God's Savory Servants
The Blessed Way - 9
After completing the Beatitudes, Jesus presents and analogy of what happens when His people follow His call. That analogy is presented in two pictures. The first is that His people are the salt of the earth (Matt. 5:13).
In the Old Testament, salt is a blessing. One way it is used is as part of the covenant of peace made between two parties. In the ancient world, when two warring groups made a peace treaty, they would eat a meal together that was salted. It marked that where there was once animosity, there is now harmony.
Salt was also applied to the various offerings made to God, and specifically the grain offering (Lev. 2:13). The bread offered to God would have salt in it, for His people are now at peace with Him. It appears that even our Father in Heaven doesn’t want bland offerings.
Jesus explains this metaphor further when He says in Mark 9:50 “Salt is good: but if the salt have lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another.” On the surface it seems clear that we should strive to be at peace with each other. The apostle Paul teaches us what this looks like in practice in Ephesians 4:25-32 when he says things like
· Put away lying…
· Be angry and sin not…
· Let him who stole steal no more…
· Let no corrupting words come out of your mouths…
· Put away bitterness, wrath, anger, evil-speaking…
· Be kind to one another…
And still, being the salt of the earth pushes us to practice our faith beyond the four walls of our homes and church. We are called as God’s agents of peace throughout our world. Like the salt added to the Old Covenant sacrifice, we represent the peace of Christ to the world. Jesus is the sacrifice, the one offered to the Father; we are the salt.
We must not divorce the previous beatitude about persecution from the picture of us being the salt of the land. If we refuse to pursue God’s kingdom in God’s way, whether that means doing what we want to do, or doing God’s work by our fleshly methods, then we cease being instruments of God’s peace and we become like the world. That is, we go from being savory salt to bland sand. And like sand we will be trodden under the feet of men.
Thankfully, this is not as much a calling as it is an identity (“You are the salt of the earth,” rather than “You ought to be the salt of the earth.”). We will show our neighbors a picture of what it means to be a Christian. The question is, what picture will we portray? The contrast Jesus presents is clear: live humbly and justly before God and men and you will stand out in the right way. Impose your own plans or do God’s work by crafty means and you fall under the dominion of men. May we all demonstrate the peace of Christ in all of our words and works.
The Lord be with you all,
Matt