Jesus said to his disciples: “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.
Matthew 5:13
I am the salt of the earth. Hearing this, I’m inclined to wonder if a little bit of me goes a long way. Am I overpowering if someone relies on me too much? Does too much of me contribute to high blood pressure? Undoubtedly, the answer to these questions is sometimes “yes.”
But I don’t think salt had these associations for people in Jesus’ time. Wikipedia’s entry, “Salt in the Bible,” says salt is used in the Scriptures “signify permanence, loyalty, durability, fidelity, usefulness, value, and purification . . . . Salt was widely and variably used as a symbol and sacred sign in ancient Israel Numbers 18:19 and 2 Chronicles 13:5 illustrate salt as a covenant of friendship. In cultures throughout the region, the eating of salt is a sign of friendship.” (Yes, I know Wikipedia is not a foolproof source of information, but I’d like to be able to make this post available to you sometime this week.)
Before embarking on this post, I was aware that humans have used to salt as a preservative for a long, long time, so it makes sense to me that, especially before the advent of refrigeration, salt would be associated with permanence, durability, usefulness, and value. The association with fidelity also makes sense in that food must be preserved to remain what it is.
The human body requires a small amount of sodium to conduct nerve impulses, contract and relax muscles, and maintain the proper balance of water and minerals. It is estimated that we need about 500 mg of sodium daily for these vital functions. But too much sodium in the diet can lead to high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke. It can also cause calcium losses, some of which may be pulled from bone. Most Americans consume at least 1.5 teaspoons of salt per day, or about 3400 mg of sodium, which contains far more than our bodies need.
Some people believe that salt needs be replaced during hot weather or strenuous exercise to avoid muscle cramps. This is not correct. What you need to replace is water.
The human body can happily survive on just one gram of salt a day, as hormones keep a check on sodium levels and make adjustments for hot weather. A genuine sodium shortage brought on by hot weather or exercise is extremely rare, even among hard-working athletes.
When salt is used judiciously, when one might say it’s treated like it has value rather than used carelessly, it brings out the best not only in our bodies but in our food. It enhances other flavors rather than overpowering them. Maybe the ability of salt to have a positive effect on other flavors is good to remember as we seek to have healthy relationships with the people around us. Our call and our challenge is not to take charge all the time but to journey with one other and to work on building communities that bring out and benefit from the best qualities of their members.
I’m sorry to say I don’t always bring out the best qualities in the people around me. Why? Because I’m not the pure salt. A footnote in my Bible says the following: “The unusual supposition of salt losing its flavor has led some to suppose that the saying refers to the salt of the Dead Sea that, because chemically impure, could lose its taste” (Mat. 5:13n).
The websiteNatural Pioneers has this to say about Dead Salt’s limited effectiveness for flavoring food: “Dead Sea Salts are made up of about 60% magnesium and potassium, 8% sodium and some rare minerals. . . .While a small percentage of extracted Dead Sea salts are washed and processed to edible salt, the majority is not” (Dead Sea Salts Vs. Sea Salt Are They The Same? [Studies]).
Lord, help me to come to You so that You can wash me. Refine me into the pure salt You created me to become. Grant me the grace to treat others as my valued brothers and sisters rather than carelessly. Help me to cooperate with those around me to flavor our surroundings with Your Love. In other words, grant me the grace to be salt for the world but not salty. Amen.
Works cited
The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.
This is a post about “The Coming of the Spirit.” That’s the title the Bible I use gives to the first story presented in Acts Chapter 2. It’s a story I’ve heard many times, and most reflections I’ve heard or read about it focus on the effect of this event on the apostles. The affect the Spirit had on the apostles didn’t grab my attention this time, though. What I zeroed in on were the sensory details used to describe the Spirit. Acts says “And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them” (2:2-3). The “driving wind” and the “tongues of fire” got me thinking about the many effects wind and fire have on us here on Earth and how some of those effects can remind us of what God does.
“And suddenly there came from the sky a noise like a strong driving wind, and it filled the entire house in which they were. Then there appeared to them tongues as of fire, which parted and came to rest on each one of them.”
Acts Chapter 2:2
I’ll start with wind. It can generate energy and can send some of our balloons, kites, and ships whichever way it blows. Along with water, it can reshape the natural landscapes in which we live. It can rip apart and topple structures we build, especially if we don’t or can’t use the sturdiest materials and designs. Wind outlasts all temporary construction. But it’s gentlest form is breath.
We start fires to generate warmth and coziness. They melt what we can’t bend without them. They weld things together. We will also use fire (or more commonly the heat it generates) to purify water and instruments, to protect ourselves from disease-causing microbes. It changes how even compounds and elements react. Its heat can change the nature of matter. It turns ice to water, and water to gas. It can both solidify and consume the work of human hands. Sometimes we want it to consume the work of those hands so we can get rid of what we don’t want. This article from Science says that, sometimes, fires clear away “dead litter on the forest floor.” The article continues:
[Wildfires allow] important nutrients to return to the soil, enabling a new healthy beginning for plants and animals. . . .
But fires are only good if they serve their specific purpose. If they burn too long or the ground stays dry too long, ecosystems can’t recover.
The above quotation illustrates that the analogy between the Holy Spirit and wind and fire is far from perfect. I don’t believe in a Holy Fire that burns “too long,” drying out creation so that it can’t recover. I don’t believe the Holy Spirit destroys us. On the contrary, the Spirit I believe in is all about giving life, and helping us “have it more abundantly” — (John 10:10). In its ability to refresh, I would characterize the Holy Spirit as being like water as much as fire. And God created wind, fire, and water with certain characteristics and ways of interacting with each other.
I came so that they might have life and have it more abundantly.
John 10:10
It is we who put ourselves in the path of the elements because they offers many gifts that help us establish and continue our communities. But proximity to these powerful gifts is also also one of the ways we’re vulnerable. And we contribute to the danger of their power because we who sometimes overuse, misuse and abuse what is good, including natural gifts.
In doing so, we can contribute to the destruction of ourselves and each other. Or we can use the gifts of that Spirit to allow ourselves to be reshaped for the better when nature’s power and/or human choices remind us of the frailty earthly life.
Works cited
The Bible. The New American Bible Revised Edition, Kindle edition, Fairbrother, 2011.
Sitting with the Sacred 