Salt & Light | Matthew 5:13-16

“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled underfoot.

“You are the light of the world. A town built on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.

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I love salt.  If I have a choice between a brownie and a potato chip, I am choosing the chip.  Salt is the best.  So, here Jesus is telling us we are the salt of the earth.  I can get behind that.

Now stay with the idea of salt for a moment.  Salt was highly valuable in ancient times, preserving food and adding flavor.  It can be considered white gold.  Being so valuable, soldiers in the Roman army were sometimes paid with salt instead of money.  Their monthly allowance was called "salarium" ("sal" being the  Latin word for salt).  We see it today in the word “salary”.  Its roots go back to salt.

There is Jesus telling these same folks who are probably being told that they are blessed for the first time in their life that they are valuable.  They are valuable.  We are valuable.

Think about all the things we do with salt.  Salt accentuates flavors, melts ice, softens water, and hastens a boil.  It soothes sore throats, rinses sinuses, eases swelling, and cleanses wounds.  In some contexts, salt has more than a flavor; it has an edge.  It stings, burns, abrades, and irritates.  If we don’t have enough salt in our bodies, we die.  Too much salt, we also die.

Here Jesus is saying to us, we are the salt of the earth.  We don’t have to strive to be it.  Practice our way toward it.  We are simply it already.

It is 100% descriptive language of identity.  We can choose to enhance a life with it or corrode a life with it.  We can be flavor to favor or we can burn someone.  Salt of the earth is our identity.  Our life as disciples adds flavor to the world.

We are also told that we are precious.  Again, I am going to remind us that salt is precious.  It is not like today where salt is cheap and inexpensive and we can have iodized salt versus non-iodized, table versus sea salt versus kosher. Finishing salt versus staring salt.  My chefs know all about the different salts.

Here, Jesus speaks to the poor, the mournful, the meek, the persecuted, the hungry, the sick, the crippled, the frightened.  The outcast, the misfit, the disreputable, the demon-possessed.  All of the above and says, “You,” he told them all. “You are the salt of the earth.”

We, in turn, get to be this identity in the world.  Salt is best when it's poured out.  When it's shared and brings out the best of the ingredient.  Salt enhances a meal.  We, as our Jesus-told identity, are meant to enhance the world.  We are meant to be in the world.  Which means that if we want to enliven, enhance, deepen, and preserve the world we live in, we must not hide within the walls of our sanctuary.  Salt does not work when it remains in the pantry.  We are salt to live within the precious life that we already are.  We are blessed and we are the flavor of this world.

You who are not cleaned up and shiny and well-fed and fashionable, you who’ve been rejected, wounded, unloved, and forgotten — you are essential.  You are worthwhile.  You are treasured.  And I am sending you out into the world to lead my mission.  You.  You are blessed, seen, loved and precious.

Action: Use some salt today and think of a favorite Pinecrest memory and call the person or people that come to mind.  Tell them they are the salt of the earth.

Prayer: Heavenly creator, thank you for making me salt.  Bless me to be a blessing in this world.  Amen

Pastor Paul Miller

The Church of the Savior - Lutheran

Paramus, NJ

Camper 1993 - 2002; Staff 2004 - present

The Reverend Paul Miller serves at Church of the Savior Lutheran in Paramus, NJ.   He has been involved with Pinecrest since 1993 and currently serves as the camp registrar.  Pinecrest is and has been the most influential part of his faith life he has experienced.  It is also the greatest embodiment of the body of Christ he has experienced.