Salt Is Good. But What Does That Mean?

Salty Living in a Loveless World

“Salt is good.”

Jesus

And all God’s people who love popcorn, chips, and pretzels said, “Amen!” Feel free to frame this verse and hang it over your stove.

All right, we all know that’s not really what Jesus was talking about.

But what exactly did He mean when He said we are supposed to be like salt? Let’s take a look at His actual words:

“Salt is good, but if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Mark 9:50

If I called you “salty,” you’d probably take offense – I’m calling you a snarky, rude person. But when Jesus calls us to be “salty,” He seems to mean the opposite. He wants us to be people who are “at peace.”[1]

And then He ramps it up even further by telling us this should be our identity!

“You are the salt of the earth, but if salt has lost its taste, how shall its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything except to be thrown out and trampled under people’s feet.”

Matthew 5:13

Why Salt?

In each of these passages, [2] we see the same central question: “If salt becomes unsalted, how can you make it salty again?” Jesus is calling us to emulate a specific aspect of salt: its “saltiness.”

In other words, salt is only as good as it is salty.[3] Why would you sprinkle salt on your corn on the cob if the salt tastes like air? It’s like adding unsweet sugar to your tea or tasteless cream to your coffee.

In other words, it’s the DIFFERENTNESS of salt that makes it worth your time. It’s the light-y-ness of light that makes it good. It’s the saltiness of salt that makes it worth its salt (see what I did there?).

It’s the TASTE, the FLAVOR. We intuitively understand this when we’re talking about whipping up a nice salt rub for our pork chops, but how exactly does that translate to our Christian lives? What does Jesus mean when He says we’re supposed to be salty?

The Christian Flavor Is Love.

Let’s answer that question by asking a few more questions. Take a moment and think about how your coworkers, your children, or your neighbors might describe their interactions with you. What is your flavor to the world as you go about your day? What do you add to your work culture, your home life, or your neighborhood environment?

Our call is to be DIFFERENT from the world around us. But how exactly do we provide this difference?

In the Old Testament, the primary difference between God’s people and the nations was set forth in a series of laws – everything from clothing to food decisions. But here in the Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7), Jesus describes a different path to distinction for His disciples: LOVE.

Consider the “flavors” He calls for:

• Instead of focusing on the outward requirements of the Law like the Pharisees, evaluate your heart for lust and hate (Matt. 5:20-30).
• Instead of just being nice to those who are nice to you like the Gentiles, show kindness – radically! – to those who hate you (Matt. 5:38-48).
• Instead of parading your piety before all people like the Pharisees, pray and give and fast quietly, just before your Father (6:1-18).
• Instead of stressing about physical needs like the Gentiles, trust God to provide and seek Him first (6:19-34).
• Instead of judging others like the Pharisees, constantly evaluate your own life before pointing out other’s issues (7:1-5).

This is a distinction not just from the “secular” (Gentiles) but also from the religious of the day (Pharisees)! And you could summarize this flavor in four words: LOVE GOD. LOVE OTHERS.

In fact, Jesus will summarize the entire Old Testament in just this way later in Matthew:

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.  On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”

Matthew 22:36-40

How truly simple our lives as believers really are!

Is the world a simple place? No way. Are there complicated issues facing our nation on matters of race, health, and unity? Most definitely. Does this spill over into complications in our relationships with coworkers, kids, and friends on social media? Obviously.

But Jesus’ command cuts through the confusion with astonishing clarity: love God and love others. Do unto others as you would have them do to you (Matt. 7:12), He says in the Sermon on the Mount that this too, “is the Law and the Prophets.” In other words, though Christ is inaugurating a new age in the life of God’s people, this command isn’t new. This is what God has desired for all of humanity since the beginning.

Indeed, in our reading in Micah this week, we see Micah say much the same thing:

“He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?”

Micah 6:8

It’s incredibly simple. But somehow, it’s still so incredibly hard for us! How easily we become grumps when irritated by a coworker or when watching the news. How quickly we demote God to a lower place when faced with temptation. How simple is it to forget this simple lifestyle!

How quickly we lose our saltiness! But what’s the point of our lives if we are unsalted salt?

Salt is good, friends. Be salt this week. Add the flavor of love to your home, your work, your neighborhood, your extended family, and your Facebook profile.

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[1] This also seems to be what Paul is after when he calls for speech “seasoned with salt” in Colossians 4:6.

[2] Luke says something similar to both Mark & Matthew in Luke 14:34-35.

[3] This follows His progression in Matthew 5:14-15 to use the illustration of light and how lighting a lamp and hiding it does no good. Why would you turn on your bedside lamp to read, only to cover it up with a blanket? For more on this illustration of light, check out our Midweek Recentered Video #2!