It doesn’t take a Top Chef to tell us a few obvious things about salt.  It tastes delightful in pea soup and on roast chicken.  It comes in a number of varieties, from fleur de sel to bamboo salt, depending on the combination of mineralities.  And salt, which is simply Sodium Chloride, will never, ever go bad.

So what is Jesus talking about in this Sunday’s Gospel when he famously tells his followers, “You are the salt of the earth; but if salt has lots its taste, how can its saltiness be restored? It is no longer good for anything, but is thrown out and trampled under foot.”  Those of us who were shoveling snow this week know that a little salt under foot is far from a bad thing… but ‘bad salt?’  Is there really such a thing?

Because salt can never lose its taste or become contaminated, as microbes and parasites simply can’t live on salt, the only way it can lose its saltiness is if some other agent is introduced.  Add rat poison to salt, or 10 gallons of water.  If you want to make the soup less salty, add more soup.

The same holds true for us – when we get watered down, diluted, and the essence of who we are is drowned out by anything and everything else that’s been thrown into the pot.  No, salt will never lose its taste, but unless it is liberated from the things that water it down, it will never be what it could.

The essence of who we are is a beloved, cherished, and invaluable member of God’s family.  We are redeemed, forgiven, reconciled with God, and the inheritors of vast possibility.  Yet, how this essence is diluted!  We languish in the waters of self-doubt, self-criticism, and unforgiveness.  Our saltiness becomes washed away by waves of self-limit, fear, and frustration.  Many of us need to get back to who we are – allow the water to subside and toss aside the things that are watering us down.  How might we do this?

Can we imagine the impurities that impede us evaporating like new rain on a sunny sidewalk?  Can we marvel at the nuggets of gold left in the prospector’s pan after the river water is strained away?  Can we see the Christ in us rising as we allow all that seeks to lessen us fade away in the glory of His presence?

Reading:

Made in Detroit – Paul Clemons

Matthew – R. T. France

Matthew for Everyone (Vol. 1) – NT Wright