Hey, Pass the Salt!

“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. “ (Matt. 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: “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in heaven is great (Matt. 5:12a).”.   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” (vs. 13a).    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.  Before my first trip to Israel I would not have asked the question, what do you mean, the salt became tasteless?  What did Jesus mean when He said, you are the salt of the earth? 

Salt was a very important commodity in the Jesus’ day.  The Greeks called it divine. It was often used for payment for services rendered or passed down from generation to generation.  But in this case it had a different meaning.  The houses were very small, usually with only one window.  To build an oven inside would have driven the occupants out, due to the heat and odor of cooking.

So they built their ovens outside between the house and walkway. 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 breed.  After several bakings the salt would begin to lose its reflective power, was removed and replaced by a new layer of salt.  The old salt was thrown into the roadway making a hard pathway.

The lesson Jesus taught that day had a far deeper meaning than the idiosyncrasies of salt.  It was that, as children of Yeshua, we are to be a reflection of Him in all we say and do. 

So, 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.  And one day, I believe in the not too distant future, we will stand before the Lord and answer the question “Were you a reflection of my Son, Jesus? 

Blessings,

Gramps