. Starting with the presupposition that life now is all there is, we’re told that there is no God and no final accounting. Part of life’s challenge is to do whatever works to find the fleeting moments of love and joy. The moral subjectivism that pervades the movie seems plausible, realistic and tolerant. There’s no guilt, only disappointments along life’s way.

But how satisfying is this? I often meet people who want what they call the real thing: a loving, satisfying, committed, long-term relationship. They also hope that there will be a day when this world’s wrongs are brought to account.

Today’s world which says that everyone should be tolerant, makes tolerance the one value that determines all other values. The irony is that we need something to define tolerance, otherwise we won’t know whether we are being tolerant or not.

And there is something else here that today’s world ignores: all of us are flawed. We are bent on looking after Number One – ‘Me’ – first. When we read the four accounts of the Jesus story, we discover that his primary purpose was to address the heart of the human tragedy. In doing that, he was not interested in spiritual band-aids. Rather, he was committed to the major surgery that was required to deal once and for all with humanity’s self-inflicted wound, caused by the choice to live in darkness rather than light of truth and righteousness. The remedy lay in his own voluntary death on a cross.

For men and women to stand against the wounding and dehumanising elements around them, they need good and godly examples pointing them to Jesus. But this will only happen when Jesus’s followers don’t become insipid. That’s why he warns against salt losing its saltiness.

“You are the salt of the earth, he says, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet” (Matthew 5:13).

Strictly speaking, salt can’t lose its saltiness. Chemists tell us that NaCl is a stable compound. However, in the ancient world, salt was generally obtained from salt marshes and contained many impurities. The actual salt could be leeched out, leaving a substance that tasted salty but in fact was worthless. There’s an interesting play on Jesus’ words here. Salt in Aramaic is tabel. And there’s a word very close to it, tapel which means fool. ‘Watch out,’ Jesus warns, ‘that you don’t become insipid, wishy-washy fools’.

Let me ask, how do other people see you? Do you claim to be a believer but your life remains unchanged? Is your life-style directed by the culture or by the Bible? Are you just as unforgiving, just as greedy, just as selfish as everyone around you? ‘If you call yourself a follower of mine,’ Jesus says, ‘let your life be transformed by my words, for you are the salt of the earth’.

And there is something else. In his Letter to the Colossians Paul the Apostle writes: Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders, making the most of the time… Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer everyone (Colossians 4:5-6).

We’re to cultivate conversations that are kind and gracious but seasoned with salt. Salt here is a metaphor for sparkling conversations that trigger questions about life. Have ever considered ways to use news items, opinion columns, and films to open up conversations about the God of good news? After all, the Spirit of God uses the Word of God to awaken minds and hearts to the good news transforming lives for good.

So let me ask, are you looking for an opportunity to speak to friends and family about the hope we have in Christ – especially in the seasons of Thanksgiving (in the US), Advent and Christmas? Have you purchased a copy or two of my book, The Jesus Story: Seven Signs for your own reflection and to pass on to others? It’s available through Amazon. Have you also considered using ‘The Word One to One’ to facilitate a coffee conversation with someone? Here is the link: www.theword121.com



Prayer. Lord Christ, eternal Word and Light of the Father’s glory: send your light and your truth so that we may both know and proclaim your word of life, to the glory of God the Father; for you now live and reign, God for all eternity. Amen.

© John G. Mason

From: https://anglicanconnection.com/salt-for-a-wounded-world