Jesus
tells us in today’s Gospel from Matthew (Chapter 5, v.13) : " You are the salt of the earth." And then He says, " But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot." What
in the world does He mean by that? I’m not at all sure, are you? First of
all, let’s talk about salt. That most essential and common condiment in almost all
of our lives.
Salt
is not just part of our vocabulary, it’s part of our menu.
Do
you like the taste of salt? Well, let me
put it another way. Do you like potato
chips? Then you like salt. How about pretzels? Or a slice of Italian salami? Or a sliver of Swiss cheese or Camembert? Or how about some bacon with your eggs? Or a
crunchy Kosher dill pickle cured in a
brine of spices and -- that’s right-- salt?
If you like any of these foods or most any food for that matter, then you
like salt.
Imagine
a completely salt-free diet. Or better
yet, ask someone who is on a low-sodium regimen and ask them how much they
enjoy it. They will tell you straight
out: it’s awful! Your food is so bland
and uninteresting it’s almost not worth eating.
It doesn’t taste like anything! When we think of salt, then, we don’t think of its own flavor, but
rather the taste of things whose flavor it is meant to enhance.
Finally,
in our own time, salt is, well, pretty much a free commodity, or almost. When we go to a restaurant or a fast-food
outlet, salt is right there alongside all the other things that we aren’t
directly charged for, like napkins, straws, toothpicks, ice water, and, of
course, pepper. At McDonalds or In and
Out Burgers, or Paneras, or almost any
fast-food outlet.
Salt,
then, is cheap, readily accessible, and,
as I’ve mentioned, practically free. And
by the way, I’ve never seen anyone throw out a box of salt. Look carefully. There is no expiration date! Salt has been around a long time, and it’s
not going away any time soon.
But let’s
listen again to Scripture: Jesus says: " You are the salt of the earth." And then He says, " But if salt loses its taste, with what can it be seasoned? It is no longer good for anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot."
Again,
doesn’t that still strike you as a little bit odd? What is He saying to us? Well, let’s consider some other information.
Salt,
in the time of Jesus, was used both as a flavoring, but even more importantly,
as a food preservative. In fact, it was the
food preservative for many, many centuries.
In the absence of refrigeration,
the use of salt was crucial in preserving foods: especially meat and fish.
Salt
was expensive, too. It could only be obtained by evaporation or extraction: either by the slow process of drying out in
the sun in designated salt beds, or through the crude and perilous process of
mining. In fact, in the time of Jesus,
salt was so rare and expensive that it was used as currency. Worthy soldiers in the Roman army were given
salt—or salario—as their compensation. A
word that, for us, has become the term salary.
Speaking of the Romans, they even
built several special roads, like the Via Salaria, to transport salt to urban
centers.
The
rock salt they mined wasn’t wonderful,
by the way; it had to be cleansed of impurities first. So that in cooking, salt
was always placed in a cloth bag and suspended into a broth or soup, and
retrieved once its work was done. Then,
the bag was thrown away.
Then,
as now, salt was rare, expensive, and necessary. And its use was nearly
universal. Nomads lived by slaughtering
and eating their herds. The flesh of
animals already contains an adequate level of salt for human consumption. But everyone else—anyone who wasn’t a nomad,
but who lived off the earth directly or indirectly—had to find salt another way
most of the time. And they had to pay through the nose for it.
So
let’s return to the Scriptures once more.
Jesus is not telling us to use salt. He is telling us to be salt. The salt of the entire earth, as a matter of
fact. Well, now he meaning is becoming somewhat more accessible. He is telling
us that we are rare, precious, and necessary.
That
we are meant to add flavor and zest to all of life as part of the realization
of the Kingdom He proclaims and promises.
We
are not the main dish. That’s
clear. The Lord is. But we are meant to add ‘flavor’ to our world by our presence and
commitment, not by trying to dominate it.
He
doesn’t say anything about how many of us there need to be, by the way. Or how rich,
powerful, or imposing. After all,
it is estimated that the first Christian community in Rome initially numbered
just about 200 people out of a population of 2 million! And the vast majority of them were poor and
struggling people.
Nevertheless,
they were called in their time—just as we are in ours-- to add to the flavor of
our world by being the presence of
Christ and of Christ’s witness to justice, peace, love and mercy in every
situation in which we find ourselves.
We
do this when we help to heal, unite, and
to bring home other human beings who are suffering. And when we do so consistently over time, it shows.
Both in us and through us. And in the Kingdom we are called to proclaim with our
lives.
Not only that—and this is an important caveat-- we need to renew and replenish our resources and reserves through prayer, meditation, sacraments (especially the Eucharist), and rest.
Jesus
says: “You are the salt of the earth. But if salt loses its taste, with what can it
be seasoned? It is no longer good for
anything but to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.”
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