“You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt has become tasteless, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to the thrown out and trampled underfoot by men. “ (Matthew 5:13)
Hey Gang: In His teachings on the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus had just completed His teaching on the Beatitudes. He had just challenged his disciples to “rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great”. Notice He did not say, your reward on earth will be great.
He then went on and told his inner most circle, the twelve apostles, “You are the salt of the earth”. In my trips to the Holy Land one of the great fringe benefits that God has blessed me with is a better understanding of His Word. What did Jesus mean when He said, you are the salt of the earth.
Salt was a very important commodity in Jesus day. The Greeks called it divine. It was often used as payment for services rendered. But in this case it had a different meaning. The houses were very small with only one window. To build an oven inside would have driven the occupants out due to the heat.
They built their ovens between the house and roadway. The oven was an adobe like domed hut. On the floor of the hut they placed a layer of salt to reflect the heat up so as to bake their bread. After several baking the salt would begin to lose its reflective power and it was removed and replaced by a new layer of salt. The old was thrown into the roadway.
The lesson Jesus taught that day had a far deeper meaning than the idiosyncrasies of salt. It was that we are to be a reflection of Jesus Christ in all we say and do.
Soooo, my dear friends, each time you pick up the salt shaker remember that you are a reflector, a reflector of God’s gift to you, His Son Jesus Christ.
Blessings
Gramps
No comments:
Post a Comment