Isaiah 58:7-10 I Corinthians 2:1-5 Matthew 5:13-16

SALT:

In addition to other spices, salt serves to enhance the flavor of food. And yet when it is used alone it is able to prolong the distinctiveness of foods for later consumption.

[In Leviticus we read “And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt. You shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering.”]

The value of salt in small qualities [appear to have been known] in ancient times for use in arid places to help retain moisture, destroy weeds, make stubborn soil easier to till, and make sour grass sweeter and more appealing to cattle. [add a statement introducting how salt relates in the old covenant to our relationship to God.

Leviticus 2:13 reads: “And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering.”

In the New Testament, sacrifices seasoned with salt speaks of covenant fellowship with God, which we have in the Mass can you clarify Mass, all parts, the eucharist? source of the idea which then leads to the next statement. Living the Mass is about “the unbending truthfulness of that self-surrender to the Lord embodied in the sacrifice of Christ, by which impurity and hypocrisy are repelled.” Source??

Salt was can also be a symbol of a curse. If you recall in the story of Lot and his wife recorded in Genesis 19:24, the Lord rained down fire and brimstone on Sodom and Gomorrah. God chose to spare Lot and his family, warning them of

the impending destruction and commanding them to leave and not look back., While Lot and his family were fleeing the city, his wife looked back and she became a pillar of salt

Why did she defy a direct order from God when He specifically told them not to look back? St. Luke interprets her action as the manifestation of the unwillingness to relinquish everything at the time of judgment and serves to warn Jesus’ followers ( that is US) against misplaced values. source

What I am reminded of with this incident involving Lot’s wife, is the end of one’s life and how it could happen as quickly as it did for Lot’s wife. Even though she was told not to turn back, she did and immediately, her life was over- there was no time to repent or plea for forgiveness The Son of Man may return at a time when we least expect it. It helps to be ready. In his sermon on the mount, Jesus tells his followers “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 trodden underfoot by men.” Matthew 5:13

Salt’s purpose is not for itself; it is for preserving and seasoning food. In the same way, His disciples are there not for themselves but for spreading God’s truth, the Gospel to all people, and we are supposed to do the same. We are no longer our own the moment we surrender our lives to God Almighty. From that moment, He places His hand on us and calls us into a world of “seasonless” lives. It is our responsibility to be the Salt of the earth for eachother; through Christ, of course.

An illustration that I like to use is this:

In A Peanuts cartoon, Peppermint Patty talking to Charlie Brown said,

“Guess what, Chuck.

The first day of school and I got sent to the principal’s office. It was your fault, Chuck.”

He said, “My fault? How could it be my fault? Why do you say everything is my fault?”

She said, “You’re my friend, aren’t you, Chuck?

You should have been a better influence on me.”

Charlie brown should have been more Like salt; after all, what are we if we are like peanuts without salt?

Amen.